Frederick C. Gunn was an American architect. In the firm of Gunn & Curtiss with

Louis Singleton Curtiss Louis Singleton Curtiss (July 1, 1865 – June 24, 1924) was a Canadian-born American architect. Notable as a pioneer of the curtain wall design, he was once described as "the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City".Kansas City Public Library"The Fran ...

he helped design several county courthouses. Gunn was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1865 and grew up there until his family moved to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

when he was 14. Gunn's father, Otis B. Gunn, was a railroad engineer and state senator who volunteered to serve in the fourth Volunteer Kansas regiment in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and served on governor Charles Robinson's staff. Gunn graduated from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

, in 1873. He married Winifred Bert of Michigan. He formed a partnership with Curtiss in 1889 and their firm Gunn & Curtiss produced at least a dozen significant buildings over the next ten years, after which he was in business alone. From 1892 to 1894 Gunn served on the

Kansas City, Missouri City Council The Kansas City, Missouri City Council represents the population of more than 450,000 citizens. Its offices are on the 24th floor of Kansas City City Hall and its legislative chambers are on the 26th floor. Kansas City, Missouri is the largest ci ...

, representing the Third Ward as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. He died in 1959; the State Historical Society of Missouri has a collection of his and his family's papers.

Selected works

* Douglas County Courthouse (Lawrence, Kansas, 1903–1904) Gunn in association with John G. Haskell * Chapel of the Veterans (Leavenworth, Kansas, 1892-1893) Curtis & Gunn *

Gage County Courthouse Gage County Courthouse is a historic courthouse for Gage County, Nebraska in the county seat of Beatrice, Nebraska at 612 Grant Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1990. It was built from 1890 until 18 ...

(Beatrice, Nebraska, 1890) *

Tarrant County Courthouse The Tarrant County Courthouse is part of the Tarrant County government campus in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. History The Tarrant County Courthouse was designed by the architecture firm of Frederick C. Gunn and Louis Curtiss and built by t ...

(Fort Worth, Texas, 1893–1895) *Saline County County Courthouse, Salina, Kansas *Missouri State Building for the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago and the Progress Club House. *Oak Hall for William Rockhill Nelson with F. E. Hill *General Hospital No. 1 and 2 * City Market (1938) * Jackson County Court House (1934), supervising architect * Mercantile Building *Headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene *Rock Island Court House

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunn, Frederick C. 1865 births 1959 deaths People from Atchison, Kansas 19th-century American architects