Charles Zeller Klauder (1872 - 1938) was an American architect best known for his work on university buildings and campus designs, especially his Cathedral of Learning, the first educational skyscraper.

Biography

Klauder studied architecture at the School of Industrial Art at the Pennsylvania Museum. At age fifteen, he entered the office of T. P. Chandler. Beginning in 1893 he worked for prominent Philadelphia architectural firms, including Wilson Brothers, Cope & Stewardson, Day & Brother, and Horace Trumbauer. In 1900, Klauder became chief draughtsman at Day & Brother, this led to their partnership, as Day & Klauder, which endured until Frank Miles Day's death in 1918.

Klauder's commissions include extensive work on these campuses: the University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Cornell University. At Penn he designed Franklin Field, Hutchinson Gymnasium, the Coxe and Sharpe Wings of the University Museum, alterations to Weightman Hall and the Palestra. Several of his landmark Neo-Gothic buildings at Pitt are the Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Memorial Chapel and the Stephen Foster Memorial. The Cathedral of Learning, upon its completion, was the tallest educational building in the world, and today it ranks behind only a tower at Moscow University. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Marks Scout Resource Center at 22nd and Winter Streets in Philadelphia was built in 1929. Klauder designed the building in the Beaux Arts style.

Among the honors Klauder received: Gold Medal, A.I.A., 1921; Gold Medal, Architectural League, N.Y. 1921; Grand Prix Pan American Congress of Architects, 1927; Architectural Medal, Olympic Games, 1928. Klauder was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Klauder died, aged 66, on October 30, 1938.

Gallery

Architectural Work (Partial listing)

• Alma College Chapel, 1941
• First Presbyterian Church, 1928, Kalamazoo, MI, 1941;
• Mercersburg Academy, Proposed Lab, 1939
• Stanton Military Academy, 1931
• Woodrow Wilson residence, Washington, DC

At Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA:

• Dietz-Santee Dormitory
• Franklin-Meyran Dormitory
• Biesecker Gymnasium
• Hensel Auditorium
• Fackenthal Laboratories
• Central Heating Plant
• Fackenthal Pool
• Franklin and Marshall College Master Plan

At the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA:

• Franklin Field 1922, 1925
• Palestra
• Hutchinson Gymnasium, 1926-1928
• Coxe 1926 and Sharpe 1929 Wings of University Museum
• Alterations to Weightman Hall

At Cornell University:

• Founders Hall
• Lyon hall, 1928
• McFadden Hall, 1928
• War Memorial, 1928
• Mennen Hall, 1931

At Princeton University, fifteen buildings including:

• Walker Hall, 1930
• Holder Hall
• University Dining Halls
• Joline Hall, 1939

At St. Paul's School:

• Central Heating Plant
• Quadrangle Dorms

At The Pennsylvania State University:

• College Master Plan
• Sackett Building
• Buckhout and Borland Labs
• Steidle Building
• The Nittany Lion Inn
• Additions to Pond Lab and Sparks Building
• The Power Plant
• Henderson Building
• (New) Old Main
• Rec Hall
• Pattee Library
• Burrowes Building
• Electrical Engineering West
• Osmond and Frear Labs
• Ag Engineering
• Ferguson Building
• The Poultry Plant
• Additions to Steidle and Sparks
• University of Colorado campus master plan 1918
• Peabody Museum, Yale
• Concordia Seminary, Clayton MO (fourteen campus buildings) including...
• Martin Luther Tower
• Moravian College and Theological Seminary, Bethlehem, PA, development plans
• Marks Scout Resource Center, Philadelphia, 1930
• Pendleton Hall, Wellsley

References

• Alberts, Robert C. (1987). Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh 1787-1987. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.
• Klauder, Charles Zeller and Herbert C. Wise (1929). College Architecture in America and Its Part in the Development of the Campus. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Notes