Theodore C. Link, FAIA, (March 17, 1850 – November 12, 1923) was a German-born American architect and newspaper publisher. He designed buildings for the

1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

, Louisiana State University, and the

Mississippi State Capitol The Mississippi State Capitol or the “New Capitol,” has been the seat of the state’s government since it succeeded the old statehouse in 1903. Located in Jackson, it was designated as a Mississippi Landmark in 1986, a National Historic La ...

Early life

Theodore Carl Link was born on March 17, 1850, near Heidelberg, Germany. He was trained in engineering at the University of Heidelberg and the École Centrale Paris.

Career

Link emigrated to the United States, arriving in St. Louis in 1873 to work for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad company. He married Annie Fuller on September 22, 1875. That year, St. Louis Surveyor

Julius Pitzman Julius Pitzman (1837–1923) was a Prussian-born American surveyor and city planner best known for his development of the private, gated neighborhoods in St. Louis, MissouriPorter, E. F. "Historic: Preservationists Move Toward Quiet Victory", ''St ...

recommended him to the job of superintendent of public parks for St. Louis. In 1889, Link joined the American Institute of Architects and started his own private architectural practice. After a four-year interim as a German-language newspaper publisher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Link returned to St. Louis just after the turn of the century as one of the architects for the

. In 1901 he won the competition to design the new

building in Jackson, which was completed two years later. He also "designed most of the buildings for LSU when the campus was relocated in the 1920s."

Death and legacy

Link died in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

while working on the new Louisiana State University campus, and was interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. In 1995 was awarded a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. His best known work is in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style, specifically the

St. Louis Union Station St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 p ...

(1894), and the Second Presbyterian Church (1899). The Theodore Link Historic Buildings (c. 1911) in University City are three private residences on Delmar Boulevard that are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis County, Missouri __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis County, Missouri. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis County ...

Work

Among the 100+ buildings he designed: * 1869 Monticello Seminary (now Lewis and Clark Community College), Godfrey, Illinois * 1891 gates and several houses for two of St. Louis's private places, Westmoreland Place and Portland Place * 1894

, modeled on the fortifications of Carcassonne, with architect Edward Cameron * 1899 Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Place, St. Louis * 1901 St. John's United Methodist Church, 5000 Washington Place * 1901 Wabash Railroad Station and Railway Express Agency, 780 East Cerro Gordo Street,

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

* 1902 Wabash Railroad Station, Danville, Illinois * 1903 Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, Liberty Avenue at Ferry Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * 1903

, Jackson, Mississippi * 1904 Palace of Mines and Metallurgy at the

(razed) * 1904 Reid Hall and campus master plan for Washington and Lee University * 1906 Barr Branch,

St. Louis Public Library The St. Louis Public Library is a municipal public library system in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It operates sixteen locations, including the main Central Library location. History In 1865, Ira Divoll, the superintendent of the St. Louis ...

* 1910 Roberts Shoe (International Shoe) Company Building, St. Louis, with ornament influenced by Louis Sullivan * 1911 Theodore Link Historic Buildings, 7100, 7104 and 7108 Delmar Blvd, University City, Missouri * 1919–1923, master plan and nine buildings for the Louisiana State University, including the

Memorial Tower Memorial Tower, or the Campanile as it is sometimes called, is a 175-foot clock tower in the center of Louisiana State University's campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Erected in 1923 and officially dedicated in 1926, it stands a ...

, with W. T. Trueblood

Images

File:Westmoreland Place.jpg, Westmoreland Place gates, St. Louis, Missouri File:Portland Place.jpg, Portland Place gates, St. Louis, Missouri Image:Decatur, IL train station.jpg, Wabash Station, Decatur, Illinois File:Annual report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Illinois (1902) (14572966008).jpg, Wabash Station, Decatur, Illinois Image:04PalaceMines.JPG, Palace of Mines and Metallurgy,

Image:Mississippi State Capitol building.jpg, Mississippi State Capitol Image:PostcardGrandHallOfUnionStationStLouis1909.jpg, Grand Hall, St. Louis Union Station File:ReidHall.jpg, Reid Hall, Washington and Lee University File:St. Louis - Roberts, Johnson & Rand Bldg.JPG, Roberts Shoe Company Building, St. Louis, Missouri Image:Memorial tower.jpg, Memorial Tower at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

File:4a12732u.tif, Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

References

External links

*
Online photo and biography

Theodore C. Link Zoological Gardens Sketchbook
i
Digital Collections
at the

Louisiana State University Architectural Drawings by Theodore Link
Louisiana Digital Library, Baton Rouge, La.
Theodore C. Link Collection
finding aid at th
St. Louis Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Link, Theodore Carl 1850 births 1923 deaths German emigrants to the United States Architects from St. Louis 19th-century American architects Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Heidelberg University alumni People from Baden-Württemberg Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery American railway architects 20th-century American architects