David Kahler

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David Kahler
David Kahler Architect.jpg
David Kahler, c. 1970s
Born (1937-02-14) February 14, 1937 (age 88) [1]
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Education Syracuse University
Princeton University
Occupation Architect
Known for Milwaukee Art Museum

David Kahler (born February 14, 1937) is an American architect and photographer who led the Milwaukee-based firm Kahler Slater for the bulk of his career. [2]

Contents

Major projects designed by Kahler and his firm include the Golda Meir Library at UW–Milwaukee in 1967, two expansions to the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1975 and 2001 (the latter in collaboration with Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava), the Haggerty Museum of Art in 1984, and the 11-year phased renovation of the Wisconsin State Capitol between 1991 and 2002. [3] [4] [5]

Life and career

David Truman Kahler was born on February 14, 1937, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Chadds Ford. After obtaining a Master's degree from Princeton University in 1962, he taught at the School of Architecture of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. [6] In 1965, he left academia to take over an architectural firm in Milwaukee. Founded in 1908 by Fitzhugh Scott (1881–1957), a protégé of architect Alexander C. Eschweiler, the company was renamed Kahler Slater after Thomas McAnarney Slater (1931–2007) joined Kahler as a partner. [7] Fitzhugh Scott, Jr. (1910–1998), one of Scott’s sons, also became an original partner in the firm. [8]

Haggerty Museum, 1984 Haggarty Museum of Art.jpg
Haggerty Museum, 1984

Over the next decades, Kahler Slater was involved in a number of projects, the most significant being the first extension to the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1975, the Haggerty Museum of Art building on the campus of Marquette University, which Kahler took over from O'Neil Ford after his death in 1982, and the renovation of the Wisconsin State Capitol. [9] [10]

While Thomas Slater left the firm in 1996, Kahler undertook another major project: the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Quadracci Pavilion, which he helped design in collaboration with Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. [9] [11] Following the completion of the building in 2001, Kahler left Milwaukee to start a consulting firm and relocated to Pittsboro, North Carolina. [12]

In the 1950s, Kahler took up photography, focusing on the subject of railroad towns after encountering the work of O. Winston Link. [13] The Center for Railroad Photography & Art, of which Kahler has been a board member since 1997, held a retrospective of a hundred of his works in association with the Grohmann Museum in 2021. [14] [15] The show was presented at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia, in 2023. [16]

References

  1. ↑ "Birth Announcements". The Gettysburg Times . Gettysburg, PA. February 20, 1937. p. 1.
  2. ↑ Hadley, Nancy (January 4, 2019). "David Truman Kahler". American Institute of Architects . Washington, DC: AIA. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  3. ↑ Filler, Martin (2007). Makers of Modern Architecture: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry. New York: New York Review Books. p. 293. ISBN   978-1590172278.
  4. ↑ Kamin, Blair (2011). Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 133. ISBN   978-0226423128.
  5. ↑ Schumacher, Mary Louise (October 10, 2008). "Kahler Slater Turns 100". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . Milwaukee, WI: Gannett. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  6. ↑ "The Railroad and the Art of Place". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Princeton, NJ. February 12, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  7. ↑ Morin, Jill J. (2010). Better Make It Real: Creating Authenticity in an Increasingly Fake World. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 156–157. ISBN   978-0313376818.
  8. ↑ Marti, Yance (2016). "Architects". Encyclopedia of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, WI: University of Wisconsin. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Kahler Slater" (PDF). Wisconsin Architect. 69 (4). American Institute of Architects: 15. 1998. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  10. ↑ Kahler, David (November 26, 2005). "It's not too late to rethink courthouse project". BlueRidgeNow . Hendersonville, NC: Gannett. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  11. ↑ Rovito, Rick (September 15, 2022). "Santiago Calatrava Compares Returning to the Milwaukee Art Museum to 'Coming Back Home'". Milwaukee Magazine . Milwaukee, WI: Carole Nicksin. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Kahler Slater 3EOs ride wave of success". BizTimes. Milwaukee, WI: Dan Meyer. November 23, 2001. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  13. ↑ "The Railroad and the Art of Place, David Kahler". Center for Railroad Photography & Art . Madison, WI. November 17, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  14. ↑ "About the Center". Center for Railroad Photography & Art . Madison, WI. 2025. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Railroad photographer focused on 'bleakest time of the year'". Mount Desert Islander . Ellsworth, ME: Chris Crockett. September 1, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  16. ↑ "The Railroad and the Art of Place: Photographs by David Kahler". Center for Railroad Photography & Art . Madison, WI. 2023. Retrieved July 23, 2025.

Bibliography

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