Otto Eugene Adams

Otto Eugene Adams Sr. (November 1, 1889 – January 31, 1968) was an American architect born in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 1, 1889, to a family with Baltimore and German ancestry.

Family Adams's father, Henry Adams, was an emigrant from Duisburg, Prussia, and a successful engineer who enjoyed considerable professional prominence due to his work with the District of Columbia government buildings, and his pioneering and organization of the ASHVE. At the time of Otto's birth, Mr. Adams was achieving prominence as building system designer due to his work on the Corcoran and Flagg buildings in Washington, D.C. Despite his father's involvement in D.C. building, the Adams family remained in Baltimore throughout Otto's childhood. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Klingelhofer, whose parents, John E. and Mary Klingelhofer, were Baltimore bakers who had emigrated from Hessen, Germany. Adams was the middle child of the children who are known: his brother Ernest Henry Adams was the oldest, Clarence Timothy Adams the younger brother. Both of his brothers followed their father directly into the family business as engineers and became officers when the company was incorporated, upon their father's death.

Adams married Mrs. Marie Hagerty Adams, with whom he had two sons: Otto Eugene Adams Jr. and Henry J. Adams (the geologist and financier).

Education

At age 17, Adams left Baltimore to attend college at University of Pennsylvania where he studied Architecture, completing both a B.S. (1911) and M.S. (1912) degrees. During his time at Penn, one of his colleagues, James Richard Edmunds Jr., was also to become a notable Baltimore architect. Adams's talent was recognized early, when his participation in the New York Intercollegiate Architectural Federation competition gained him a mention while still an undergraduate. Otto Eugene Adams served during World War I as a captain in the US Army in France where he was injured in the arm. Thereafter, he expanded his expertise and theoretical understanding of his field through advanced certification at both the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris and at the American Academy, Rome.

Works

Public works An incomplete list of works and studies attributed to Otto Eugene Adams, in Baltimore and other Maryland cities:

Baltimore City Courthouse study Dormitory Building, Baltimore Orphanage (address not given) Emanuel Evangelical Church, Baltimore & Garrison Ave., Baltimore Methodist Home for the Aged which is currently Springwell Senior Living Community Home purchased for Baltimore Orphanage Asylum at Govans "Marble Hall" Woodbourne Ave. home of Charles S. Abell originally summer home of Enoch Pratt. Asylum to move from Stricker St., Nursery and Childs Hospital - Woodbourne Rd. and East side York Rd. Competition for the Baltimore City College building Kelso Home for Orphans (became Kelso Home for Girls) - building and planning, tract, Towson (charity now resides at Garrison Ave. and Forest Park Ave. ), (now Towson YMCA). Enoch Pratt Free Library Branch no. 27 Westport, 1929. Fairfield Elementary School (Chesapeake Ave and Sun Street), 1942 Govans School no. 213, York Rd. and possibly other buildings at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). The campus plan and several buildings look as if they might have been fashioned by him. Woodbourne Junior High (now Chinquapin School # 46 at Woodbourne and Beauregard avenues) completed 1959 Baltimore (Broadway) Public Comfort Station 1922 Baltimore Police (Belair Road) Sub-station 1922 214 Chancery Rd. of Roland Pk. 1925 509 Edgevale Rd. 1925, 1948 3 Englewood Rd. 1929 5403 Falls Rd. 1936 903 Falls Rd. 1933 312 Overhill Rd. 1929 16 Overhill Rd. 1928 4906 Roland Ave. 1932 428 Roland Ave. 1926

Homeland (neighborhood) 202 Churchwarden's Rd. 1929