Theodore Wells Pietsch (October 2, 1868, Chicago, Illinois – January 1, 1930, Baltimore, Maryland) was a well-known American

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 ...

, best remembered for a large body of work in and around

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Among his best-known buildings are Recreation Pier at Fell’s Point (now a luxury hotel, the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore) at 1715 Thames Street, and the SS. Philip and James Catholic Church at 2801 North Charles Street,

Education and early career

After attending the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(1885–1888), he returned to Chicago to begin his career with the architectural firms of Flanders & Zimmerman and of

Burnham & Root Burnham and Root was one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. It was established by Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root. During their eighteen years of partnership, Burnham and Root designed and b ...

, both of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. On September 12, 1891, he left the U.S. for

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and spent the next six years studying at the ''École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts'' where he received the French Government Diploma for

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

in December 1897, the ninth American to receive this award. In 1898, he received an honorary mention in the Salon, the official art exhibition of the ''Académie des Beaux-Arts'' in Paris. After returning to the U.S. in 1898, he spent two years in

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offices, with competitive work, followed by three or four years in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , 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, ...

, where for more than a year he was in the employ of Messrs. Hornblower & Marshall, and after that, for some two years, as Designer in the

Office of the Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

Mr. James Knox Taylor.

Mid- and late career

When the

Great Baltimore Fire The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland from Sunday, February 7, to Monday, February 8, 1904. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000 severely damaged, bringing property loss from the disaster to an estimate ...

occurred in February 1904, he was called to help rebuild the city, where, in that same year, he entered into partnership with Otto G. Simonson (1862–1922), establishing the firm of Simonson and Pietsch, which lasted until 1908. His principle works in

include: * the SS. Philip and James Catholic Church, 2801 North Charles Street,

, a cruciform edifice of Roman classic design, constructed of

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

, completed in 1930 * Broadway Pier (the City Pier or "Recreation Pier," located on Thames Street between Broadway and Ann Street, which opened on August 20, 1914; built by the city at a cost of over $1 million as a commercial pier with community facilities, including a ballroom, on the top floor) *the American Building * Eastern High School * the Public Market * the U.S. Fidelity & Guarantee Building * the Lanahan Warehouse * the Tin Decorating Company plant * the

Industrial Building Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings serving industry. Such buildings rose in importance with the Industrial Revolution, starting in Britain, and were some of the pioneering structures of modern architecture. File:R ...

* the Sonneborn Building * the Fallsway Viaduct * Parish Hall and Tower of Zion Church (1913) * the Association of Commerce Building * Jackson Place School * the residence of Dr. Ernest G. Marr, 5 Blythewood Road (1928) * the facades of numerous motion picture theaters (e.g., the Elektra, the New Wilson, and Excelsior), Works outside

include Ellicott City High School and the Warden's residence,

Maryland House of Correction The Maryland House of Correction, nicknamed "The Cut" or "The House", was a Maryland Department of Corrections state maximum security prison in an unincorporated area in Maryland. The prison opened in 1879 and became infamous for the high levels ...

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Personal life

He became a citizen and resident of the State of Maryland on October 27, 1908, at which time he gave his address as "Mt. Royal Apts." Fluent in French, he served in 1917–1918 as an instructor in French to officers of the 316th regiment at Camp Meade,

. He was awarded two medals in

from the ''École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts''. He was 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 ...

, elected March 10, 1903. His residence was at 27 Wickford Road (later changed to 4327),

Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...

, which he purchased in 1913; his office was at 1210–11 American Building,

. On November 7, 1911, Pietsch married Gertrude Carroll Zell (May 2, 1888 – May 5, 1968), with whom he had three sons: Theodore Wells Pietsch, Jr. (September 23, 1912, Baltimore – August 24, 1993, Everett, Washington); John Oliver Carroll Pietsch (July 21, 1914, Baltimore – December 15, 1986, Birmingham, Michigan); Robert Brooke Pietsch (April 28, 1923, Baltimore – October 27, 2013, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France). On the morning of January 1, 1930, he committed suicide in his studio behind the Wickford Road house, apparently due to worry over ill health and financial losses in the 1929

stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often foll ...

.''New York Times'', January 2, 1930, p. 10. He was initially buried at New Cathedral Cemetery,

, but disinterred on October 6, 2021, and reburied at Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, in the old Pietsch family lot, next to his father, stepmother, brothers, and other family members.

References

External links

Baltimore Architecture Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietsch, Theodore Wells 1869 births 1930 deaths Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Architects from Chicago Architects from Baltimore 1930 suicides Suicides in Maryland