William Butts Ittner (September 4, 1864 – 1936) was an American architect in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Missouri. He designed over 430 school buildings in Missouri and other areas, was president of the St. Louis Chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

from 1893 to 1895, was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Missouri in 1930, served as president of the

Architectural League of America Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

during 1903–04, and at the time of his death was president of the St. Louis Plaza Commission, a fellow and life member of the American Institute of Architects, and a thirty-third degree

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

. He was described as the most influential man in school architecture in the United States and has a star on the

St. Louis Walk of Fame The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors notable people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to the culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years ther ...

. He was appointed St. Louis School Board commissioner in 1897 and is said to have designed open buildings that featured "natural lighting, inviting exteriors, and classrooms tailored to specific needs."
09-04-1864 6661 Delmar inducted 10-04-2008 St Louis Walk of Fame In 1936, Ittner died.

Background

His parents were Anthony Friday Ittner, Anthony F. and Mary Butts Ittner.Carolyn Hewes Tof
William B. Ittner, FAIA (1864–1936)
Landmarks Association of St. Louis His father worked at a lead plant and then as a bricklayer before founding Ittner Bros. with his brother Conrad in 1859. William Ittner's father (later a U.S. Congressman) helped establish the trade school from which his son graduated in 1884 "with the first class granted diplomas by Washington University's Manual Training School." He also graduated with a degree in architecture from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, traveled in Europe and married Lottie Crane Allen in St. Louis. He worked in the office of

Eames & Young Eames and Young was an American architecture firm based in St. Louis, Missouri, active nationally, and responsible for several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. History The principals were Thomas Crane Young, FAIA and Will ...

between 1889 and 1891, then practiced alone "before entering brief partnerships, first with William Foster and then with T. C. Link and Alfred Rosenheim." He was elected to the new office of Commissioner of School Buildings for the School Board of St. Louis in 1897 and remained in the position until he resigned in 1910. He continued as "consulting architect" to the Board until October 1914. His first school design was Eliot School (1898–99) and his last was Bryan Mullanphy (1914–15). RALongHS

He is credited with the design of over 430 schools nationwide and has over 35 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. E-shaped schools were said to be his trademark.

Architectural innovations

Many of the architectural planning and designs seen in schools today were developed by Ittner. Some examples include: # Integrated ventilation: Ittner designed chases to be placed behind lockers, which allowed air from inside the school to exit through chimneys. # Natural lighting: Ittner integrated large windows, skylights, and lightwells in order to introduce light inside school buildings. # Standardized plans: Ittner constructed plans that would effectively connect the specialized places of the school into one, cohesive unit. These plans included the H-Plan, I-Plan, and L-Plan. # The Community School Concept: Ittner used site planning concepts to allow school resources to be available to residents in the surrounding areas.

Projects

Residences

*6034 West Cabanne Place, St. Louis, Missouri (1891) *2137–2139 California Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri (1893) *3439 Longfellow, St. Louis, Missouri (1893) *3013 Hawthorne, St. Louis, Missouri (1894) *3435 Hawthorne, St. Louis, Missouri (1895)

Schools

* Board of Education Building, St. Louis, Missouri (1893) (NRHP) *

Arlington School The Arlington School is a private junior-senior high school, providing specialized educational services to adolescents with substantial psychiatric needs. History Arlington School is a college preparatory high school located on the grounds of Mc ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1898) (NRHP) * Jackson School, St. Louis, Missouri (1898) (NRHP) * Rock Spring School, St. Louis, Missouri (1898) (NRHP) *

Simmons Colored School Simmons Colored School is a historic building and a former African American school in The Ville neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.. It served as a historically segregated African American elementary school and middle school from 1898 unti ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1898) (NRHP) * Eugene Field School, St. Louis, Missouri (1900) (NRHP) * Wyman School, St. Louis, Missouri (1900) (NRHP) * Grant School, St. Louis, Missouri (1901) (NRHP) * Ralph Waldo Emerson School, St. Louis, Missouri (1901) (NRHP) *

Horace Mann School Horace Mann School (also known as Horace Mann or HM) is an American private, independent college-preparatory school in the Bronx, founded in 1887. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from the New Yo ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1901) (NRHP) *

Eliot School Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name has historically been given to males, females have increasingly been given the name ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1901) (NRHP) * McKinley High School, St. Louis, Missouri (1902) *

Harris Teachers College Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1906) (NRHP) *

Hempstead School Hempstead may refer to: Places England *Hempstead, Essex *Hempstead, Kent * Hempstead, near Holt, Norfolk * Hempstead, near Stalham, Norfolk *Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire United States *Hempstead, New York (disambiguation), multiple places in ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1906) (NRHP) * Gardenville School, St. Louis, Missouri (1907) * Greenville High School, Greenville, Ohio * Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri (1908) * Ralph Waldo Emerson School, Gary, Indiana (1908) (NRHP) * Carr School, St. Louis, Missouri (1908) (NRHP *

Soldan High School Soldan International Studies High School (also known as Soldan High School) is a public magnet high school in the Academy neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, that is part of St. Louis Public Schools. Soldan was known for its wea ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1909) * Wichita High School, Wichita, Kansas (1910) (NRHP) *

Jefferson High School This is a list of memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third president of the United States and the author of the United States Declaration of Independence. Buildings Elementary schools *Jefferson Elementary School, in Cammack Villa ...

, Lafayette, Indiana (1910-1911) * Central High School, South Bend, Indiana (1911) (NRHP) * Delaney School, St. Louis, Missouri (1911) (NRHP) * Mark Twain School/Goodall School, Webster Groves, Missouri (1911 & 1927) * Shelbyville High School, Shelbyville, Indiana (1911) (NRHP) *

Hume-Fogg High School Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School is a public magnet high school serving grades 9–12 and located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. History Hume School, serving the first through 12th grades, opened in 1855 on Eighth Avenue ...

, Nashville, Tennessee (1912) (NRHP) * Grover Cleveland High School, St. Louis, Missouri (1913) * Delmar-Harvard School, University City, Missouri (1913) * Thomas C. Miller Public School, Fairmont, West Virginia (1914) (NRHP) *

McClain High School McClain High School is a public high school in Greenfield, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greenfield Exempted Village Schools district. History The school was a gift to the community in 1912 from the inventor and local industrialist ...

, Greenfield, Ohio (1915) *

W. H. Adamson High School William Hardin Adamson High School, formerly Oak Cliff High School, is a Public school (government funded), public secondary school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is part of the Dallas Independent Scho ...

, Dallas, Texas (1915) *

The Wilson School The Wilson School is an independent, coeducational, preparatory school in Clayton, Missouri for students in pre-kindergarten (three years of age) through grade six. It has been in continuous operation since 1913. The Wilson School is the oldest f ...

, St Louis, Missouri (1916) *

Forest Avenue High School James Madison High School, formerly Forest Avenue High School, is a public secondary school in Dallas, Texas ( USA). Madison High School enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. The school is a D ...

, Dallas, Texas (1916) (NRHP) * Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School, Washington, D.C. (1916) (NRHP) * Marshall School, St. Louis, Missouri (1918) (NRHP) *

Frankfort Community High School Frankfort Community High School (FCHS) is a Public school (government funded), public high school located in West Frankfort, Illinois serving grades 9 to 12. The campus consists of five buildings: FCHS Main School Building, Max Morris Gymnasium, ...

, West Frankfort, Illinois (1920) * Former Niagara Falls High School, Niagara Falls, New York (1921) (NRHP) * Franklin School, St. Louis, Missouri (1923) (NRHP) * Normandy High School, Normandy, Missouri (1923) *

Belleville High School-West Belleville Township High School West (also known as Belleville West) is a public comprehensive high school in Belleville, Illinois that is part of Belleville Township High School District 201. Athletics The Maroons, as West teams are known, co ...

, Belleville, Illinois (1924) * Central High School, Columbus, Ohio (1924) Educational architecture in Ohio
: from one-room schools and Carnegie ... By Virginia Evans McCormick page 107 * Bel-Nor Elementary School, Bel-Nor, Missouri (1926) *

St. Petersburg High School St. Petersburg High School, founded in 1898, is a secondary school in the Pinellas County School District in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school's current building, a historic landmark, was built in 1926. It was designed by Missouri architect W ...

, St. Petersburg, Florida (1926) (NRHP) * Robert Alexander Long High School, Longview, Washington (1927) (NRHP) * Dunbar School, Fairmont, West Virginia (1928) (NRHP) *

Fairmont Senior High School Fairmont Senior High School, is a Public High School, public high school in Fairmont, West Virginia. The current school building, built in 1928, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Serving grades nine through twelve, it is one ...

, Fairmont, West Virginia (1928) (NRHP) * Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School, Maplewood, Missouri (1929) * Nipher Middle School, Kirkwood, Missouri (1929) *

Ramsey High School Ramsey High School, established in 1909, is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Ramsey, in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary ...

, Birmingham, Alabama (1930) * Lincoln School, Springfield, Missouri (1930) * Keysor Elementary School, Kirkwood, Missouri (1930) * Robinson Elementary School, Kirkwood, Missouri (1930) * University City High School, University City, Missouri (1930) (NRHP) * Theodore Roosevelt High School, Gary, Indiana (1930) (NRHP) * Lew Wallace School, Gary, Indiana (1930) * Bailey School, Springfield, Missouri (1931) (NRHP) * John M Vogt High School , Ferguson, Missouri (1931) * Phelps School, Springfield, Missouri (1931) * Hanley Junior High School, University City, Missouri (1936) (demolished 1985) * Morton High School, Richmond, Indiana (1939) * Park City Junior High School, Knoxville, Tennessee (NRHP) * Greenfield Educational Complex, Greenfield, Ohio** * Froebel School, Gary, Indiana (1912)(NRHP) *

, Gary, Indiana (1926) *Clark Elementary School, Webster Groves, Missouri (1948) *Edgar Road Elementary School, Webster Groves, Missouri *Goodall School, Webster Groves, Missouri (now condominiums) *Douglass Elementary School, Webster Groves, Missouri (now Douglass Manor) *

Other buildings

* Masonic Temple, Belleville, Illinois (1915) *

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Lou ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1916) (NRHP) *

Principia Page-Park YMCA Gymnasium Principia may refer to: * ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'', Isaac Newton's three-volume work about his laws of motion and universal gravitation * Principia ( "primary buildings"), the headquarters at the center of Roman forts () * ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1919) (NRHP) (significant expansion to 1910 structure designed by A.B. Groves) * Scottish Rite Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri (1921) *Ainad Temple, East St. Louis, Illinois (1922) * St. Louis Colored Orphans Home, St. Louis, Missouri (1922) (NRHP) * Masonic Temple, Webster Groves, Missouri (1923) *Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, St. Louis, Missouri (1922) (NRHP) *Masonic Temple, Maplewood, Missouri (1924) (demolished c. 1984) * Missouri State Teachers Association Building, Columbia, Missouri (1927) (NRHP) *

Continental Life Building The Continental Life Building, also known as the Continental Building, is an Art Deco skyscraper in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, which was completed in 1930. The building is located in Grand Center near St. Louis' Midtown neighborhood, a ...

, St. Louis, Missouri (1929)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ittner, William B. * 1864 births 1936 deaths Architects from St. Louis Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni 19th-century American architects 20th-century American architects