Edmond Jacques Eckel

Edmond J. Eckel FAIA (June 22, 1845 – December 12, 1934) was an architect in practice in St. Joseph, Missouri, from 1872 until his death in 1934. In 1880 he was the founder of Eckel & Mann, later Eckel & Aldrich and Brunner & Brunner, which was the oldest architectural firm in Missouri prior to its eventual dissolution in 1999.

Edmond J. Eckel
Edmond J. Eckel, circa 1915
Born(1845-06-22)June 22, 1845
Strasbourg, Alsace, France
DiedDecember 12, 1934(1934-12-12) (aged 89)
St. Joseph, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
AwardsFellow, American Institute of Architects (1889)
The house of William Wyeth, now known as the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, in St. Joseph, designed by Boettner & Eckel and completed in 1879.
The buildings of Wholesale Row in St. Joseph, designed by Eckel & Mann for several clients and built between 1880 and 1884.
The houses of Adam N. Schuster (right) and James W. Hingston (left) in St. Joseph, designed by Eckel & Mann and completed in 1881 and 1888, respectively.
The former Pottawattamie County Courthouse in Council Bluffs, Iowa, designed by Eckel & Mann and completed in 1888.
The former Central Police Station in St. Joseph, designed by Eckel & Mann and completed in 1891.
The Livestock Exchange Building in St. Joseph, designed by Eckel and completed in 1899.
The downtown branch of the St. Joseph Public Library, designed by Eckel and completed in 1902.
The Dr. Jacob Geiger House-Maud Wyeth Painter House in St. Joseph, designed by Eckel & Aldrich and completed in 1912.
The St. Joseph City Hall, designed by Eckel & Aldrich and completed in 1927.
The DeKalb County Courthouse in Maysville, Missouri, designed by Eckel & Aldrich and completed in 1939.

Life and career

Edmond Jacques Eckel was born June 22, 1845, in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, to Jacques Eckel, a manufacturer, and Louise Elizabeth Caroline (Schweighaeuser) Eckel. He was educated at what is now the Jean Sturm Gymnasium and studied architecture under the city architect of Strasbourg.[1] In 1863 he moved to Paris to continue his education and studied in the Beaux-Arts ateliers of Alexis Paccard and Léon Vaudoyer. He was admitted to the second, or junior, class of the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in 1866 but left without graduating in 1868.[2] Eckel then immigrated to the United States and lived first in New York City and Cleveland. In 1869 he decided to move on to Kansas City, Missouri, but a railroad layover in St. Joseph, about fifty miles north of Kansas City, prompted him to stay and settle.[1] He worked as a drafter for local architects Patrick F. Meagher and Stigers & Boettner before briefly opening his own office in 1872. He returned to Stigers & Boettner in 1874 as a junior partner and in 1877, upon the retirement of the senior partner, a full partner in Boettner & Eckel.[3]

In 1880 Boettner and Eckel dissolved their partnership, and Eckel formed a new firm, Eckel & Mann, with George R. Mann, a former employee of Boettner & Eckel.[1] Circa 1888 they were joined by Harvey Ellis, an itinerant designer from Rochester, New York. Ellis excerted a large influence on his employers and has been credited with the design of the German-American Bank Building (1889) and had a part in the firm's competition-winning design for the St. Louis City Hall. Mann and Ellis moved to St. Louis to manage the project, and Eckel and Mann dissolved their partnership in 1892. Eckel briefly formed the partnership of Eckel & van Brunt with John van Brunt, an architect from Kansas City, but this was dissolved within a few months.[3] Eckel then worked as a sole practitioner until 1908, when he formed the partnership of Eckel & Boschen with Walter Boschen, a young architect from New York City. This was dissolved in 1910 and Eckel formed another partnership, Eckel & Aldrich, with George R. Eckel, his son, and Will S. Aldrich, a former employee of McKim, Mead & White.[1][3] In 1920 Eckel stepped down as the firm's senior partner, but he remained involved in the firm's projects until his death in 1934.[4][3]

Eckel joined the Western Association of Architects (WAA) in 1885 as a fellow. When the WAA was merged into the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1889, Eckel became a fellow of the AIA.[5] In 1912 he was a founder of the short-lived St. Joseph Society of Architects and served as its first president.[6]

Personal life

Eckel was married in 1875 to Minnie Louise Schroers in St. Joseph. They had four children: Edmond George Eckel, Minnie Albertine (Eckel) Agnew, Elvie Emilie (Eckel) Forgrave and George Robert Eckel. His home, built in St. Joseph in 1885, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 but has been demolished. He was a member of the Masons, the Elks, the Benton Club and the St. Joseph Country Club. Eckel died December 12, 1934, in St. Joseph at the age of 89.[1]

Legacy

During his career Eckel was the leading architect in St. Joseph and was well-known throughout the state and the region.[1] During a career spanning over sixty years, Eckel was responsible for major works in the eclectic styles of the Gilded Age. He embraced the revival of Neoclassical architecture brought on by the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and was thereafter responsible for a number of works informed by his Beaux-Arts education, including the Livestock Exchange Building (1899), the St. Joseph Public Library (1902) and the St. Joseph City Hall (1927), among others.[3] In 1912 Eckel & Aldrich were the only Missouri architects invited to participate in the second competition to design the Missouri State Capitol, and in 1927 were again the only Missourians invited to participate in a similar competition for the Milwaukee County Courthouse.[7]

Eckel's firm outlived his death by over sixty years. Eckel & Aldrich continued under the leadership of Aldrich and the younger Eckel until their deaths in 1947 and 1959, respectively. In 1960 the firm was reorganized as Brunner & Brunner by their associate, Otto Brunner (1896–1974), and his son William A. Brunner (1930–2014). When Brunner & Brunner was dissolved in 1999 it was the oldest architectural firm in practice in Missouri.[lower-alpha 1] The firm's assets were acquired by River Bluff Architects, who in 2008 donated Eckel and Brunner's papers to the St. Joseph Museums, where several of Eckel's drawings are exhibited. River Bluff Architects suspended practice c. 2020 and was administratively dissolved by the State of Missouri in 2022.[10]

A number of Eckel's and the firms' works are listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places, with various spelling errors.[11]

Architectural works

Stigers, Boettner & Company, 1874–1877

Boettner & Eckel, 1877–1880

Eckel & Mann, 1880–1892

Eckel & van Brunt, 1892

Edmond J. Eckel, 1892–1910

Eckel & Boschen, 1908–1910

Eckel & Aldrich, 1910–1959

See also

Notes
  1. The referenced list of firms contains two relevant errors. It gives a founding date of 1872 for Brunner & Brunner rather than 1880, the year Eckel established his own office, and includes the Austin Company of Kansas City with a founding date of 1878. The Austin Company was established as a contractor and did not incorporate a design practice until 1904.[8][9]
  2. A contributing resource to the St. Joseph's Commerce and Banking Historic District, NRHP-listed in 2001.
  3. A contributing resource to the Museum Hill Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1991.
  4. A contributing resource to the Hall Street Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1979.
  5. Formerly a contributing resource to the Robidoux Hill Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1989.
  6. Presently a bed and breakfast known as Shakespeare Chateau.
  7. A contributing resource to the South Fourth Street Commercial Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1991.
  8. A contributing resource to the Kemper Addition Historic District, NRHP-listed in 2002.
  9. A contributing resource to the Central-North Commercial Historic District, NRHP-listed in 1991.
  10. A contributing resource to the Krug Park Place Historic District, NRHP-listed in 2002.
  11. A contributing resource to the Patee Town Historic District, NRHP-listed in 2002.

References
  1. "Eckel, Edmond Jacques" in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography 41 (New York: James T. White & Company, 1956): 324-325.
  2. E. Delaire, Les Architectes: Élèves de l'École des Beaux-Arts (Paris: Librairie de la Construction Moderne, 1907): 254.
  3. Toni M. Prawl, "Eckel, Edmond Jacques (1845–1934)" in Dictionary of Missouri Biography, ed. Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer and Kenneth H. Winn (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999): 372-373.
  4. "Eckel, George R." in Who's Who in the Midwest (Chicago: A. N. Marquis Company, 1949): 387.
  5. "Edmond J. Eckel (1845-1934)," AIA Historical Directory of American Architects, no date. Accessed April 14, 2023.
  6. "St. Joseph Architects Organize" in Construction News 34, no. 9 (November 9, 1912): 8.
  7. “Honor Accorded A St. Joseph Firm: Eckel & Aldrich Asked to Submit Plans for Six Million Dollar Structure,” The St. Joseph Observer, Feb. 24, 1927, pg. 1.
  8. "Oldest Practicing Architecture Firms in the United States" in Almanac of Architecture and Design, ed. James P. Cramer and Jennifer Evans Yankopolus (Norcross: Greenway Publications, 2002): 371.
  9. Honoring Our Past, Growing into the Future," The Austin Company, no date. Accessed April 14, 2023.
  10. Missouri corporation records
  11. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  12. St. Joseph's Commerce and Banking Historic District NRHP Registration Form (2001)
  13. Museum Hill Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1991)
  14. Wholesale Row NRHP Registration Form (1977)
  15. Hall Street Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1979)
  16. Atchison County
  17. Nodaway County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1979)
  18. Hamilton House (1985)
  19. Ringgold County
  20. Gentry County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1980)
  21. DeKalb County Courthouse NRHP Registration Form (1998)
  22. Edmond Jacques Eckel House (1980)
  23. Nathan Phipps and Elmarine Ogden Mansion
  24. Pottawattamie County
  25. South Fourth Street Commercial Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1991)
  26. Virginia Flats NRHP Registration Form (1992)
  27. German-American Bank Building (1978)
  28. Kemper Addition Historic District NRHP Registration Form (2002)
  29. Central Police Station NRHP Registration Form (2009)
  30. Central-North Commercial Historic District NRHP Registration Form (1990)
  31. "Out Illustrations" in Inland Architect and News Record 29, no. 4 (May, 1892): 52.
  32. Krug Park Place Historic District NRHP Registration Form (2002)
  33. Livestock Exchange Building NRHP Registration Form (2004)
  34. City Hose Company No. 9 NRHP Registration Form (1985)
  35. Samuel and Pauline Peery House NRHP Registration Form (2005)
  36. St. Joseph Public Library NRHP Registration Form (1982)
  37. Miller-Porter-Lacy House NRHP Registration Form (1982)
  38. St. Joseph Public Library-Carnegie Branch NRHP Registration Form (1999)
  39. Albany Carnegie Public Library NRHP Registration Form (1990)
  40. Robidoux School NRHP Registration Form (1983)
  41. "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 6/16/14 through 6/27/14. National Park Service. 2014-07-03.
  42. St. Joseph City Hall NRHP Registration Form (1985)
  43. Corby–Forsee Building NRHP Registration Form (1980)
  44. Patee Town Historic District NRHP Registration Form (2002)
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