LOUIS CHRISTIAN MULLGARDT

San Francisco County

Biographies

LOUIS CHRISTIAN MULLGARDT

MULLGARDT, LOUIS CHRISTIAN, Architect, San Francisco, California, was born in Washington, Franklin County, Missouri, January 18, 1866, the son of John Christian Mullgardt and Wilhelmina (Hausgen) Mullgardt. He married Laura R. Steffens at Chicago, Illinois, June 9, 1897. They have two children, Alexander S. and John L. C. Mullgardt, thirteen and six years old, respectively.

Mr. Mullgardt’s work is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. He received his preliminary education in public and private schools of his native town and in the summer of 1881 went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he took up the study of architecture in the offices of O. J. Wilhelmi and Ernest C. Janssen and later James Stewart, well-known members of the profession. He also studied in the Polytechnic Institute and Department of Fine Arts of Washington University.

In the winter of 1885 Mr. Mullgardt went to Boston, Massachusetts, as a student in the office of H. H. Richardson, Brookline, Mass., and subsequently with Mr. Richardson’s successors, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of Boston. He also studied with Peabody & Sterns and Brigham & Spofford of Boston. During the years of 1889 and 1890 he was a special student at Harvard University.

With the training and experience gained during his student years, Mr. Mullgardt went to Chicago in 1891, and until 1893, was Designer-in-Chief in the offices of Henry Ives Cobb. Among the buildings designed by him while serving in that capacity are the following: Newberry Library, Cook County Abstract Building, Chicago Athletic Association Building, University of Chicago and the Fisheries Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

His exceptional talent and training placed Mr. Mullgardt among the few recognized leading Architectural Designers of the middle West. In 1893 He went to St. Louis to enter private practice. He continued there about nine years, having added to his reputation in designing and erecting numerous private and public structures. Among the more notable were the designs of the Abolitionist Monument to Elijah Parish Lovejoy, publisher, erected at Alton, Ill., by the State of Illinois; the University Club, St. Louis; Boyer Pneumatic Tool factories at Detroit, Mich., and St. Louis, Mo., and the Arlington Hotel and Bath House, a stately group of buildings at Hot Springs, Arkansas.

In 1902 Mr. Mullgardt went to Manchester, England, in conjunction with James C. Stewart of New York, respecting the construction of the New Midland Grand Hotel. In 1903 he went from Manchester to London, opened offices on Somerset Street, where he remained during that year and the next, engaged in conjunction with Messrs. Colcutt and Hamp in planning the extensions of the celebrated Savoy Hotel on the Strand; also alterations on the old buildings of the Savoy on the Embankment. This is one of the historic hotels on the other side of the Atlantic, and Mr. Mullgardt’s selection for this work—costing over $2,000,000—was a tribute alike to American architecture and to Mr. Mullgardt.

During the period covering his work on the Savoy Hotel, Mr. Mullgardt fulfilled other commissions in the British Isles. He remained in London until the year of 1905, when illness in his family necessitated return to the United States. Among the architectural works of Mr. Mullgardt in Great Britain were the designs for Electric power stations for the British Westinghouse Company, Heysham Harbour and at Neasden, for the Metropolitan Underground Railway of London. He also designed a large factory for the British Consolidated Pneumatic Tool Company at Frazerburg, Scotland.

From London, Mr. Mullgardt went almost directly to San Francisco in 1905 and has resided there and in Berkeley since. He entered private practice in San Francisco in 1905 and has been chiefly engaged in California Country Residence Architecture.

In addition to his private practice, Mr. Mullgardt is engaged in designing the “East Court” of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, having been appointed a member, Architectural Commission which is planning the International Fair to celebrate the Panama Canal completion in 1915.

Mr. Mullgardt is a Fellow member, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D. C., and life member, Harvard Engineers Club. He belongs to the Bohemian Club of San Francisco and is honorary member of the San Francisco Press Club and of the Outdoor Art League. He has made art a life study and has lectured and written numerously on the fine arts relative to architecture.

Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 490, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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