Gustav Albin Pehrson (1880–1968), known professionally as G.A. Pehrson, was an architect of the U.S. state of Washington. His work includes the Chronicle Building for the

Spokane Chronicle The ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' is a daily digital newspaper in Spokane, Washington. It was founded as a weekly paper in 1881 and grew into an afternoon daily, competing with ''The Spokesman-Review'', which was formed from the merger of two comp ...

, Rookery Building in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

(demolished in 2006), and other buildings in Spokane, several mansions, and the new design for a community serving the Hanford Nuclear plant, now part of

Gold Coast Historic District (Richland, Washington) The Gold Coast Historic District is a residential area in Richland, Washington, the town that was built during the World War II Manhattan Project to house workers at the Hanford atomic plant. The homes within the district date from 1948–49 ...

. He also designed the Paulsen Medical and Dental Building (part of

August Paulsen August Paulsen (July 29, 1871 – March 11, 1927) was a Danish-American businessman noted for his philanthropy in the states of Washington (state), Washington and Idaho. Background August Paulsen was a Danes, Danish immigrant, who arrived in ...

's Paulsen Center) in Spokane.

Early life

Pehrson was born in Sweden. He attended

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he studied architecture. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1905, ultimately settling in

Career

He worked as a draftsman for

Kirtland Cutter Kirtland Kelsey Cutter (August 20, 1860 – September 26, 1939) was a 20th-century architect in the Pacific Northwest and California. He was born in East Rockport, Ohio, the great-grandson of Jared Potter Kirtland. He studied painting and illus ...

's firm Cutter and Malgren beginning in 1913. He established his own architecture business in 1917. Soon after a prolific building period in the 1920s that included his

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

-adorned Art Deco design work for the Chronicle Building and Paulsen Medical Building in Spokane, 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 ...

hit and the staff at Pehrson's firm fell from 29 to two. He later found work designing the new community of Richland Village (

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

), where an agricultural town had been located. He designed government housing, schools and other buildings developed to serve the

Hanford nuclear site The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The site h ...

. Washington State University has a collection of documents about his work.

Works

Some of Pehrson's works are: * Western Union Life Building (1924) which later became the Chancery building, an Italian Renaissance style building, and now known as 1023 West Riverside Avenue in Spokane after being sold by the Catholic Diocese after being hit with sex abuse settlement costs. * Eldridge Buick dealership (1925) at Cedar Street and Sprague Avenue in Spokane was the largest dealership in the Pacific Northwest when it was built, NRHP-listed. * Paulsen Medical and Dental Building (1929), one of the last major buildings constructed in downtown Spokane before the stock market crash of October 1929. It includes Art Deco design with Spanish and Moorish detailing. * Roosevelt Apartments (1929), a 6 story building at 7th and Howard in Spokane * Victor Dessert's home (1936) in California Monterrey architecture style at South 1520 Rockwood Boulevard in Spokane * Kirk Thompson Home, Streamline Moderne Art Deco at 1430 E. Overbluff Rd in Spokane *

Schade Brewery Schade Brewery, commonly known as Schade Towers, is a historic building in the University District section of the East Central neighborhood of Spokane, Washington. It was built in 1902, with additional construction taking place in 1903, 1907 and ...

expansion (1933) * Centennial Flour Mill (1939) on East Trent in Spokane * Parker Suites (1946) in

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...

, a 9 story building * Carl Preiss

Tudor architecture The Tudor architectural style is the final development of Medieval architecture in England and Wales, during the Tudor period (1485–1603) and even beyond, and also the tentative introduction of Renaissance architecture to Britain. It fo ...

style mansion in Spokane *

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

auditorium and nursing school * Two homes on Overbluff Road in Spokane

References

External links

*
Photo of G. A. Pherson
Ferris Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Pehrson, Gustav Albin 1880 births 1968 deaths Swedish emigrants to the United States Swedish architects People from Spokane, Washington Manhattan Project people