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Childs & Smith
Practice information
PartnersFrank A. Childs FAIA; William Jones Smith FAIA SADG; O. H. Breidert; Joseph F. Ringhofer; Charles R. Kuglin ASHRAE; Ray Stuermer AIA; William J. Scheidemantel AIA; David J. Tamminga AIA
FoundersChilds and Smith
Founded1912
Dissolved1970
LocationChicago
The Lawrence Memorial Chapel of Lawrence University, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1919.
The Hardware Mutual Insurance Companies Building in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in phases beginning in 1922.
The First National Bank Building in Davenport, Iowa, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1923.
The former offices of the Northern States Life Insurance Company in Hammond, Indiana, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1926.
Jackson High School, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1927.
Bartlett Hall of Alfred University, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1931.
The Campana Factory in Batavia, Illinois, designed by associated architects Childs & Smith and Frank D. Chase and completed in 1936.
The former offices of the Employers Mutual Liability Company in Wausau, Wisconsin, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in phases beginning in 1941.
Maine West High School, designed by Childs & Smith and completed in 1959.

Childs & Smith was an American architectural firm active in Chicago from 1912 until 1970, when it was acquired by Welton Becket & Associates of Los Angeles. The founders and named partners of the firm were Frank A. Childs and William Jones Smith.

History

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The partnership of Childs & Smith was established in 1912 by architects Frank A. Childs and William Jones Smith, both employees of Holabird & Roche who had received a Beaux-Arts education.[1] Their first office was located in the Peoples Gas Building, but in 1919 they moved to Steinway Hall, a center of the architectural profession in Chicago.[2] The partnership was expanded in 1919 and 1947 to include architects O. H. Breidert[3] and Joseph F. Ringhofer and in 1953 to include mechanical engineer Charles R. Kuglin.[4] The firm's expansion necessitated several moves to larger offices, and in 1947 they settled into the Civic Opera Building.[5] Childs, Smith and Breidert were the chief designers of the firm's works. Childs was generally responsible for schools, Smith for bank, office and college buildings and Breidert for industrial as well as office buildings. This was, however, not the rule, and the partner who brought a project into the firm would see it to completion.[3]

Smith died in 1958. The firm was incorporated in 1960 with Breidert as president and Childs as chair of the board of directors. During the next few years Childs withdrew from practice and the firm added new principals: Ray Stuermer in 1962,[6] William J. Scheidemantel in 1964 and David J. Tamminga in 1965.[7] Childs died in the latter year and Stuermer and Scheidemantel left in 1966 and 1969,[8] respectively, leaving Breidert, Kuglin, Ringhofer and Tamminga as principals.

In 1970 the firm was acquired by Welton Becket & Associates, a large firm based in Los Angeles, and was reorganized as its Chicago office.[9] Breidert retired and Kuglin and Tamminga became senior vice presidents of the Becket firm, with Kuglin being appointed director of the Chicago office and Tamminga as director of production. In 1974 the firm moved from its long-time home in the Civic Opera Building to the 200 West Monroe Building, an office building which the office had completed in 1973.[10] Shortly thereafter Kuglin retired as director and was replaced by George S. Hammond, a Becket employee since 1958.[11][12] In 1976 Tamminga, the last remaining principal of Childs & Smith, left to join Burnham & Hammond.[7]

Partner biographies

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Frank A. Childs

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Frank Aiken Childs FAIA (January 12, 1875 – January 25, 1965) was born in Evanston, Illinois. He was educated at the Armour Institute, graduating in 1895. He spent the next ten years working for Chicago architects, including three years each with George W. Maher and James Gamble Rogers. In 1905 he went to Paris, where he studied for the next two years in the Beaux-Arts atelier of Gustave Umbdenstock, though he was not admitted to the school itself. He returned to the United States in 1907 and went to San Francisco, where he worked for Llewellyn B. Dutton until 1909, when he returned to Chicago to work for Holabird & Roche.[1][13]

Childs was a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was elected a Fellow in 1955 for design.[14]

Childs did not marry. He died in a nursing home in Niles at the age of 90.[14]

William Jones Smith

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William Jones Smith FAIA SADG (May 26, 1881 – January 22, 1958) was born in Philadelphia. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1903 with a BS in architecture. He then traveled to Paris, where he joined the Beaux-Arts atelier of Gaston Redon. He was admitted to the second class of the École des Beaux-Arts the same year. He was promoted to the first class in 1905 and awarded a diplôme in 1907.[15] He then returned to the United States and joined the office of Cass Gilbert in New York City. He worked for Gilbert for two years and worked on the plans for the St. Louis Public Library. In 1909 he moved to Chicago where he joined Childs at Holabird & Roche, for which firm he worked as chief designer.[1][16]

From 1924 to 1929 Smith was associate professor at the Armour Institute, teaching senior architectural design courses. He served in both world wars. In World War I he served in the 319th engineers of the 8th Infantry Division, which did not see combat. In World War II he served as an engineer for the war department and was a coordinator in charge of the construction of a segment of the Pentagon.[17]

Like Childs, Smith was a member of the AIA and was elected a Fellow in 1935, also for design. He was also a member of the Société des architectes diplômés par le gouvernement (SADG), then an organization representing graduates in architecture from the École des Beaux-Arts. That organization is now the Société française des architectes, the French equivalent of the AIA.[17]

Smith was married in 1914 to Mary Van Horne, then librarian of the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago. They had three children, all sons. He died in Winnetka at the age of 76.[17]

Architectural works

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d NRHP-listed.
  2. ^ a b c Demolished.
  3. ^ Designed by Childs & Smith and Frank D. Chase, associated architects. NRHP-listed.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Architectural Firm of Childs & Smith" in Construction News 34, no. 10 (September 7, 1912): 12.
  2. ^ "Business Notices" in American Contractor 40, no. 3 (January 18, 1919): 39.
  3. ^ a b c "In This Issue" in Pencil Points (January, 1942): 10.
  4. ^ American School Board Journal 126 (March, 1953): 10.
  5. ^ "New Addresses" in Architectural Record 101, no. 6 (June, 1947): 160.
  6. ^ "Notices" in Progressive Architecture 43, no. 1 (January, 1962): 216.
  7. ^ a b "Tamminga, David Jacob" in Who's Who in the Midwest, 16th ed. (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1978): 693.
  8. ^ Stuermer, Ray" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 685.
  9. ^ Interiors 129, no. 8 (March, 1970): 30.
  10. ^ Inland Architect 18, no. 9 (September, 1974): 25.
  11. ^ Realty and Building 172, no. 23 (December 7, 1974): 13.
  12. ^ "Hammond, George Starr" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 370.
  13. ^ "Childs, Frank A(iken)" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 92.
  14. ^ a b "Plan Services For Architect Frank A. Childs," Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1965, 6.
  15. ^ E. Delaire, Les Architectes: Élèves de l'École des Beaux-Arts (Paris: Librairie de la Construction Moderne, 1907)
  16. ^ "Smith, William Jones" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 521.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Earl H. Reed, "William Jones Smith, F.A.I.A." in Inland Architect (April, 1958): 10-11.
  18. ^ a b c Frank A. Randall, History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999)
  19. ^ Du Page County: A Discriptive and Historical Guide, ed. Marion Knoblauch (Wheaton: Du Page Title Company, 1951): 183.
  20. ^ Engineering News-Record 105, no. 6 (July 7, 1930): 71.
  21. ^ Engineering News-Record 106, no. 10 (March 5, 1931): 69.
  22. ^ "New Babcock Hall Plans To Include Modern Features," Fiat Lux, April 16, 1929, 1.
  23. ^ https://www.ne.anl.gov/About/legacy/materials/
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