Kenneth Franzheim (October 28, 1890–March 13, 1959) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. His early work was in Chicago and Boston with

C. Howard Crane Charles Howard Crane (August 13, 1885 – August 14, 1952) was an American architect who was primarily active in Detroit, Michigan. His designs include Detroit's Fox Theatre and Olympia Stadium, as well as LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio, whi ...

. Starting in 1928, most of his work was in Houston, to where he moved his practice in 1937.

Early life

Kenneth Franzheim was born in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

on October 28, 1890. His parents were Charles W. Franzheim and Lida Riddle Merts Franzheim. He earned a bachelor's degree at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1913.

Career

Upon graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Franzheim was employed by the Boston architect, for whom he worked until 1917. He served the United States Army Air Corps during World War I at

Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegi ...

, in the Houston area. After the war, he practiced with the Detroit architect, C. Howard Crane in Chicago and Boston. He started his own practice in New York in 1925. His career was boosted by Houston banker and developer, Jesse H. Jones in 1928. Collaborating with Houston architect

Alfred C. Finn Alfred Charles Finn (July 2, 1883 – June 26, 1964) was an American architect. He started in the profession with no formal training in 1904 as an apprentice for Sanguinet & Staats. He worked in their offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. H ...

, Franzheim designed the temporary building for the

1928 Democratic National Convention The 1928 Democratic National Convention was held at Sam Houston Hall in Houston, Texas, June 26–28, 1928. The keynote speaker was Claude G. Bowers. The convention resulted in the nomination of Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York for ...

and the

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in Houston. Franzheim became a major commercial architect in mid-century Houston after moving his offices to the city in 1937. Franzheim was one of the architects involved designing Humble Tower, the

Prudential Building (Houston) The Houston Main Building (HMB)

, Texas National Bank building (Houston) and Bank of the Southwest (Houston) building. His best-known building was the

Foley’s Department Store Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1947–1988, 2005–2006), later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the division w ...

downtown location (demolished). It had six floors before it was expanded to nine in 1957, and included windowless retail space suspended at street level above a first-floor window-wall and canopy with a streamlined interior by famed industrial designer

Raymond Loewy Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...

. In 1950 the building received an Award of Merit from the AIA. Franzheim also designed 275 Madison Avenue and several other buildings in New York City.

John Zemanek John Zemanek (1921 - April 18, 2016) was an American architect. He taught at the University of Houston beginning in 1964 and was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), a distinguished educator, and architect An architect is a ...

and Eugene Werlin worked at the firm early in their careers. There are plans to add oral interviews with both Zemanek and Werlin in which they discuss Franzheim’s influence to the digital library at the University of Houston.

Personal life

Franzheim married Elizabeth Frances Simms on May 12, 1919. They had three children, including

Kenneth Franzheim II Kenneth Franzheim II (September 12, 1925 – October 29, 2007) was a Houston oilman, philanthropist, and envoy. He served under U.S. President Richard Nixon as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand, Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji ...

, later a diplomat under

President Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

Death and legacy

Franzheim died of a heart attack on March 13, 1959 at the age of 68. One of Franzheim's most enduring legacies is the development of

Fairlington Fairlington is an unincorporated neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia, located adjacent to Shirlington in the southernmost part of the county on the boundary with the City of Alexandria. The main thoroughfares are Interstate 395 ( Shirl ...

in Arlington, VA. Franzheim was the primary architect of this WW2-era housing development a few miles south of the Pentagon, which is today a high-end, private housing development.

Works

The

Houston Main Building The Houston Main Building (HMB)

(HMB)Wellness Programs
." University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved on April 4, 2010. formerly the Prudential Building, was a skyscraper in the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a List of neighborhoods in Houston, neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States. It is immediately south of the Houston Museum District, Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 6 ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It originally housed offices of the

Prudential Insurance Company Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American financial services company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the Uni ...

, before becoming a part of the

MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center and autonomous university of the University of Texas System in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the wo ...

. The building was demolished on January 8, 2012. * 1928 Democratic Convention Center, Houston (1928) – with Alfred C. Finn, demolished * Gulf Building, Houston (1929) – with Alfred C. Finn * Humble Tower, Houston (1936) – with John Staub * Hermann Hospital and Professional Building, Houston (1949) – with Hedrick and Lindsley * Prudential Building, Houston (1952)

References

Bibliography

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franzheim, Kenneth 20th-century American architects Architects from Houston