George Henry Griebel

George Henry Griebel

Grand Staircase, Library of Congress , Washington, DC

Dakota Building , New York

Geronimo , leaning against the wall of the Quadrangle after his capture in 1886

George Henry Griebel , baptized Georg Heinrich Griebel , (born August 13, 1846 in Berlin , † March 1933 in New York , NY ) was a German - American architect.

family

Griebel came from a family of musicians who had worked at the Prussian court for several generations . His father Julius Heinrich Griebel (1809–1865) was one of the most important cellists of the 19th century, solo cellist of the Royal Court Orchestra in Berlin, member of the Zimmermann Quartet and cello teacher. His grandfather Johann Heinrich Griebel (1772–1852), who was second married to Ludovica Jauch , was a bassoonist in the royal court orchestra and the first teacher of the opera composer Albert Lortzing . His uncles, the oboist Heinrich Franz Griebel and the German-Canadian violinist and composer Ferdinand (Frederick) Griebel (1819–1858) were also members of the Royal Court Orchestra. Ferdinand Griebel left Germany in 1848, was later a member of the Germania Society Orchestra in Boston and most recently concertmaster of the Toronto Philharmonic Society .

life and work

Griebel was trained at the Prussian Military Academy for the engineering corps . In 1865 he left the Prussian Army and emigrated to the USA with his brother Maximilian, a violinist . He continued his studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC . In 1869 he accepted a position in the United States Department of War as architect and engineer for the Quartermaster General . Relocated to San Antonio , Texas , in 1871 he built the "quadrangle" of Fort Sam Houston , in which the Indian chief Geronimo was imprisoned in 1886 - today the headquarters of the 5th US Army and, like other Griebels buildings, a cultural monument in the National Register of Historic Places .

He designed the grand staircase of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and built on the Grand Row on the site of today's Folger Shakespeare Library brick villas as residences for diplomats, but mostly by members of Congress were purchased.

In 1880 Griebel moved to New York and married Frances Bourne, with whom he had three children, including the composer Edna B. Griebel. In New York he built numerous buildings, including the Dakota Building , which he designed for the architectural office of Henry Janeway Hardenbergh with Karl Jacobsen and which he directed. Since at that time architects were not named as builders of buildings who did not have their own company, Griebel is regularly not mentioned as an architect for this and other buildings, but the architecture offices he worked for. In fact, the Singer Manufacturing Company's Office Building , Third Avenue and Sixteenth Street, fourteen houses on West Eighty-fifth Street and West Seventy-third Street, 1902–1904 the Barnett Store, Seventy-fourth Street and Columbus Avenue, and that go back to him Aschenbroedel Clubhouse, 144 East 86th Street, Yorkville. In recognition of his services, Griebel became a member of the club for life. The club had been founded by emigrated German musicians who had to fight for recognition, but soon developed into one of the leading societies in New York. Other buildings were the Unger Storage and Power Building, 46 Huston Street, 1891 the building 201 East 16th Street and 1894-1895 the Ahrens Building, 70-76 Lafayette Street. Mention should also be made of the Majestic Apartment House at the corner of St. Nicholas and One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street.

Griebel last lived at 489 Fifth Avenue and died in a car accident.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cello Playing in 19th Century Germany - Part Two. In: Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski : The Violoncello and its History. 1894.
2. ^ Helmut Kallmann , Ferdinand (Frederick) Griebel , in: George Williams Brown, Francess G. Halpenny, Ramsay Cook, David M. Hayne, Dictionary of Canadian Biography: 1851-1860 , Toronto 1985; Text version online
3. ↑ Geronimo in the quadrangle of Fort Sam Houston ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Illustration)  
4. ^ History and commerce of New York , New York 1891, p. 122.
5. ^ Overview of works by Daniel van Pelt: Leslie's History of the Greater New York. New York 1898.
6. ^ Norval White, Elliot Willensky: A Guide to New York City. 2000, p. 363.
7. ↑ Landmarks Preservation Commission ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 24 kB), p. 4. 
8. ↑ PDF at www.nyc.gov ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ^ Years of Prosperity. Successful Career of the Aschebroedel Verein. In: New York Times , Jan. 26, 1896, p. 6.
10. ↑ Christopher Gray: A 6th Ave. Automat Sign, Wanamaker's Walkway. In: The New York Times , 1, 1997, Section 9, p. 5, New York Edition.
11. ↑ Andrew Dolkart, Matthew A. Postal: Guide to New York City Landmarks. New York 2003, p. 31.
12. ^ New York City Architecture , 1969, p. 64.