Alfred Zucker

Decker Building, New York, NY. 1892-93.
Baudouine Building, New York, NY. 1895-96.
Hotel Plaza, Buenos Aires. 1905-09.

Alfred J. R. E. Zucker (January 23, 1852, Freiburg, Silesia – August 2, 1913, Buenos Aires, Argentina)[1] was a successful German-American architect, who worked in Galveston, Texas, Mississippi, New York City, and Buenos Aires.

Alfred Zucker was born on January 23, 1852 in the town of Freiburg, Silesia, Prussia (since 1945 Świebodzice, Poland). He was educated at the Hannover Polytechnische Schule and the Bauakademie. He worked briefly for the government before immigrating to the United States in 1872, arriving at New York. From 1873 to 1876 he worked in the Office of the Supervising Architect, in Washington, DC. [2]

In 1877, Zucker relocated to the coastal city of Galveston. There, he became the partner of John Moser (1832-1905), an architect who moved there from Toledo, Ohio.[3] Zucker married his sister, Augusta Moser. She died in 1878 in the yellow fever epidemic. Zucker then left to establish a branch office of the firm in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The partnership lasted until 1880, when Moser relocated to Atlanta.[4] By virtue of the firm's design for the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College at Starkville, Zucker was appointed State Architect of Mississippi. Due to his poor health, Zucker resigned from his position in 1882 and returned to Europe. The following year, he returned to New York and found work in the office of noted architect Henry Fernbach. Upon Fernbach's death that same year, Zucker founded the firm of Alfred Zucker & Company, with John R. Hinchman as his partner. This association lasted until 1889, after which both Zucker and Hinchman practiced alone. From 1891 to 1893 Zucker employed John H. Edelmann as a designer in his office. Edelmann is known to have designed full buildings for Zucker, most prominently the Decker Building. Edelmann left after 1893, but his work inspired Zucker's later designs until at least 1901.

After 1896, there was less and less work in Zucker's office. As a cost-saving measure, in 1897 he made several employees partners in the firm. These former employees received a fraction of the payments from each design executed, relieving Zucker of the worries of regular wages. Near the end of his American career, Zucker was associated with J. Riely Gordon, a noted architect of public buildings. Gordon was the probable designer of Zucker's Wilkinson County Courthouse in Woodville, MS, which follows Gordon's standard plan. It was his association with Gordon that ended Zucker's American career. In 1904 he fled with his family to Buenos Aires. His goal was to avoid a "$100,000 suit filed by Gordon, who alleged fraud and misrepresentation".[5] He would have a successful practice in Buenos Aires, dying there in 1913. He would remarry, to Jennie Nace Brooke (1861-1959). He is buried in the Cementerio de la Chacarita, in the British section.[6]

Works

Further reading

References

  1. Alfred Zucker Guillermo Bindon October 28, 2010 British Cemetery Corporation in Argentina
  2. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  3. Fetherolf, Grace Moser. James Henry Moser, His Brush and His Pen. 1982.
  4. Scardino, Berrie. Clayton's Galveston: The Architecture of Nicholas J. Clayton and His Contemporaries. College Station, Texas A&M University Press, 2000.
  5. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  6. Alfred Zucker Find a Grave
  7. Alexander, Denise. Images of America: Galveston's Historic Downtown and Strand District. Charleston: Arcadia, 2010.
  8. Davis, Bryan M. Images of America: Lost Galveston. Charleston: Arcadia, 2010.
  9. Alexander, Denise. Images of America: Galveston's Historic Downtown and Strand District. Charleston: Arcadia, 2010.
  10. Biennial Report of the Departments and Benevolent Institutions of the State of Mississippi, 1878, 1879. Jackson: J. L. Power, 1880.
  11. Sanders, Todd. Jackson's North State Street. Charleston: Arcadia, 2009.
  12. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  13. American Architect and Building News 16 Aug. 1884: 84.
  14. Sanitary Engineer 21 Feb. 1884: 294.
  15. American Architect and Building News 27 June 1885: 311.
  16. Sanitary Engineer 13 Aug. 1885: 216.
  17. Engineering News and American Contract Record 3 Jan. 1886: 31.
  18. Manufacturer and Builder March 1887: 66.
  19. Engineering and Building Record 9 June 1888: 24.
  20. Building 3 March 1888: 4.
  21. Dolkart, Andrew. Guide to New York City Landmarks. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
  22. Engineering and Building Record 15 Feb. 1890: 176.
  23. Engineering and Building Record 25 Feb. 1890: 128.
  24. Engineering and Building Record 29 March 1890: 272.
  25. Miller, Tom. "Alfred Zucker's 1892 No. 12 Waverly Place". http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/. 4 March 2015. Web.
  26. Miller, Tom. "Alfred Zucker's 1892 No. 12 Waverly Place". http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/. 4 March 2015. Web.
  27. White, Norval and Elliot Willensky. AIA Guide to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  28. White, Norval and Elliot Willensky. AIA Guide to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  29. Engineering Record 30 May 1891: 434.
  30. Engineering Record 16 May 1891: 402.
  31. American Architect and Building News 9 April 1892: xx.
  32. White, Norval and Elliot Willensky. AIA Guide to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  33. Dolkart, Andrew. Guide to New York City Landmarks. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
  34. American Architect and Building News 9 April 1892: xx.
  35. Dolkart, Andrew. Guide to New York City Landmarks. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
  36. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  37. Engineering Record 9 June 1894: 33.
  38. Engineering Record 13 Oct. 1894: 334.
  39. Engineering Record 3 Feb. 1894: 165.
  40. Engineering Record 7 July 1894: 99.
  41. Engineering Record 26 May 1894: 421.
  42. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  43. White, Norval and Elliot Willensky. AIA Guide to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  44. Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 7 Dec. 1895: 802.
  45. American Architect and Building News 25 June 1898: xi.
  46. Engineering Record 8 April 1899: 488.
  47. Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide 20 July 1901: 76.
  48. Engineering Record 30 Nov. 1901: 535.
  49. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html
  50. Cody, Jeffrey W. Exporting American Architecture 1870-2000. London: Routledge, 2002.
  51. Historias de la ciudad: una revista de Buenos Aires, Issues 7-12. 2000.
  52. Romero, Susana Antero. La Inmigración a través de la Literatura. Argentina (1900-1920). Buenos Aires: Editorial Dunken, 2014.
  53. Bulletin of the Pan American Union July 1913: 254.
  54. Cody, Jeffrey W. Exporting American Architecture 1870-2000. London: Routledge, 2002.
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