11 Facts About Horace Trumbauer

Horace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy.

Horace Trumbauer's work made him a wealthy man, but his buildings rarely received positive critical recognition.

Horace Trumbauer did some work for developers Wendell and Smith, designing houses for middle-class planned communities, including the Overbrook Farms and Wayne Estate developments.

In 1906, Horace Trumbauer hired Julian Abele, the first African-American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Architecture Department, promoting him to chief designer in 1909.

Horace Trumbauer contributed to the design of more than 400 buildings, including the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University, Philadelphia's Central Library, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Horace Trumbauer was the primary designer of the west campus of Duke University.

In 1923, Horace Trumbauer was hired by the Reading Company to design the Jenkintown Train Station.

Horace Trumbauer's work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

In 1933, Horace Trumbauer was commissioned to build an ornate Ancien-Regime French style mansion for Herbert Nathan Straus, the youngest son of Macy's founder Isidor Straus.

Horace Trumbauer had a number of commissions until the Great Depression, but began to drink heavily, and died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1938.

Horace Trumbauer is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.