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August Gottlieb Schoenborn (October 20, 1827 – January 24, 1902) was a
He was born in October 1827 in the town of Suhl,
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
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 helped design the United States Capitol dome.
Life and career
He was born in October 1827 in the town of Suhl, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, a major arms manufacturing center. He attended the city's public schools, and after graduation worked as a mechanic
A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars.
Duties
Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and r ...
for three years. Schoenborn enrolled at the Technical Institute and School of Art in 1843 in Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
, where he studied architecture. He emigrated to the United States in 1849 and settled in Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. Two years later, he moved to Washington, D.C.
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In June 1851, he found a position as a draftsman under Thomas U. Walter
Thomas Ustick Walter (September 4, 1804 – October 30, 1887) was an American architect of German descent, the dean of American architecture between the 1820 death of Benjamin Latrobe and the emergence of H.H. Richardson in the 1870s. He was ...
, Architect of the Capitol. With only a small scale model and some very rough drawings to work from, Schoenborn produced highly detailed architectural plans. Walter did not initially believe that Schoenborn had done the work himself, but was quickly satisfied that Schoenborn was a trained architect. President Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
was also highly impressed with Schoenborn's work, and often visited him in the architectural offices at the Capitol.
Schoenborn made two important contributions to the United States Capitol. When the Capitol library burned on December 24, 1851, it was replaced with an iron library which was designed by Schoenborn. Schoenborn also made the original drawings for the new iron dome of the Capitol.
When 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 ...
broke out in April 1861, Schoenborn worked as a surveyor and mapmaker for Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
General Irvin McDowell in Virginia. He also drew numerous plans for barracks, hospitals, and offices for the Quartermaster General of the United States Army. He returned to work on the Capitol in May 1862.
Personal life and death
Schoenborn spent the post-war years in Washington, D.C. designing numerous public buildings, for which he became very well known. He married Helene Schoenbrun, and had four daughters and two sons. His son William committed suicide on January 4, 1897. He died at his home in Washington, D.C. on January 24, 1902, at the age of 74. A member of Concordia Lutheran Church, he was interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.See also
* List of German AmericansReferences
Bibliography
* * Tom Fleischhauer: ''„August is my right hand...“ Wie der Thüringer Architekt August Gottlieb Schönborn (1827-1902) die Kuppel des Kapitols in Washington, D.C. entwarf.'' In: Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte und Altertumskunde von Erfurt, Bd. 76 (2015), S.198-219. * August Gottlieb Schoenborn: ''Sketch of my Education and Connection with the Extension of the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.'' In: Turpin C. Bannister: The Genealogy of the Dome of the United States Capitol (= Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, 1948), S. 17-23. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenborn, August Architects of the Capitol German emigrants to the United States 1827 births 1902 deaths 19th-century American architects Burials at Prospect Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)