L. Bancel LaFarge (1900–1989) 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 ...

. He was a founding member of the

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

Early life and education

Louis Bancel LaFarge was born into a prominent American family. His grandfather,

John LaFarge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge made stained glass ...

, was a noted American artist. His grandmother was a granddaughter of Commodore

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and Captain Christo ...

and a direct descendant of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

. His father, Bancel LaFarge, was an artist who continued his father's work in glass,Monuments Men Foundation
Monuments Men
LaFarge, Maj. L. Bancel] and his brother Tom was a mural painter. LaFarge was a graduate of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and the

Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSoA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. The School awards the degrees of Master of Architecture I (M.Arch I), Master of Architecture II (M.Arch II), Master of Environmental Desi ...

. He married the advertising executive

Margaret Hockaday Margaret Elizabeth Hockaday LaFarge (1907-1992) was an American executive who established the Hockaday Associates advertising firm in New York City in 1949. Career Hockaday grew up in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from Vassar College in 1929. ...

, with whom he had three children: Timothy, Benjamin, and Celestine.

Career

LaFarge established himself as an architect in New York specializing in domestic architecture. His practice was interrupted by military service in the Second World War. At war's end, he returned to his work as an architect. At one time he served as president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (1958–1960), and he was a founding member of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (1965–70).

World War II

Major LaFarge was assigned to the 7th Army in Europe during the Second World War. He was the Chief of the

Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked ...

(MFAA) section. LaFarge was the first MFAA officer to arrive in France after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

in 1944.

Notes

References

* American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas. (1946). ''Report.'' Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. * Nicholas, Lynn H. (1995)
''The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Teasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War.''
New York:

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

.
OCLC 32531154

Archival resources

Charles Maurice Fleischner papers
, Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives
LaFarge Family Papers, Yale University Library

External links

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

(

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary public broadcasting, public media organization for the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington (state), Washington. It provides news, information, and programming via television stati ...

)
"The Rape of Europa."
2006 film, aired November 24, 2008 * Monuments Men Foundation
Monuments Men> LaFarge, Maj. L. Bancel
* Obituary: Flint, Peter B

''New York Times.'' July 4, 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:LaFarge, L. Bancel 1900 births 1989 deaths Harvard College alumni Yale School of Architecture alumni Art and cultural repatriation Monuments men United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American architects United States Army officers La Farge family Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters