Hugo Kafka

Hugo Kafka, AIA, (May, 1843[1]–April 1915)[2] was a Czech-American architect and founding associate of the predecessor firm of Alfred B. Mullett & Sons, as well as William Schickel & Company; he ran his own firm, Hugo Kafka in the early twentieth century, later renamed Hugo Kafka & Sons.

Hugo Kafka
Born1843
Austria-Hungary
Died1915
New Rochelle, New York, United States
NationalityUSA, Austria-Hungary
Known forArchitect

Life

Kafka was born in 1843 in Austria-Hungary, "graduated from the Polytechnikum in Zurich, Switzerland studying under Gottfried Semper. He came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1874 to work with Hermann Schwartzmann, architect-in-chief for the buildings of the Centennial Exposition, and practiced in New York City from 1877 to 1903." He became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1876 and a founding associate of the predecessor firm of Alfred B. Mullett & Sons, with Alfred B. Mullett and William G. Steinmetz in 1882. In 1885 along with J. William Schickel (1850–1907) and Isaac E. Ditmars (1850–1934), he was a founding associate of William Scheckel & Company, which later became Scheckel & Ditmars. He died April 28, 1913 in New Rochelle, New York.[3] Working for himself in the twentieth century, his firm's address was at 99 Nassau Street; the firm's name was Hugo Kafka, and Hugo Kafka & Sons after 1905 at 34 W 26th Street.[4]

One of his finest house designs is the Leonard and Annie Wiederer House (1887–1888), 387 St. Paul's Avenue (formerly Mud Lane), Staten Island, a three-story 4,500-square-foot (420 m2) Queen Anne-style mansion of 24-room, including eight bedrooms, two kitchens and six fireplaces, each of a different design.[5] It was built by the German-born beer baron named George Bechtel as a bridal gift to his daughter Annie on her marriage to Leonard Wiederer.[6]

He died April 28, 1915, aged 70, at his home at 49 Washington Avenue, New Rochelle, New York.[2]

Works
  • Leonard and Annie Wiederer House (1887–1888), 387 St. Paul's Avenue, Staten Island
  • 153-155 West 43rd Street (1903), a 12-story brick and stone hotel, built for the estate of Ogden Goelet for $210,000[4]
  • West 176th Street, west of Amsterdam Avenue (1905), four five-story brick and stone tenements built for Winslow Realty Co. for $160,000.[4]
  • Mill[7]
  • "The Summersby" (1894), 342-344 West 56th Street, 7-story brick and limestone flats

References
  1. Census 1900. "Ancestry.com".
  2. ObituariesNY Times. April 30, 1915.
  3. Hugo Kafka at archINFORM
  4. |Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," 5 Feb 2010
  5. Travels of St. Paul's Avenue, Staten Island
  6. Rosenblum, Constance. "HABITATS: For a Family, Elaborate Elbow Room." New York Times June 26, 2009.
  7. Gray, Christopher (August 6, 1989). "STREETSCAPES: The Loth Silk Factory; A Ghost Coming to Life In Washington Heights". The New York Times.
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