Horace Trumbauer
Alternate Names
The Office of Horace Trumbauer
Biographical InformationHorace Trumbauer (hon. A.M. 1915) was a widely-known Philadelphia-based architect active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Trumbauer initially worked as an apprentice at the office of G.W. and W.D. Hewitt. In 1890 he established his eponymous architecture firm which continued until 1950. Stylistically the work of the firm reflected the influence of Hewitt, but after some time, the firm began to design buildings inspired by various styles from 17th-18th century French architecture to Georgian and Tudor revival styles. The firm, which included Chief Designer, Julian Abele, produced many different types of buildings in several cities around the United States ranging from houses, hotels, hospitals, academic buildings, and institutional buildings.
Some of noted works of the firm are the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia, buildings on Duke University Campuses, the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library on Harvard University’s campus.
The firm was also known as The Office of Horace Trumbauer beginning in the 1930s.
Julian Abele and William O. Frank continued the firm, after Trumbauer’s death in 1938 until 1950 when Abele died.
Related Buildings / SitesRelated ProjectsReferences
Platt, Fredierick. "Horace Trumbauer: A Life in Architecture." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vol. 125, no. 4, 2001, pp. 315-349.
“Horace Trumbauer.” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11367053.
“Trumbauer, Horace (1868 – 1938).” Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/21596.
“Horace Trumbauer.” New York Architects, http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ARCH-Trumbauer.htm