Joseph Nathaniel French, Sr. (October 24, 1888 – February 28, 1975) was an architect with

Albert Kahn Associates Albert Kahn Associates is an architectural design firm in Detroit, Michigan with a second office located in Miami, Florida. It was established in 1895 and is still active. Recent work includes being awarded third place in thVirtual Modeling ...

from 1914 to 1967. He was the chief architect for the

Fisher Building The Fisher Building is a landmark skyscraper located at 3011 West Grand Boulevard in the heart of the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan. The ornate 30-story building, completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn, and ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Michigan.

Biography

He was born on October 24, 1888, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joseph Brown Morse French (1854–1928) and Erlenia Helen Matilda Faulkner (1857–1939). He had four sisters: Frances Gertrude French (1877–1878) who died of cholera, Emma Matilda French (1879–1884), Nettie Eveline French (1886–1896) and Marion Ruth French (1897–1982). French attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, and graduated in 1911. He first married Amie Gertrude Lathe (1885–1921), May 14, 1912 at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Boston. He was put in charge of the last stages of construction on

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

Fair Lane Fair Lane was the estate of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after an area in Cork in Ireland where Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born ...

residence in Dearborn, Michigan in 1913. In 1914 he started work for Albert Kahn's firm in

as a draftsman, and then as an architect. By 1916 he was living at 2098 Woodward Avenue in Detroit. On June 10, 1921, his wife Amie died. On June 8, 1926, he married Yolanda Christina Tandberg (1902–2003). Yolanda was the daughter of Thorvald Martin Tandberg (1874-1970) and Alvilde Marie Magdalene Naess (1875-1933) of Norway. She was 14 years younger than Joseph. They had several children, including Joseph Nathaniel French, Jr. While at Kahn he was chief architect for the

in 1928. From 1930 to 1932 he worked at the Albert Kahn Associates Moscow office with twenty-four other Kahn engineers and architects. One of his projects was the steel work of the General Motors Futurama building at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He worked on the design of the Chrysler plant near Kansas City, Missouri. He died on February 28, 1975, in Livonia, Michigan. He was buried in Roseland Park Cemetery at 29001 Woodward Avenue,

Berkley, Michigan Berkley is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor ( M-1) in southeastern Oakland County. The population was 15,194 as of the 2020 Census. History Prior ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Joseph Nathaniel Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 1888 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American architects Architects from Michigan Architects from Boston Art Deco architects