William G. Steinmetz

William G. Steinmetz
Nationality	USA
Known for	Architect

William G. Steinmetz, AIA, was an American architect who practiced in New York City as a founding associate of A.B. Mullet & Company with Alfred Bult Mullett (-1890) and Hugo Kafka (1843–1913) before the former founded Alfred B. Mullet & Sons, and the later formed William Schickel & Company^[1]

Steinmetz worked with noted Boston-architect Paul Schulze (1827/28-1897) from 1875 to 1876.^[2]

Involvement with Mullet's City Hall Post Office, New York City

In Mullet's firm, Steinmetz was the superintendent of construction of Mullet's famous Second Empire-style New York City Central Post Office (near City Hall, demolished 1939) but was dismissed in early 1877 a few months before a section of the mansard roof collapsed and killed four workers. Steinmetz had been replaced by Thomas A. Oakshott and "Mullet seized the opportunity to ascribe the accident to the dismissal of Steinmetz. A grand jury investigation into the accident revealed the roof truss had not been property bolted to the framing. Oakshott, neither an architect nor an engineer, was apparently uninformed to the construction or placement of the roof truss." Oakshott was dismissed and replaced by Thomas J. Jackson, an older architect.^[3]

References

1. | "Biographical Dictionary of Cincinnati Architects, 1788-1940"
2. | "Winterthur Library"
3. | Lee, Antoinette J.Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p.130-131.