Santa
Clara County
Biographies
THEODORE LENZEN
Prominent among the most prosperous business
men and the most highly esteemed citizens of San Jose is Theodore Lenzen, for many years one of the leading architects and
builders of the Santa Clara valley. A man of artistic tastes and practical
judgment, he has been a conspicuous factor in the building circles of this
section of the state, and from his active brain and cunning fingers have
emanated the plans by which many of the city’s finest buildings have been
created. A son of the late Nicholas Lenzen, he was
born September 29, 1833, in the Rhein province, near
Trier, Germany.
Nicholas Lenzen
was born and reared in the Rhein province, being a
farmer by occupation. Following his sons to America, he landed in New York City
in 1857, and for six years thereafter lived in Chicago, Ill. Retiring from
active pursuits, he came to San Jose in 1862, and was a resident of this city
until his death. He married Gertrude Moersch, one of
his childhood schoolmates and companions, and she, too, spent her last years in
San Jose. Of the nine children born of their union, five are living, Theodore,
the second child in order of birth, being the subject of this sketch.
Leaving school at the age of
fourteen years, Theodore Lenzen assisted his father
on the farm for two years, and was then apprenticed to a neighboring mechanic,
with whom he learned the trades of a carpenter and millwright and took lessons
in mechanical and architectural drawing. Embarking for America in 1854, he landed
in New York City on May 20, after a stormy voyage of sixty days, crossing the
Atlantic in the Vulture, a sailing vessel. A stranger, with but eighteen cents
all told in his pockets, he remained in New York three days, and then went to
New Jersey, where he worked for two months in a brickyard. With the money he
thus earned, he started for Chicago, but on account of the cholera then
prevalent in that city he continued westward to McHenry, to visit an uncle, who
lived on a farm. Returning to Chicago in the fall of 1854, Mr. Lenzen was employed for the next two and one-half years by
the Illinois Central Railroad Company as a builder, working both on the line
and in the city. During this time he made good use of his evenings by
perfecting his knowledge of drawing and the English language. From the spring
of 1857 until the spring of 1859 he was foreman for a large Chicago contracting
firm. He was subsequently in business for himself as an architect, contractor
and builder for nearly two years.
In December, 1860, Mr. Lenzen went to New York City, and on January 1, 1861,
started by way of Panama for California, and on January 24, 1861, arrived at
San Francisco. Locating in that city, he established himself as a contractor
and builder, confining himself principally to stair building for awhile. In the
fall of 1861 he assisted in drawing the plans for the St. Ignatius College,
which was erected on the present site of the Emporium. Going then to Santa
Clara, his artistic ability soon became recognized, and on May 20, 1862, he
commenced the drawings for the residence of the Fathers, and later on planned
one of the principal college buildings, and both were built to completion under
his supervision. Returning to San Francisco the following year, Mr. Lenzen continued work in that city for a brief time, then
settled permanently in San Jose. In 1863 he drew the plans, and superintended
the erection of the Auzerais Hotel, which, in 1901,
he rebuilt and remodeled, changing it into an office building known as the Auzerais building, one of the finest of its kind in this
vicinity. Continuing in his professional work, Mr. Lenzen
subsequently drew plans and built the first Normal School building in San Jose;
the City Hall; the O’Connor Sanitarium; the Fredericks and Eagle breweries;
most of the Notre Dame College buildings that have been erected since 1868; and
in addition many of the prominent business blocks and fine residences for which
this city is noted, and many of its school buildings and churches have been
erected under his intelligent supervision. He has likewise drawn plans for many
of the finest buildings of Salinas, Monterey county,
Santa Cruz and Alameda counties, also in El Paso, Texas. On Lenzen
avenue, which was named in his honor, he erected his
own commodious residence. In 1868, with characteristic business foresight, Mr. Lenzen laid out the twenty-five acre tract of land known as
Lenzen’s addition to San Jose, and he has since
built, and still owns, business houses on Market street,
and on Second street, his own office being at No. 110 South Second street.
In 1893 Mr. Lenzen,
in company with his wife, visited the World’s Fair, in Chicago, and afterward
went abroad, making a tour of Europe, visiting their old home in Germany, and
the principal cities of France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and
England, being away five months, and having a most enjoyable trip. In 1901 he
admitted his son into partnership, and has since carried on business as head of
the firm of Theodore Lenzen & Son. Public
spirited and enterprising, Mr. Lenzen has done much
to advance the welfare of city and county, and was one of the movers in
establishing the San Jose woolen mills. He was also one of the seventeen
business men who obtained the first franchise for building a railroad to Alviso,
although the road was never completed, and was also interested in the attempt
to have a silk manufactory located here.
In San Jose, Mr. Lenzen
married Caroline C. Wallauer, who was born in the Rhein Pfalz, Germany, and of
their union four children have been born: Gertrude, the wife of Edward Popp, of
San Jose; Kathrina died at the age of twenty years;
Emilia, wife of W. A. Popp, of San Jose; and Louis Theodore, a graduate of the
Garden City Business College, now a member of the firm of Theodore Lenzen & Son. Politically Mr. Lenzen
is a sound Republican. Fraternally he is a charter member of San Jose Lodge No.
210, F. & A. M., and is a member of Harvard Chapter, R. A. M. Socially he
belongs to the San Jose Turn Verein. He was one of
the first members of the San Francisco Chapter of Architects, and one of the
first and last members of the San Jose Deucher
Club.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1020-1023. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.