Brother A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...

Cajetan J. B. Baumann (3 August 1899 – 9 May 1969) was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and a noted American architect.Brother Cajetan Baumann, O.F.M.
,

St. Bonaventure University St. Bonaventure University is a private university, private Franciscan university in St. Bonaventure, New York. It has 2,760 undergraduate and graduate students. The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans established the university in 1858. In ath ...

, (Accessed 10 February 2012) Baumann’s designs were incredibly progressive, providing modern interpretations of Gothic architecture.Franciscan Commissariat of the Holy Land in America
/ref>

Life

Baumann was born 3 August 1899 in Grünkraut, a town in the

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...

district of the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...

in the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. He spent two years in military service during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, mostly with the engineering corps of the

German Imperial Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

. In 1922 he entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

Province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; Post-nominal letters, postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a Mendicant orders, mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis ...

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, ...

, where, upon completion, he was given the

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally, some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious Hermit, eremitic and Anchorite, anchorit ...

and the name by which he is now known on 16 July 1923. He remained a member of this Province throughout his life. In 1925 Baumann was sent to the United States to help with his skills as a cabinetmaker and wood carver. It was there that he made his final

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...

at St. Bonaventure Friary in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

in 1941 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he later served on the Board of Governors of the School of Architecture. He was also active in the National Committee on Religious Buildings, the Architectural League of New York, the National Sculpture Society, the New York Building Congress and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Baumann was the American representative of the International Commission for the Restoration of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Baumann became the first member of a religious Order ever to be named to the American Institute of Architects. He also gained The National Council Certificate, which qualified him as an architect throughout the United States. With those honors, he headed an architectural firm based in New York City for the Order of Friars Minor, the Office of Franciscan Art and Architecture, designing many religious structures around the hemisphere. On the 9 May 1969, Baumann died from a heart condition at University Hospital in New York City. Before his death, he had been awarded honorary degrees from St. Bonaventure University, St. Francis College, Biddeford, Maine, and Rosary Hill College (now

Daemen College Daemen University is a private university in Amherst and Brooklyn, New York, United States. Formerly Daemen College and Rosary Hill College, the now-nondenominational school was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947. As of fall 2020, ...

), Buffalo, New York. During his lifetime, he designed many structures, including churches, convents, schools, college residences, retreat houses, and seminaries.

Legacy

Although it was not engaged in general practice, Baumann’s firm attracted a number of architects and designers who later earned national reputations. These included: Paul Damaz, the Office's Chief Designer, who helped design the United Nations headquarters in New York and received the Arnold Brunner Award in 1958; and Gottfried Bohm, who received the coveted

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

in 1986 – architecture's highest honor.

Completed works

*1949: St. Clare's Hospital Nurses School, a seven-story brick nurses school, 426-432 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, New York, for $750,000.Office for Metropolitan History
, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986" *1955: Order of St Basil the Great Nurses School, a five-story school with penthouse convent, 215 East 6th Street, Manhattan, New York, for $1,500,000. *1959: St. Mary's

Ruthenian Catholic Church Ruthenian Catholic Church may refer to: * Ruthenian Uniate Church, a historical Eastern Catholic church during the early modern period * Belarusian Greek Catholic Church, the modern branch of the Ruthenian Uniate Church based in Belarus * Ukrainian ...

, three-story church & rectory, 244-246 E 15th Street, Manhattan, New York, for $450,000. * 1959-61 Immaculate Conception Seminary (Troy, New York), multiple component addition to earlier monastery complex, including four-story classroom building, auditorium. ("Breaking Ground," The Times Record, 21 September 1959, 15) *1960: St. Stephen of Hungary's Church (New York City), four-story rectory, 402-412 E 82nd Street, Manhattan, New York, for $300,000. *1962
Our Lady of Florida Passionist Monastery and Retreat House
two-story, 1300 US Hwy 1 North Palm Beach Florida *1965: Holy Cross Church (Bronx, New York), 600 Soundview Avenue, Bronx, New YorkSee Thomas J. Shelley, ''The Archdiocese of New York: the Bicentennial History,'' (New York: Archdiocese of New York, 2007), p.484-485
Holy Cross, Soundview Avenue
(Accessed 7 February 2011) *1966: St. John's Atonement Seminary,

Montour Falls, New York Montour Falls is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village located in Schuyler County, New York, Schuyler County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 2,714 at the time of the 2020 census. A waterfall at t ...

, a new annex *

, Saint Bonaventure, New York: **Plassman Hall **Friary (now Doyle Hall) **Christ the King Seminary (now Francis Hall) **University Administration Building (now Hopkins Hall) *St. Anthony Shrine,

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Amherst, New York **Marian Library (now Haberman Gacioch Center for Visual & Performing Arts) **Daemen Hall (now MusicalFare Theatre) **Duns Scouts Hall

References

External sources

''Bruder Cajetan Baumann, Architekt in New York'' by Dorotheus Naumann (1966) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baumann, Cajetan J. B. 1899 births 1969 deaths People from Ravensburg (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg German Friars Minor Roman Catholic religious brothers German expatriates in the United States German ecclesiastical architects Architects from New York City 20th-century American architects American ecclesiastical architects Architects of Roman Catholic churches Engineers from Baden-Württemberg American Friars Minor Defunct architecture firms based in New York City 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests St. Bonaventure University alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni German Army personnel of World War I