David Elmer Postle Sr. (1863–1939) was an architect primarily known for his designs in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

.Gathman, Dave.
House tour offers insight to historic Elgin architect
, '' Daily Herald''. September 5, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019. Postle was born in 1863 on a farm in Ohio. He moved to Illinois to study architecture and engineering at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

.Self Help Graphics & Art
,

California Department of Parks and Recreation The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

. Historic Resources Group, LLC. June 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2019. The first building he designed was a house in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-larg ...

in 1892, which was built for George Richardson, the superintendent of

David C. Cook David C. Cook is an American nonprofit Christian publisher based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded as a provider of Sunday school curriculum and remains a major publisher of such materials. It also publishes fiction and nonfiction bo ...

Publishing. He married Richardson's daughter, Georgia, on October 24, 1893, and moved into the Richardsons' home. Postle and his wife moved into another house he designed in Elgin in 1903. Postle designed many buildings in Elgin, including Lords Park Pavilion and the

Elgin Public Museum The Elgin Public Museum of Natural History and Anthropology in Lords Park is a natural history museum located in Elgin, Illinois. The museum, now over a hundred years old, is located within the 108-acre Lords Park. Mission and Purpose The museum' ...

, both local historic landmarks, as well as the David C. Cook Publishing Building, the old Elgin High School, the Masonic Temple, and dozens of homes. Postle designed the Pattington Apartments in Chicago in 1902, which was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1980. American Institute of Architects Chicago (2014)
AIA Guide to Chicago
'. Third Edition.

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projec ...

. pp. 170, 235. Retrieved December 17, 2019. He went on to design many other courtyard-style apartment buildings in Chicago. Postle later partnered with John Baptiste Fischer,
The Economist
'. July 23, 1921. p. 198. Retrieved December 17, 2019. and designed an addition to the Downey-Farrell Company factory building in Chicago in 1917, and additions to the

Elgin Watch Company The Elgin National Watch Company, commonly known as Elgin Watch Company, was a major US watch maker from 1864 to 1968. The company sold watches under the names Elgin, Lord Elgin, and Lady Elgin. For nearly 100 years, the company's manufacturing ...

factory in 1920. In 1921, Postle moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, and partnered with his son, David E. Postle Jr. He designed many buildings in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...

in the 1920s, including the Self Help Graphics & Art building, utilizing the popular revival styles of the era.Self Help Graphics & Art Building / Brooklyn State Bank
,

Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is a historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. The Conservancy is the largest membership based ...

. Retrieved December 17, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postle, David E. 1863 births 1939 deaths 19th-century American architects 20th-century American architects Architects from Illinois Architects from California Architects from Ohio American Freemasons