{"id":740,"date":"2016-11-07T12:14:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T18:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/cca\/?p=740"},"modified":"2018-01-28T16:05:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T21:05:38","slug":"eschweiler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ss.sites.mtu.edu\/cca\/eschweiler\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Chadbourne Eschweiler"},"content":{"rendered":"

by David Daavettila.<\/p>\n

Alexander Chadbourne Eschweiler (1865-1940), a major figure in Milwaukee architecture, grew up the Copper Country and through family ties became the architect for the Copper Range Company, among other commissions here.<\/p>\n

Biography<\/h3>\n
\"eschweiler\"<\/a>
Alexander Chadbourne Eschweiler. From Richard S. Davis, 50 Years of Architecture<\/i> (Milwaukee, 1943).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eschweiler was born in Boston in 1865 to Carl Ferdinand Eschweiler and Hannah Lincoln Chadbourne. His father attended the University of Bonn, in Germany, and became a mining engineer. He moved to the United States in 1852. His mother was born in Maine with ancestry that went back to 1635 in the New England area.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

When Eschweiler was still a young child the family moved to the Copper Country. Most of the schooling that he received in the sciences and arts was from his parents. The family then permanently moved to Milwaukee, where Alexander attended Marquette College for a year before going to Cornell to study architecture. He graduated from Cornell in 1890 and moved back to Milwaukee. He worked in various offices until 1892 when he went into business for himself.<\/p>\n

Eschweiler and his wife, Marie, had three sons and three daughters. All three sons followed in their father\u2019s footsteps and went first to Marquette and then on to Cornell for their education in architecture.2<\/sup>\u00a0Eschweiler ran the company alone until 1923 when he formed a partnership with his three sons. They named the firm Eschweiler & Eschweiler and bought property at 720 East Mason Street in Milwaukee to be used as offices and drafting rooms. Eschweiler & Eschweiler became a prominent Milwaukee firm that designed schools, churches, commercial buildings, residences, and industrial buildings in the Milwaukee area.<\/p>\n

Earlier in his career, Eschweiler did a fair amount of work in the Copper Country due to Eschweiler\u2019s family connections. His cousin married Frederick C. Denton, general manager of the Copper Range Consolidated Company. Denton hired Eschweiler to design buildings in Painesdale (houses, school, library, I.O.O.F. Hall), Trimountain (Superintendent\u2019s House), Baltic (office building), and Atlantic Mine (Denton\u2019s own house and Forrester Hall). Eschweiler also designed houses for Houghton\u2019s elites, as well as their clubhouse, the Houghton Club.<\/p>\n

Eschweiler was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1918. He died at home on June 12, 1940.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

For further information on his activities in Milwaukee, see his page at Urban Milwaukee Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was also a 2007 exhibition at the Charles Allis Art Museum<\/a> in Milwaukee on\u00a0\u201cAlexander Eschweiler in Milwaukee:\u00a0celebrating a rich architectural heritage,\u201d\u00a0curated by Winifred Thrall. \u00a0A catalogue by that title<\/a> was produced and may still be available from\u00a0the museum.<\/p>\n

Buildings<\/h3>\n