Edmond J. EckelFAIA (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.
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.[a] 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]
^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]
^ abcdeToni 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.
^"Edmond J. Eckel (1845-1934)," AIA Historical Directory of American Architects, no date. Accessed April 14, 2023.
^"St. Joseph Architects Organize" in Construction News 34, no. 9 (November 9, 1912): 8.
^“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.
^"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.
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