Theodore Link
{{short description|German-born American architect}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Theodore Carl Link
| image = Theodore C. Link.png
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1850|03|17}}
| birth_place = Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1923|11|12|1850|03|17}}
| death_place = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| resting_place = Bellefontaine Cemetery
| occupation = Architect
| employer =
| spouse = {{Marriage|Annie Fuller|September 22, 1875}}
| children =
| relatives =
| awards =
| education = {{Plainlist|
}}
| party =
| signature = Signature of Theodore C. Link.png
}}
Theodore C. Link, FAIA, (March 17, 1850 – November 12, 1923) was a German-born American architect and newspaper publisher. He designed buildings for the 1904 World's Fair, Louisiana State University, and the Mississippi State Capitol.
His best known work is in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, specifically the St. Louis Union Station (1894), and the Second Presbyterian Church (1899).{{cite web|date=September 11, 1980 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory –Nomination Form, Theodore Link Historic District |url=https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Link%2C%20Theodore%2C%20Historic%20Bldgs.pdf|website=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior}} The Theodore Link Historic Buildings (c. 1911) in University City are three private residences on Delmar Boulevard that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis County, Missouri.{{cite web|title=NPGallery Asset Detail: Link, Theodore, Historic Buildings |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/80004390 |access-date=2021-12-31 |website=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior}}
Early life
Theodore Carl Link was born on March 17, 1850, near Heidelberg, Germany. He was trained in engineering at the University of Heidelberg and the École Centrale Paris.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gawYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA104 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=XII |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=104 |year=1904 |access-date=2020-08-14 |via=Google Books}}
Career
Link immigrated to the United States, arriving in St. Louis in 1873 to work for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad company. He married Annie Fuller on September 22, 1875. That year, St. Louis surveyor Julius Pitzman recommended him to the job of superintendent of public parks for St. Louis. In 1889, Link joined the American Institute of Architects and started his own private architectural practice.{{cite web|date=September 11, 1980 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory –Nomination Form, Theodore Link Historic District |url=https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Link%2C%20Theodore%2C%20Historic%20Bldgs.pdf |website=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior}}
After a four-year interim as a German-language newspaper publisher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Link returned to St. Louis just after the turn of the century as one of the architects for the 1904 World's Fair. In 1901, he won the competition to design the new Mississippi State Capitol building in Jackson, which was completed two years later. He also "designed most of the buildings for LSU when the campus was relocated in the 1920s."{{cite web|url=http://cdm16313.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/TLD/ |title=Louisiana State University Architectural Drawings by Theodore Link |website=Louisiana Digital Library, Baton Rouge, LA}}
Death and legacy
Link died in Baton Rouge while working on the new Louisiana State University campus,{{cite web|last=Tofts |first=Caroline Hewes |url=http://www.landmarks-stl.org/architects/bio/theodore_c_link/ |title=Theodore C. Link, FAIA (1850–1923) |website=Landmarks Association of St Louis |access-date=February 2, 2015}} and was interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. In 1995 was awarded a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/?view=achievement |title=St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees |publisher=St. Louis Walk of Fame |access-date=25 April 2013}}
Work
Among the 100+ buildings he designed:
- 1869 Monticello Seminary (now Lewis and Clark Community College), Godfrey, Illinois
- 1891 gates and several houses for two of St. Louis's private places, Westmoreland Place and Portland Place
- 1894 St. Louis Union Station, modeled on the fortifications of Carcassonne, with architect Edward Cameron{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3K91MqZCVGoC&q=%22edward+cameron%22+architect |title=The Spirit of H.H. Richardson on the Midland Prairies: Regional Transformations of an Architectural Style |isbn=9780813800172 |last1=Larson |first1=Paul Clifford |last2=Brown |first2=Susan Mattseld |year=1988|publisher=University Art Museum, University of Minnesota }}
- 1899 Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Place, St. Louis{{cite journal |title=Second Presbyterian Church St. Louis, Missouri |journal=American Presbyterians |volume=68 |issue=3 |page=206 |jstor=23332669 |date=Fall 1990}}
- 1901 St. John's United Methodist Church, 5000 Washington Place
- 1901 Wabash Railroad Station and Railway Express Agency, 780 East Cerro Gordo Street, Decatur, Illinois{{cite book|title=Great American Railroad Stations |last=Potter |first=Janet Greenstein |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |year=1996 |isbn=978-0471143895 |location=New York |pages=295}}
- 1902 Wabash Railroad Station, Danville, Illinois{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JYjAQAAMAAJ |title=Railroad Gazette |date=1902-01-01 |publisher=Railroad Gazette |language=en}}
- 1903 Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, Liberty Avenue at Ferry Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 1903 Mississippi State Capitol, Jackson, Mississippi
- 1904 Palace of Mines and Metallurgy at the 1904 World's Fair (razed)
- 1904 Reid Hall and campus master plan for Washington and Lee University{{cite book|last=Warren |first=Mame |title=Come Cheer for Washington and Lee |publisher=Washington & Lee University Press (Meridian Printing) |date=1998 |pages=12}}
- 1906 Barr Branch, St. Louis Public Library
- 1908 Wednesday Club building and auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri{{cite web | url=https://www.thelinkauditorium.org/history | title=History }}
- 1910 Roberts Shoe (International Shoe) Company Building, St. Louis, with ornament influenced by Louis Sullivan
- 1911 Theodore Link Historic Buildings, 7100, 7104 and 7108 Delmar Blvd, University City, Missouri
- 1919–1923, master plan and nine buildings for the Louisiana State University, including the Memorial Tower, with W. T. Trueblood
Images
File:Westmoreland Place.jpg|Westmoreland Place gates, St. Louis, Missouri
File:Portland Place.jpg|Portland Place gates, St. Louis, Missouri
Image:Decatur, IL train station.jpg|Wabash Station, Decatur, Illinois
File:Annual report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of the State of Illinois (1902) (14572966008).jpg|Wabash Station, Decatur, Illinois
Image:04PalaceMines.JPG|Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, 1904 World's Fair
Image:Mississippi State Capitol building.jpg|Mississippi State Capitol
Image:PostcardGrandHallOfUnionStationStLouis1909.jpg|Grand Hall, St. Louis Union Station
File:ReidHall.jpg|Reid Hall, Washington and Lee University
File:St. Louis - Roberts, Johnson & Rand Bldg.JPG|Roberts Shoe Company Building, St. Louis, Missouri
Image:Memorial tower at LSU.jpg|Memorial Tower at LSU
File:4a12732u.tif|Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Find a Grave|20582}}
- [http://www.landmarks-stl.org/architects/bio/theodore_c_link/ Online photo and biography]
- [https://cdm17210.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/link Theodore C. Link Zoological Gardens Sketchbook] in [https://cdm17210.contentdm.oclc.org/digital Digital Collections] at the St. Louis Public Library
- [http://cdm16313.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/TLD Louisiana State University Architectural Drawings by Theodore Link], Louisiana Digital Library, Baton Rouge, La.
- [http://rbsc.slpl.org/link2.pdf Theodore C. Link Collection] finding aid at the [https://www.slpl.org/ St. Louis Public Library]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Link, Theodore Carl}}
Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States
Category:Architects from St. Louis
Category:19th-century American architects
Category:Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Category:Heidelberg University alumni
Category:People from the Grand Duchy of Baden
Category:Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery