John Mauran
Encyclopedia
FAIA
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects is a postnomial, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects...
(1866, Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
– 1933) was an American architect responsible for many downtown landmarks in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, and also active in Texas.
Life
Mauran studied at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
from 1885 through 1889 under the French-American educator Eugene Letang, and entered the Boston office of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry Hobson Richardson....
as a young draftsman. There he helped design the 1893 Chicago Public Library (now the Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago Cultural Center
The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
) and the 1894 Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
.
Sent by the firm to establish a branch office in St. Louis, his employers closed shop there in 1900 and Mauran formed his own partnership, Mauran, Russell & Garden, which evolved into Mauran, Russell & Crowell in 1911. The firm carved out a niche designing Carnegie libraries
Carnegie library
A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
in small towns in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Mauran had also married a local socialite, Isabel Chapman, in 1899, which aided his social connections, bringing commissions for local churches, office buildings, and a number of sizable mansions in St. Louis's new private place
Private place
A private place is a self-governing enclave whose common areas are owned by the residents, and whose services are provided by the private sector....
s. He himself lived at #40 Vandeventer Place, on the most prestigious street in the city.
From 1902 Mauran became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
to the first United States Commission of Fine Arts
United States Commission of Fine Arts
The United States Commission of Fine Arts , established in 1910 by an act of Congress, is an advisory agency of the Federal government.The CFA is mandated to review and provide advice on "matters of design and aesthetics", involving federal projects and planning in Washington, D.C...
in 1910. In 1915 he was elected President of the AIA; in 1925 he served as head of the St. Louis Memorial Plaza Commission. Mauran died unexpectedly after an appendicitis attack in 1933, at the family's summer home in New Hampshire.
Work
Stylistically versatile through its decades of activity, Mauran's office was more commercially than artistically oriented, with work concentrated in the St. Louis area and a large number of hotel commissions in Texas. The St. Louis high-rises of the 1900s and 1910s show a clear influence from the Sullivan skyscrapers they stand next to, like the Wainwright BuildingWainwright Building
The Wainwright Building is a 10-story red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891...
, without Sullivan's distinctive ornament.
The stripped-classical style of the St. Louis Soldiers' Memorial
Soldiers' Memorial
The Soldiers' Memorial in downtown St. Louis is a memorial and military museum, at 1315 Chestnut Street, operated by the St. Louis Board of Public Service. Interior east and west wings contain display cases with military displays and memorabilia from World War I and subsequent American wars.The...
, in 1939 a late example of its kind, is appropriate for its civic presence. Like other public buildings in the downtown Civic Plaza, the initial plans were far more elaborate, before delay and budget pressures left the actual results simplified and scaled down.
W.O. Mullgardt joined the firm in 1930. When Mauran died in 1933, this left William Crowell as its principal designer. The modernist 1941 Post-Dispatch Printing Plant, with its long ribbons of windows, anticipated other International Style buildings in St. Louis by about nine years. This was the firm's final major work.
Work
All in St. Louis unless otherwise noted:- Laclede Power Company plant on the north riverfront, 1901
- First Church of Christ Scientist, 1903; the Racquet Club, 1906, and the Second Baptist Church, 1907, all at the Holy Corners Historic District
- residences in St. Louis's private placePrivate placeA private place is a self-governing enclave whose common areas are owned by the residents, and whose services are provided by the private sector....
s Portland Place and Washington Terrace, 1905-1909 - Grand Leader Department Store, later Stix Baer & FullerStix, Baer, FullerStix, Baer and Fuller was a department store chain in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1892 to 1984...
, Washington and 6th Avenue, 1906, Model Annex 1911 - Gunter HotelGunter HotelThe Gunter Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown San Antonio, Texas built in 1909 and designed by St. Louis architect John Mauran.Now the Sheraton Gunter, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.-In popular culture:...
, San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, TexasSan Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, 1909 - Laclede Gas Light Company Building, 1911
- Dallas Municipal BuildingDallas Municipal BuildingThe Dallas Municipal Building is a Dallas Landmark located along S. Harwood Street between Main and Commerce Street in the Main Street District of downtown Dallas, Texas that served as the city's fourth City Hall...
(as associate architects), Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, 1912
- Galvez HotelGalvez HotelThe Hotel Galvez is a historic hotel located in Galveston, Texas, United States that opened in 1911. The building was named the Galvez, honoring Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez, for whom the city was named...
, Galveston, TexasGalveston, TexasGalveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, 1912 - Railway Exchange BuildingRailway Exchange Building (St. Louis)The Railway Exchange Building is a , 21-story high-rise office building in St. Louis, Missouri connected to the now-defunct One City Center mall. The 1914 steel-frame building is in the Chicago school architectural style, and was designed by architect Mauran, Russell & Crowell...
, 1913 - Empire Theater and Brady Building, San Antonio, 1913
- Federal Reserve Bank of St LouisFederal Reserve Bank of St LouisThe Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the nation's central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two Federal Reserve Banks . The St...
, 1923 - Union Market, 1924
- Southwestern Bell BuildingSouthwestern Bell BuildingThe Southwestern Bell Building is a 28-story building that was built to be the headquarters of Southwestern Bell Telephone in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri.At the time of its construction it was Missouri's tallest building....
, 1926 - Police Headquarters and Police Academy, 1927-1928
- Blackstone Hotel, Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, 1929 - St. Louis Globe-DemocratSt. Louis Globe-DemocratThe St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...
Building, 1931 - Federal Courts Building, 1932-1934
- Soldiers' MemorialSoldiers' MemorialThe Soldiers' Memorial in downtown St. Louis is a memorial and military museum, at 1315 Chestnut Street, operated by the St. Louis Board of Public Service. Interior east and west wings contain display cases with military displays and memorabilia from World War I and subsequent American wars.The...
, with architectural sculpture by Walker HancockWalker HancockWalker Kirtland Hancock was a 20th-century American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, 1936 - St. Louis Post-DispatchSt. Louis Post-DispatchThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
Printing Plant, 1941
External links
- online biography with photograph
- Architecture in Texas, 1895-1945, by Jay C. Henry
- National Historic Register application discussing Mauran's career
- emporis list of commissions