Steele, Sandham, and Steele is an Omaha based architecture firm whose work was effective at combining the popular Modern style with Historicism in many churches, federal buildings, and educational facilities located in Omaha, Nebraska and surrounding areas. The firm's most principal architect, William LaBarthe Steele, was a prominent member of the Prairie School and was essential in spreading the style to the Iowa/Nebraska region. Prior to joining this firm, he worked under Louis Sullivan, an important member of the Chicago School. Steele eventually moved to Sioux City, IA where he designed dozens of homes and small churches in the prairie style, four of which are now state or national historical monuments. [1] He started Kimball and Steele in 1928 in Omaha, NE with Thomas R. Kimball.
The firm's name changed as principal architects shifted, but the style is unified by the strong style of Steele Sr, and the large scale buildings the firm completed were essential in bringing the prairie and modernist style to the farthest West of the American Midwest. Josiah D. Sandham joined the firm in 1929, making the firm Kimball, Steele, and Sandham. Following the death of Kimball in 1946, William Steele Jr. joined the firm as a partner making it Steele, Sandham, and Steele. [2]
The first project designed as a firm by Kimball, Steele, and Sandham was the Ivy Hotel and Residence located in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1930. The church was supposed to be one of four towers at the corners of a new Second Church of Christ Scientist. However, this tower was the only one ever completed. The design mixes the ziggurat form of Art Deco with Mideastern overtones. Its pebbly concrete walls are distinctive. [3]
Their most important work was the Old Federal Building located in Omaha, Nebraska which was built as part of the New Deal Era and is a registered historical monument as of March 2009. It is evident in its design style, stripped classical combined with Art Deco 4, that it reflects the mood of the times it was built in. Its construction, as well as its completion, provided many jobs during these stark economic times. [4] Construction on the building began in 1933 and was completed in that same year. The Omaha World-Herald wrote of the design in 1932:
The old forms of Renaissance and Romanesque architecture, and the French versions of classical forms, so long the invariable custom of government buildings, are left behind for a structure more closely akin to the Redick tower, Union State Bank building, and the Union Station than to the post office or courthouse. The lower three stories will be faced with limestone and granite, the upper stories with brick. Construction will be “fireproof” having a steel frame encased in concrete with reinforced concrete floors. Use of local materials will be encouraged as much as possible. [5]
The building is now home to a Residence Inn as its use as a government building became obsolete.
St Cecilia's Cathedral was also designed by the firm in 1905 by only Thomas R. Kimball which explains the discrepancy in style from both previous and future work. It is of Roman Catholic and Spanish Renaissance influence. Construction was completed by Kimball, Steele, and Sandham over 30 years later in 1938. [6]
The firm designed several buildings for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln following WWII. In 1949, the Agronomy Building was to be redesigned. The then-head of the Department of Architecture, Linus Burr Smith drew up original plans and stated that only four firms in Nebraska were capable of completing the design. Steele, Sandham, and Steele were chosen. The Agronomy Building was considered to be sophisticated and elegant at the time it was constructed, with state-of-the-art laboratories and modern amenities. The building was renamed for a long time department chair, Franklin D Keim, in 1957 who had retired in 1952 after the building's completion. [7] The firm was renamed Steele, Sandham, and Weinstein following the death of William Steele Sr. and the partnering of Alex Weinstein. They designed Behlen Laboratory under this name in 1962. Behlen Laboratory was one of the few brutalist buildings built in Nebraska. [8]
The style of Steele, Sandham, and Steele evolved over the years as societal moods changed and partners came and went. At its inception, the firm was heavily influenced by historic styles such as Renaissance style and Art Deco as is seen in St. Cecilia's Cathedral and The Ivy Tower Hotel and Residence. Their largest project, the Old Federal Building, located in Omaha, Nebraska, exhibits a bridge between these historic styles and the brutalist style that their later work was done in, as is seen in its use of both historic materials such as granite and limestone and modern materials of steel and reinforced concrete. Their brutalist style was fully realized in the 1950s and 1960s in their design of campus buildings for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and is especially present in the exposed concrete construction and fortress-like structure of Behlen Laboratory.
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form should follow function (functionalism); an embrace of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament. It emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after World War II until the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced as the principal style for institutional and corporate buildings by postmodern architecture. According to Le Corbusier the roots of the movement were to be found in the works of Eugène Viollet le duc.
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era but commonly known for its presence in post-war communist nations. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.
William LaBarthe Steele was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois. He is considered a principal member of the Prairie School Architectural Movement during the early 20th century.
Thomas Rogers Kimball was an American architect in Omaha, Nebraska. An architect-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha in 1898, he served as national President of the American Institute of Architects from 1918–1920 and from 1919-1932 served on the Nebraska State Capitol Commission.
Architecture in Omaha, Nebraska, represents a range of cultural influences and social changes occurring from the late 19th century to present.
St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first church for African Americans in Nebraska, organized in North Omaha in 1867. It is located at 2402 North 22nd Street in the Near North Side neighborhood. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was constructed in the center of Omaha's North Side in the Prairie School architecture style. Prairie School architecture is rare, and this architectural gem in urban Nebraska is particularly unusual for being designed and built in the 1920s, after the Prairie Style's rapid loss of popularity beginning after 1914.
The Union Station, at 801 South 10th Street in Omaha, Nebraska, known also as Union Passenger Terminal, is "one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the Midwest". Designated an Omaha Landmark in 1978, it was listed as "Union Passenger Terminal" on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. The Union Station is also a contributing property to the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District. It was the Union Pacific's first Art Deco railroad station, and the completion of the terminal "firmly established Omaha as an important railroad terminus in the Midwest".
Strehlow Terrace, also called the Terrace Garden Apartment Complex and Ernie Chambers Court, is located at 2024 and 2107 North Sixteenth Street in the Near North Side neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska. Designed by Robert Strehlow and reputed local architect Frederick Henninger, Strehlow was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The Omaha National Bank Building was built in 1888–89 at 1650 Farnam Street in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the building was saved from demolition by a rehabilitation in 1978. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the building was originally known as the New York Life Insurance Building; it was renamed in 1906.
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline of Leavenworth Street on the south to the centerline of Chicago Street on the north, also including the CHI Health Center Omaha. Downtown sits on the Missouri River, with commanding views from the tallest skyscrapers.
John Latenser Sr. (1858–1936) was an American architect whose influential public works in Omaha, Nebraska, numbered in the dozens. His original name was Johann Laternser.
The Redick Tower, operated since 2011 as The Hotel Deco, is an eleven-story building located at 1504 Harney Street in Omaha, Nebraska. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Federal Office Building , also known as the Old Federal Building, is a thirteen story, stripped classical style building with Art Deco elements located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The building was designed and built in 1933-34 by architects Thomas R. Kimball, William L. Steele, and Josiah D. Sandham as part of the firm Kimball, Steele & Sandham, plus associated architect George B. Prinz. It was built on the site of first U.S Courthouse and Post Office.
The former Woodmen of the World Building in Omaha, Nebraska, was located at 1323 Farnam Street. Built in 1912 by the architectural firms of Holabird & Roche and Fisher and Lawrie, the building was the headquarters of Woodmen of the World (WOW) from 1912 until 1934. WOW relocated in 1934 to the Bee Newspaper Building at 17th and Farnam, also known as the Insurance Building.
The Hartington City Hall and Auditorium, also known as the Hartington Municipal Building, is a city-owned, brick-clad, 2-story center in Hartington, Nebraska. It was designed between 1921 and 1923 in the Prairie School style by architect William L. Steele (1875–1949).
Hazen and Robinson was an architecture firm that practiced in Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1947 to 1967. N. Bruce Hazen and Marvin Robinson were the two principle architects and founders of the firm. Together they created buildings that till this day shape the landscape of downtown Lincoln Nebraska, the Nebraska State Capitol, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, one of the largest universities in the American Midwest. Additionally, they did many historic home districts in Lincoln. The firms’ modernist approach to design was reflected in their design. This is most noticeable in their partnership with Philip Johnson on the Sheldon Art Gallery, and other buildings including Kimball Recital Hall, Westbrook Music Building and Pershing Auditorium.
Fiske & Meginnis, Architects was an architecture firm partnership from 1915–1924 between Ferdinand C. Fiske (1856–1930) and Harry Meginnis in Lincoln, Nebraska. Twelve of the buildings they designed are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The two men have additional buildings listed on the National Register with other partnerships or individually credited. Related firms were Fiske and Dieman, Fiske, Meginnis and Schaumberg, and Meginnis and Schaumberg.
The architecture of Jacksonville is a combination of historic and modern styles reflecting the city's early position as a regional center of business. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, there are more buildings built before 1967 in Jacksonville than any other city in Florida, though few structures in the city center predate the Great Fire of 1901. Numerous buildings in the city have held state height records, dating as far back as 1902, and last holding a record in 1981.
Meginnis and Schaumberg was an architectural firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. The firm lasted from 1925 until 1943 when partner Harry Meginnis died. The firm designed several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and three buildings on University of Nebraska's East Campus as well as the Mueller Tower on its City Campus.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Engineering is the engineering college at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (NU) in Lincoln, Nebraska. NU has offered engineering classes since 1877 and the College of Engineering was formally established in 1909. Since 1970, it has also encompassed the engineering students and facilities at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Lance Perez has served as dean of the college since 2018.