Eric Gugler
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Eric Gugler (March 13, 1889 – May 17, 1974) was an American Neoclassical architect, interior designer, sculptor and muralist. He was selected by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
to design the
Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped room ...
.Eric Gugler
from Archives of American Art.


Biography

Gugler was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, the son of printer and engraver Julius Gugler and his wife Bertha Bremer. He studied at the
Armour Institute Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...
in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, and the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...
. He graduated from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1911, and was awarded the 1911 McKim Fellowship in Architecture. He studied at the
American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
, 1911–1914. He returned to the United States, and worked in the offices of
McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...
. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he served in the
American Camouflage Corps The American Camouflage Corps was organized in 1917 at the officers' training camp in Plattsburgh (city), New York, Plattsburgh, New York, as the first such corps in the U.S. Army. Its organizers were architect Evarts Tracy of Tracy and Swartwout, ...
(Company A, 40th Engineers, U.S. Army). He opened his own architectural office in 1919.


Early works

With sculptor
Paul Manship Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public com ...
and muralist Francis Barrett Faulkner, Gugler created the ''American Academy in Rome War Memorial'' (1923–24). Installed beneath a portico in the courtyard of the Villa Aurelia, it features a pink marble bench flanked by kneeling
doughboy Doughboy was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s. Examples include the 1942 song "Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in ...
s, and surmounted by an arched
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
mural of a lone sailor steering his boat through rough seas beneath the constellations. Gugler altered a rowhouse at 319 East 72nd Street, Manhattan into Manship's residence and studio in 1925. Gugler later bought a 5-foot (1.52 m) diameter glass sphere etched with the constellations. He lent this to Manship, who created multiple sculptures inspired by it. For what became the '' Aero Memorial'' (plaster 1933), Manship modeled Zodiac figures in clay directly atop the glass sphere, then cast them in plaster and bronze. In projects together and separately, Gugler and Manship repeatedly returned to the idea of spheres, heavenly bodies and
signs of the Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...
. Gugler and architect Roger Bailey won a 1929 design competition for the World War I memorial for the
City of Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. Because of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the $3,000,000-to-$5,000,000 project was never built. Gugler designed a massive
obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
as a World War I memorial for
Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...
, at the southern tip of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. It also was never built. Gugler and muralist
Ricard Brooks Ricard is a surname, as well as a Catalan name. Notable people with the surname include: * Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard (1771–1843), French general under Napoleon * Hámilton Ricard (born 1974), Colombian footballer *Jean-François Ricard (bo ...
created large
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
murals for the 1,883-seat Forum Auditorium of the Pennsylvania State Library and Education Building (1931) in
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...
. The walls of the semi-circular hall feature mural maps of ancient empires. The vast celestial ceiling mural depicts constellations and signs of the Zodiac, and incorporates lighting and ventilation fixtures. The building, by architects William Gehron and Sidney Ross, also features architectural sculpture by
Lee Lawrie Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963) was an American architectural sculptor and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through ...
,
Carl Paul Jennewein Carl Paul Jennewein (December 2, 1890 – February 22, 1978) was a German-born American sculptor. Early career Jennewein was born in Stuttgart in Germany. At the age of seventeen, he immigrated to the United States in 1907. He was apprentice ...
and Harry Kreis. The auditorium is home to the
Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is an American orchestra based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra can be traced back to the early 1930s during the throes of the Great Depression. The orchestra gave its first ...
. In New York City's
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, overlooking
Conservatory Water Conservatory Water is a pond located in a natural hollow within Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located west of Fifth Avenue, centered opposite East 74th Street. The pond is surrounded by several landscaped hills, including Pil ...
, is the Waldo Hutchins bench, a curved
Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
white granite
exedra An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
outdoor bench of which Gugler was the architect.Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis, Matthew McGowan (2018)
''Classical New York; Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham''
The bench is almost tall by long, and weighs several tons.''Waldo Hutchins Bench Sundial, New York, USA''
October 6, 2016.
It was executed in 1932 by the
Piccirilli Brothers The Piccirilli brothers were an Italian family of renowned marble carvers and sculptors who carved many of the most significant marble sculptures in the United States, including Daniel Chester French’s colossal ''Abraham Lincoln'' (1920) in the ...
studio, the firm that carved the
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
in Washington, D.C. The bench has a small
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
, a variation on a 3rd century BC
Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
Berossus Berossus () or Berosus (; grc, Βηρωσσος, Bērōssos; possibly derived from akk, , romanized: , " Bel is his shepherd") was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek langu ...
sundial, at its back designed by sculptor Albert Stewart. The sundial features a small
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
bronze
gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the ol ...
sculpture of a female dancer trailed by a wind-blown gown and flowing scarves at its center. The gnomon sculpture was crafted by sculptor
Paul Manship Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public com ...
. Gugler collaborated with architect Henry J. Toombs on Georgia Hall (1932–33), the main building of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Warm Springs Institute in
Warm Springs, Georgia Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 425 at the 2010 census. History Warm Springs, originally named Bullochville (after the Bulloch family, which began after Stephen Bullock moved to Meriwether ...
.


The White House

Dissatisfied with the size and layout of the
West Wing The West Wing of the White House houses the offices of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, and the Roosevelt Room. The West Wing's four floors contain offices for ...
, President Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged Gugler to redesign it in 1933. To create additional space without increasing the apparent size of the building, he excavated a full basement, added a set of subterranean offices under the adjacent lawn, and built an unobtrusive "penthouse" story. The directive to wring the most office space out of the existing building was responsible for its narrow corridors and cramped staff offices. His most visible addition was the expansion of the building eastward for a new Cabinet Room and Oval Office. Gugler served as consulting architect to the White House, 1934–48. He designed the
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
mahogany case for the
Steinway & Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to ...
grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(1938) – serial number 300,000 – in the
East Room The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence, which is a building of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for ...
. Albert Stewart modeled the large gilded eagles that are its legs. Dunbar Beck painted its gold-leaf mural that depicts five scenes of indigenous American music—a New England
barn dance A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building. The term “barn dance” is usually associated w ...
, a cowboy with guitar, a Virginia reel, a pair of black field hands singing, and Native American ceremonial dancers. For the
State Dining Room The State Dining Room is the larger of two dining rooms on the State Floor of the Executive Residence of the White House, the home of the president of the United States in Washington, D.C. It is used for receptions, luncheons, larger formal dinne ...
mantel, in 1945 Gugler designed the inscription of John Adams's 1800
benediction A benediction (Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the expositio ...
for the White House:
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.


Later works

Gugler was a preservationist architect, and headed the 1939 restoration of
Federal Hall National Memorial Federal Hall is a historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is operated by the National Park Service as a nati ...
, on
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
in Manhattan. He was prominent in the 1940s public campaign opposing the demolition of
Fort Clinton Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776. Protecting the chain It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, sta ...
, Manhattan. He contributed to the restoration of The Grange,
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
's house in Manhattan;
The Octagon House The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. After the British destroyed the White House during the War of 1812, the house ...
in Washington, D.C.; and other historic buildings. He served as chairman of the Joint Advisory Committee on Planning and Development of the United Nations Headquarters, 1946–1948. In the 1940s and 1950s, Gugler expanded the campus of
Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts cur ...
in
Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only cha ...
, designing Waugh Hall, Campus Center (now Sparks Center), Wolcott and Morris Dormitories, Lilly Library, and Baxter Hall. He collaborated with sculptors James Earle Fraser and
Donald De Lue Donald Harcourt De Lue (October 5, 1897, Boston, Massachusetts – August 26, 1988, Leonardo, New Jersey) was an American sculptor, best known for his public monuments. Life and career De Lue studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and la ...
on the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial (1950), in
Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...
. He designed the setting for Fraser's Mayo Memorial (1952), in
Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...
. With sculptor Paul Manship and landscape architect Ralph E. Griswold, Gugler designed the
Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II American military war grave cemetery, located in Nettuno, near Anzio, Italy. The cemetery, containing 7,858 American war dead, covers and was dedicated in 1956. It is administered by ...
(1956), in
Nettuno Nettuno is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, south of Rome. A resort city and agricultural center on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it has a population of approximately 50,000. Economy It has a ...
,
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, Italy, where more than 7,800 U.S. soldiers from
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
are buried. Gugler's chapel ceiling mural depicts the positions of the stars and planets on January 22, 1944, at the hour when the
Battle of Anzio The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...
commenced. Manship and Gugler were awarded the
National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...
's Henry Hering Medal, for noteworthy collaboration between sculptor and architect. Gugler collaborated with Manship on an ornate
armillary sphere An armillary sphere (variations are known as spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil) is a model of objects in the sky (on the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth or the Sun, that represent lines of ...
for the
1964 New York World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or ...
. They also collaborated on the FDR Memorial Block (1965), outside the
National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Penns ...
in Washington, D.C.; and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial (1967), on Theodore Roosevelt Island in the
Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, opposite the national capital.


''Hall of Our History''

Gugler spent decades working on a project he called ''The Hall of Our History''. Conceived in 1938 as a national monument that would illustrate American history through sculpture, it was intended for a site at Pine Mountain, Georgia, near Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Little White House The Little White House was the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the List of Presidents of the United States, 32nd President of the United States, located in the Warm Springs Historic District, Historic District of Warm Springs, Georgia ...
. World War II put the idea on hold, but it was revived post-war as a shrine to the late president. Former First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
supported and helped to publicize the Georgia project. A corporation was organized to shepherd it through to completion, but the estimated $25,000,000 cost and obscure location made fund-raising difficult, and the corporation was dissolved in 1954. The project was resurrected in 1957, proposed for one of the most prominent locations in the United States:
Arlington Ridge Park Arlington Ridge Park, also known as the Nevius Tract, is a historic park property located in Arlington, Virginia. The property lies within the boundaries of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. It includes the Marine Corps War Memorial (1954), ...
, on the west side of the
Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, between
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
and the
Marine Corps War Memorial The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) is a national memorial located in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 177 ...
. This was the visual terminus of the
National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...
, on axis with the
U.S. Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is form ...
, the
Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...
, and the
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
.


Business

Gugler maintained his own office at 101 Park Avenue (17th floor), Manhattan, and collaborated on projects with architects such as Roger Bailey,
Walker O. Cain Walker O. Cain , Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA, List of fellows of the American Academy in Rome (1896–1970), FAAR, National Academician, NA (April 14, 1915 – June 1, 1993) was a prize-winning American architect. Biog ...
, Ferdinand Eiseman, Henry G. Emery, Henry Powell Hopkins, and Henry J. Toombs. He formed a partnership with architects Richard A. Kimball and Ellery Husted.


Honors

Gugler served as a trustee of the American Academy in Rome, 1918–1945. He was elected a member of the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
in 1941, and an academician in 1946.Eric Gugler
from National Academy.
He was a member of the
National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...
, a member of the
National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...
, and a trustee of the
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society was created in 1895 as New York’s first organized preservation lobby. The Society operated as a national organization to protect the natural scenery and the preservation of historic landmark ...
. He became a member of the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
in 1921, and was elected an AIA Fellow in 1939.


Personal

Gugler married Broadway actress and dancer Anne Tonetti in 1932. They were part of an artist's colony at
Sneden's Landing Palisades, formerly known as Sneden's Landing (pronounced SNEE-dens), is a hamlet in the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York. It is located north of Rockleigh and Alpine, New Jersey; east of Tappan; south of Sparkill; and west of ...
in
Orangetown, New York Orangetown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located in the southeastern part of the county. It is northwest of New York City, north of New Jersey, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Clarkstown, and west of th ...
. He designed their house there, "Green Barn", where he died in 1974."Eric Gugler, 85, Architect, Dies"
''The New York Times'', May 17, 1974.


Legacy

Gugler donated his White House papers to its Office of the Curator.Eric Gugler Papers
from the White House Historical Association.
His widow donated additional papers to the
Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. Paul Manship's relief portrait of ''Anne and Eric Gugler'' (1932) is at the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
.


Selected works

*American Academy in Rome War Memorial (1923–24), Villa Aurelia, Rome, Italy, with sculptor Paul Manship and muralist Francis Barrett Faulkner. *Murals for Forum Auditorium (1931), Pennsylvania State Library and Education Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with muralist Richard Brooks. *Waldo Hutchins Memorial Bench (1932),
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, New York City, with sculptors Albert Stewart and Paul Manship. * The White House: **Rebuilding of the West Wing (1933–34) **Oval Office (1933–34) **Cabinet Room (1933–34) **Steinway Grand Piano (1938), with sculptor Albert Stewart and muralist Dunbar Beck. **Inscription for State Dining Room mantel (1945) *Business Systems and Insurance Building (1939),
1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
,
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York City, with architects John B. Slee and Robert H. Bryson. *Master plan and alterations to
Forman School The Forman School is a co-educational Boarding school, boarding and day school in Litchfield, Connecticut, United States offering a college preparatory program in grades 9 to 12 and a postgraduate year, postgraduate program (PG) exclusively for st ...
(1939–40),
Litchfield, Connecticut Litchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,192 at the 2020 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town. There are also three unincorporat ...
. *"Chip Chop",
Katharine Cornell Katharine Cornell (February 16, 1893June 9, 1974) was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York. Dubbed "The First Lady of the Theatre" by critic A ...
summer residence (1937–45),
Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, Massachusetts. * Harvey S. Firestone Memorial (1944–50),
Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...
, with sculptors James Earle Fraser and Donald De Lue. *Dr. William and Dr. Charles Mayo Memorial (1943–52), Mayo Park,
Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...
, with sculptor James Earle Fraser. *
Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial Sicily–Rome American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II American military war grave cemetery, located in Nettuno, near Anzio, Italy. The cemetery, containing 7,858 American war dead, covers and was dedicated in 1956. It is administered by ...
(1950–56),
Nettuno Nettuno is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, south of Rome. A resort city and agricultural center on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it has a population of approximately 50,000. Economy It has a ...
,
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, Italy, with sculptor Paul Manship and landscape architect Ralph E. Griswold. *
Armillary Sphere An armillary sphere (variations are known as spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil) is a model of objects in the sky (on the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth or the Sun, that represent lines of ...
(1964), Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City, with sculptor Paul Manship. *Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Block (1965), outside
National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.), Penns ...
, Washington, D.C., with sculptor Paul Manship. *Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Bench (1966), United Nations Garden, New York City. * Theodore Roosevelt Memorial (1963–67), Roosevelt Island, Washington, D.C., with sculptor Paul Manship.Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
from SIRIS.
File:Waldo Hutchins bench.jpg, Waldo Hutchins Memorial Bench (1932), Central Park, New York City File:Georgia Hall Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.JPG, Georgia Hall (1933), Warm Springs, Georgia, with architect Henry J. Toombs File:OvalFloor.jpg, Gugler's 1934 design for the Oval Office floor was finally executed in 2005. File:The White House - Inside the East Wing of the White House.jpg, White House Steinway Piano (1938) File:Summer Residence of Katharine Cornell, Vineyard Haven, Mass (77456).jpg, "Chip Chop" (1945), Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts File:Harvey S Firestone Memorial, Akron, Ohio.jpg, Harvey S. Firestone Memorial (1950), Akron, Ohio. File:Original memorial to FDR 006.JPG, FDR Memorial Block (1965), National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.


Notes


References


External links

* Eric Gugler papers in process

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gugler, Eric 1889 births 1974 deaths American neoclassical architects Architects from New York (state) American muralists American interior designers Architects from Milwaukee People from Orangetown, New York Illinois Institute of Technology alumni School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters National Sculpture Society members Military personnel from Milwaukee