ROBERT PAUL SCHWEIKHER (1903-1997)

Schweikher was born in Denver CO to a family of musicians. He originally trained in engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder for a year (1921–22) before marrying Dorothy Miller. He moved with her to Chicago and studied at The Art Institute of Chicago while working for Lowe & Bollenbacher. After 2.5 years, he left to join David Adler and worked on the William McCormick Blair Estate in Lake Bluff IL. He later studied at the Armour Institute of Technology before again transferring to, and receiving a degree from, the Yale School of Architecture. He returned to Chicago in 1930 and collaborated with George Fred Keck and Philip Maher. His works were included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1933 and at the Century of Progress International Exposition. Schweikher joined Lamb and Elting in 1934. Later the firm became Schweikher and Elting. In 1953, Schweikher was named chairman of the Yale School of Architecture. Five years later, he became head of the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture. He retired in 1970 and moved to Sedona AZ.

Many thanks to the Paul Schweikher Collection, Design and the Arts Special Collections, Arizona State University Library; and Catherine Westergaard Cramer. His archives are at ASU. Bio adapted from Wikipedia.

1932 - The Charles W. Eliason Jr. House. Unbuilt.

1935 - The General Electric New American House aka General Electric Small House Competition. Plan appears in "Architectural Forum Magazine", June 1935. Designed with Theodore W. Lamb. The two architects won the $2,500 prize but also scrutiny that the plan was plagiarized from Harwell Hamilton Harris' Lowe house.

 1935 - The Jessie Kile House, Steger IL. Probably unbuilt. 

1936 - The Phoenix Williams House, Fairview Avenue and Bryant, Glen Ellyn IL. Unsure if built. There are newer houses on the site as of 2018. Needs verification.

Around 1936 - The F. E. Francis House, 6956 South Bennett Avenue, Chicago IL. Sold to the Lucille B. Russell Trust.

 1936 - The John W. Haddock House, Elbridge Way, Michigan City IN. Probably unbuilt.

 1936 - The Voevodsky House, Lake County IL. Could be George Voevodsky who built a home on St. Mary's Road in Libertyville IL, needs verification. Landscape plan is in collection of Elbert Peet, Landscape Architect.

 1939 - The Strecker House, Riverside IL. Commissioned 1936. Probably unbuilt.

1937 - The Paul Schweikher-Langsdorf House and Studio, 645 South Meacham Road, Schaumburg IL. The house features a masterful integration of brick, glass, and wood, situated on seven and a half acres with gardens designed by the noted landscape architect Franz Lipp. Includes a massive brick fireplace, passive solar room, cantilevered construction, exposed wood beams, built-in furniture, Japanese soaking tub, and Zen Garden.

 1938 - The Calvin S. Collins Houses, Chicago IL. Renovated in 1956. Needs verification as built.

1938 - The Ideal Forum Farm. Ralph Rapson, William Fyfe, and Joseph Salerno were on the project team. Featured in Architectural Forum, October 1940, page 232. Probably unbuilt.

1939 - The St. Joseph Housing Corporation, 1200-1215 Hillcrest Avenue, formerly 1200-1215 Ethel Avenue, St. Joseph MI. Unbuilt. Several home styles, above plan is for a 2-story at 1215 Ethel. His designs were passed over for those of John Van Den Bogert, an architect with the Corporation, that were indeed built.

1939 - The Glenview Cooperative Community, Redwood Village, Redwood Lane, Glenview IL. 7 houses that were built for Northwestern University professors. The last house was built in 1946. Location approximately 1 mile from Fred Keck's Solar Park. Most houses have undergone remodeling. Example house built in 1942. 

1939 - The Richard M. Lowenstein House, Highland Park IL. Built.

1940 - The Harry Goebel House, McHenry County IL. Likely unbuilt.

1940 - The Stanley W. Burda House, 115 South Maple Street, Mount Prospect IL. Built for their daughter. When Dr. Burda died in 1943, the house was sold in 1944 to Jack Cunningham. Sold in 1945 to Captain and Mrs. Vernon Gault who added a garage. Sold to Frank Zupan. Sold in 1988 to Peter Austin, owner as of 2014. In 2005 Austin enlarged the dormers, added a copper roof, and enlarged the roofline. Photos by Peter Austin. 

1940 - The Herbert Lewis House, Park Ridge IL. Project architect, William B. Fyfe.

1940 - The R. C. McVey House, Glen Ellyn IL. Likely unbuilt.

1940 - The K. M. LaSalle House, Hammond IN. Likely unbuilt.

1940 - The W. Hamilton Wilde House, south of Rockland Road, Libertyville IL. Likely unbuilt.

1941 - The William Fleming House, Highland Park IL. Likely unbuilt.

1941 - The Edward F. Kuba House, DuPage County IL. Likely unbuilt.

 1941 - The Ralph Cook House, Tobacco Road, Cedar Lake IL. Commissioned 1940. Probably unbuilt.

1941 - The Clark Maddock House, Grove Street, Lombard IL. Probably unbuilt.

1941 - The Fred and Louis Upton Apartment Building, 355 South Ridgeway Street, St. Joseph MI. Commissioned 1938. Overlooks Lake Michigan. The building had been in a fire and had been taken down to the studs for rebuilding. Has had many more renovations over the years.

1942 - The Philip Rinaldo House, 1347 Turvey Road, Downers Grove IL. Sold to Andrew and Pamela Lamantia. Sold in 2012 to Edward and Jessica Ranquist.

1942 - The Charles F. and Pearl Menninger House, 824 SW Anderson Terrace, Topeka KS. Address needs verification. Menninger opened several clinics in Topeka. Sold to Gary R. Downey, who destroyed it in 2011, bottom photo. Empty lot as of 2017.

1943 - The Harry W. Goebel Farmhouse, possibly at Northwest Highway, between Barrington and Crystal Lake, Barrington IL. Needs verification.

Around 1945 - The Lawrence L. Parrish House, Glenview IL. Part of the Glenview development.

1946 - The Fred Decker House, Peoria IL. Status unknown.

1947 - The Loring C. Merwin Renovation, 601 South Mercer Avenue, Bloomington IL. He was publisher of the Bloomington Pantagraph. Sold in 2005 to Janie Frank.

Around 1947 - The Keeley Institute Dormitory, Dwight IL. Featured in Progressive Architecture, November 1947. Unsure of status.

1948 - The Donald L. Berg House, 1001 Crescent Boulevard, Glen Ellyn IL. Commissioned 1947.  Sold to Graham Heikes.

1950 - The Louis C. Upton House, Scottsdale AZ. Commissioned 1948. The original model is in the permanent collection of the New York City Museum of Art. The site was originally a 21 acre citrus orchard but is now part of downtown. Over the years, the building became an elite speakeasy and private club grill. Sold to P. B McGinniss, a retired Long Island Railroad president. Destroyed in the 1970's.

1948 - The Robert Browning House, Glenview IL. Status unknown.

1948 - The Edward Mead House. Probably unbuilt.

1950 - The Thomas Darlington House, Paradise Valley AZ. Commissioned 1948. Probably unbuilt.

1949 - The Isaih Lew House, Usonia Homes, NY. Part of the Usonia Homes project started by Wright. Status unknown.

1949 - The Warren F. Wiggens House.  Status unknown.

1949 - The K. C. Burhans House, Peoria IL.  Status unknown.

1950 - The Luman and Mary Lou Gray House, 360 Ridgeway Street, St. Joseph MI. Gray died in 1952 and his widow stayed in the house at least through 1954. Expanded over the years.

1950 - Structural Clay Products Institute House, unsure if built. Featured in Brick and Clay Record, Volume 116-117, 1950.

1950 - The Richard Finch House, Paradise Valley AZ. Status unknown, address unknown.

1950 - The R. Harring, Jr. House, Highland Park IL. Status unknown, address unknown.

1951 - The Pete Yanson House, 424 West 12th Street, Chicago Heights IL. Needs verification.

1952 - The Earl Oren House, Stevenson Drive, Monterrey County CA. Likely unbuilt.

1954 - House for Asbestos Cement Products, likely unbuilt. Clipping from The Baytown Sun.

1954 - The Alfred A. Schiller House, 734 Lenox Road, Glen Ellyn IL. Commissioned 1953. Originally built with no exterior windows. Rooms opened up to an interior courtyard. Addition by Keck and Keck Architects in 1964, including exterior windows, more bedrooms, and an attached garage. Gardens and courtyard design by Mary Moulton. Sold in 1957 to Louis and Louisa Kaberon. Sold in 2004 to Matt Nordloh who did a restoration. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The property was on the market for years. Sold to adjacent neighbor Michael Bartenhagen in 2016 in a short sale. Destroyed.

1955 - The Maryville College, Women's Dormitory, Maryville TN. Unbuilt.

1964 - The Callas and Bauer Apartment Building, Kittanning PA. Status unknown, address unknown.

1966 - The Donald Berg House, Project, Mt. Washington, Pittsburgh PA. Unbuilt.

1966 - The Pittsburgh Housing Authority, Low Cost Senior Housing, Bedford Avenue, Pittsburgh PA. Unsure if built. Featured in Engineering News Record, Volume 187, 1966. Status unknown, address unknown.

1967 - The Craig Wright House, Chapel Ridge Place, Lot 9, Fox Chapel PA. Likely unbuilt.

1972 - The Paul Schweikher House, Sedona AZ. Sold to a Mr. Grant.  Featured in Fine Homebuilding magazine in the 1980's with Will Bruder's photography.  Destroyed around 1998.

1971 - The Peter and Suze Lowenstein House, 24 Old Orchard Road, Mendham Township, Morristown NJ. Unbuilt. Later house on the site designed by Chimacoff and Peterson, above. Sold in 2008 to architect Michael Brandes who did a complete renovation in keeping with the original design. Sold in 2015 to Daniel Anderson.

Year unknown - The Dushkin House and School, Winnetka IL. Status unknown.

Year Unknown - The Rowland Watts House. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The Keith Carpenter House. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The Peter Parker House. Status unknown, address unknown. Presumably not Spiderman.

Year Unknown - The Stuart H. Otis House. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The Clare Tyler Studio. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The A. P. Ross Renovation. Unbuilt.

Year Unknown - The Sprool House, New Haven CT. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The Winston Elting House, Libertyville IL. Status unknown, address unknown.

1954 - The Winston House, Liberty IL. May be the same house.

Year Unknown - The Frazel House, Wayne IL. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The Rockwell House, Flossmoor IL. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - The David C. Johnson House, Chicago IL. Status unknown.

Year Unknown - The Ralph Guenther House, La Porte IN. Status unknown, address unknown.

Year Unknown - Duquesne University Residence Hall, Pittsburgh PA. Schweikher also designed the Student Union (photo above).