Galveston Cotton Exchange Building, 2102 Mechanic St

Decker Building, 33 Union Square West, NYC (2008)

Alfred J. R. E. Zucker (January 23, 1852 – August 2, 1913)
Guillermo Bindon October 28, 2010 British Cemetery Corporation in Argentina was a German-American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, who worked in Galveston, Texas,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Alfred Zucker was born on January 23, 1852, in the town of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

(since 1945 Świebodzice, Poland). He was educated at the Hannover Polytechnische Schule and the Bauakademie. He worked briefly for the government before immigrating to the United States in 1872, arriving at New York. From 1873 to 1876 he worked in the

Office of the Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

, in Washington, D.C. In 1877, Zucker relocated to the coastal city of Galveston. There, he became the partner of John Moser (1832-1904), an architect who moved there from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. Zucker married Moser's daughter, Augusta ("Gussie") Emilia Moser. She died in 1878 in the yellow fever epidemic in

Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat, and the population at the 2010 census was 23,856. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vi ...

, just three months after their marriage. Zucker had left to establish a branch office of the firm in Vicksburg. The partnership lasted until 1880, when Moser relocated to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. By virtue of the firm's design for the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College at Starkville, Zucker was appointed State Architect of Mississippi. Due to his poor health, Zucker resigned from his position in 1882 and returned to Europe. The following year, he returned to New York and found work in the office of noted architect

Henry Fernbach Henry Fernbach (18291883) was an architect in New York City. Born in Breslau in Germany, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1848 or in 1855. Life Fernbach was a Prussian Jew,John H. Edelmann as a designer in his office. Edelmann is known to have designed full buildings for Zucker, most prominently the

Decker Building The Decker Building (also the Union Building) is a commercial building located at 33 Union Square West in Manhattan, New York City. The structure was completed in 1892 for the Decker Brothers piano company, and designed by John H. Edelmann. Fro ...

. Edelmann left after 1893, but his work inspired Zucker's later designs until at least 1901. After 1896, there was less and less work in Zucker's office. As a cost-saving measure, in 1897 he made several employees partners in the firm. These former employees received a fraction of the payments from each design executed, relieving Zucker of the worries of regular wages. Near the end of his American career, Zucker was associated with J. Riely Gordon, a noted architect of public buildings. Gordon was the probable designer of Zucker's Wilkinson County Courthouse in Woodville, Mississippi, which follows Gordon's standard plan. It was his association with Gordon that ended Zucker's American career. In 1904 he fled with his family to

. His goal was to avoid a "$100,000 suit filed by Gordon, who alleged fraud and misrepresentation". He would have a successful practice in Buenos Aires, dying there in 1913. He would remarry, to Jennie Nace Brooke (1861-1959). He is buried in the Cementerio de la Chacarita, in the British section.

Works

* Clara Lang Building, 2109 Strand St., Galveston, Texas (1877) – ''originally four stories, but the upper two were destroyed in the Hurricane of 1900'' * Galveston Cotton Exchange Building, 2102 Mechanic St., Galveston, Texas (1878) – ''demolished in 1940'' * Herman Marwitz & Co. Building, 306 22nd St., Galveston, Texas (1878) * Old Main, Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, Starkville, Mississippi (1879–80) – burned in 1959 * Mississippi Institute for the Blind, 605 E. Fortification St.,

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

(1881) – demolished * East Mississippi State Insane Asylum, 4555 Highland Park Dr., Meridian, Mississippi (1882–84) – Extant but wholly remodeled. * 241 West Broadway, New York, New York (1884) * Cohnfeld Building, 106 Bleecker St., New York, New York (1884) – burned in 1891 * 433 Broadway, New York, New York (1885) – ''demolished'' * 1029 6th Ave., New York, New York (1885) – ''demolished'' * Ehrich Brothers Store, 695 6th Ave., New York, New York (1886) * St. Patrick R. C. Church, 2614 Davis St.,

Meridian, MS Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Merid ...

(1886) * Carrie Hornthal House, 4 E. 78th St., New York, New York (1887) * Progress Club, 820 5th Ave., New York, New York (1888) – ''demolished'' * St. Francis of Assisi R. C. Church, 227 E. Cherokee St.,

Brookhaven, Mississippi Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States, south of the state capital of Jackson. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It was named after the town of Brookha ...

(1888) * Rouss Building, 555 Broadway, New York, New York (1889) * 3-5 Washington Pl., New York, New York (1890) – ''owned by New York University'' * 484 Broome St., New York, New York (1890) * 716 Broadway, New York, New York (1890) * 12 Waverly Pl., New York, New York (1891–93) * 36 E. 12th St., New York, New York (1891) * 246 Greene St., New York, New York (1891) * 411 Lafayette St., New York, New York (1891) * Geraldine Building, 7 E. 16th St., New York, New York (1891) * Hotel Majestic, 115 Central Park West, New York, New York (1891) – ''demolished'' * 28-30 Waverly Pl., New York, New York (1892) – ''originally 8 stories; now taller and integrated into the University Building'' * 494 Broome St., New York, New York (1892) *

, 33 Union Square West, New York, New York (1892–93) – ''designed by Edelmann; Zucker moved the firm's offices here from the Lincoln Building'' * New Era Building, 495 Broadway, New York, New York (1892) * 256 5th Ave., New York, New York (1893) – designed by Edelmann * Corndiac Building, 139 5th Ave., New York, New York (1893) * 450 Broome St., New York, New York (1894) * 458 Broadway, New York, New York (1894) * The Bolkenhayn, 761-763 5th Ave., New York, New York (1894) – ''demolished'' * Hoffman House Annex, 1115 Broadway, New York, New York (1894) – ''demolished'' * University Building, 100 Washington Square East, New York, New York (1894) – ''Zucker moved his offices here in 1900'' * 13 University Pl., New York, NY (1895–96) * Baudouine Building, 1181 Broadway, New York, New York (1895–96) * 50 W. 4th St., New York, New York (1896) * Piazza & Botto Building, 1321 Washington St.,

(1898) – ''demolished'' * Harlem Casino, 2081 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd., New York, New York (1899) – ''altered beyond recognition'' * B. S. Ricks Memorial Library, 310 N. Main St.,

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river' ...

(1900–01) * The Langdon, 157 W. 124th St., New York, New York (1901) – ''used for storage since at least 1914'' * 285 Mercer St., New York, New York (1902) * Wilkinson County Courthouse, 525 Main St., Woodville, Mississippi (1902) * Hotel Plaza, Florida 1005, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1905–09) * Edificio Villalonga, Balcarce & Moreno, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1908) – ''demolished'' * Avenida Palace Hotel, Hipólito Yrigoyen 442, Buenos Aires, Argentina (c.1911) – ''demolished'' * Pedestal of the Monumento George Washington, Palermo Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1912–13) * Edificio del Banco Germánico, Reconquista 29, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1913) – ''demolished''Cody, Jeffrey W. ''Exporting American Architecture 1870-2000''. London: Routledge, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zucker, Alfred 1852 births 1913 deaths People from Świebodzice People from the Province of Silesia 19th-century German architects 19th-century American architects German emigrants to the United States Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery

Works

Further reading

References