Ferdinand von Beren (December 7, 1870 – June 11, 1953) was a German-born American architect in practice in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1895 until his death in 1953.
Life and career
editFerdinand von Beren was born December 7, 1870, in Hanover to Carl von Beren and Alwina von Beren, née Wiese. His father immigrated to the United States in 1875, once he was settled in New Haven; his mother followed with the rest of the family in 1876. Von Beren was educated in the New Haven public schools until the age of sixteen, when he dropped out of high school to enter the office of David R. Brown, a leading local architect, as an apprentice. Brown, as an employee of the older local architect Henry Austin, had been principal designer of the New Haven City Hall (1862, NRHP-listed), one of the earliest examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture in the United States.[1]: 150–168 [2]
In 1895, when he was about 25 and Brown was about 64, they formed the partnership of Brown & Von Beren.[3]
In 1909 the firm participated in the controversial competition to design the New Haven County Courthouse, the successor to one that Brown had completed in 1873. The project was awarded to Allen & Williams,[4] the senior partner of which had worked for Brown in the 1880s.[5] Brown withdrew from day-to-day practice later in life and died in 1910 at the age of 79.[2][3] By this time Leoni W. Robinson was the acknowledged leader of the architectural profession in New Haven but Brown & von Beren and contemporaries Allen & Williams were the most prolific architects in the area. Historian Elizabeth Mills Brown described von Beren, who was locally dominant into the 1920s, as a "jack of all styles..from Roman mansions...to a beer baroness's extravaganza...to tenements."[6]: 7-8 and 149
In 1924 von Beren was joined in practice by his son, Russell David von Beren. Von Beren practiced until his death in 1953 and the firm was continued by his son.[7] Among the firm's last works were the eight toll plazas (1958, demolished) on the Connecticut Turnpike.[8]
Architectural works
edit- 1903: Hillhouse High School, New Haven, Connecticut[9]
- Demolished
- 1903: YMCA (former), New Haven, Connecticut[10]
- As of 2025, the Liberty Building
- 1904: St. Michael's Catholic Church, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 187
- 1905: St. Luke's Episcopal Church, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 54
- NRHP-listed
- 1905: Samuel Amos York house, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 149
- Samuel A. York served a single term as mayor of New Haven in 1887-88; now the headhouse of a condominium complex known as 500 Prospect
- 1906: Lucerne, Hamden, Connecticut[6]: 37
- Built as the home of Frederick D. Grave, a German-born cigar manufacturer; it was designed in the style of a German castle. In 1961 this house became home to the architectural firm of Eero Saarinen and was occupied by his successors, Roche-Dinkeloo, until 2019
- 1909: Westport Town Hall (former), Westport, Connecticut[11]
- NRHP-listed
- 1911: Clinton Avenue School, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 211
- 1913: Chamber of Commerce Building, New Haven, Connecticut[12]
- Demolished
- 1914: Villa Rosa, Woodmont, Connecticut[13]
- The summer home of Sylvester Z. Poli
- 1915: Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 211
- 1915: Frank B. Waite house, Worcester, Massachusetts[14][15]
- 1922: The Eldorado, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 70
- 1922: Terryville Public Library, Terryville, Connecticut[16]
- 1923: New Haven Jewish Home for the Aged, New Haven, Connecticut[17]
- NRHP-listed.
- 1928: Fair Haven School, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 211
- 1929: Sylvester Z. Poli house, New Haven, Connecticut[6]: 60
References
edit- ↑ James F. O'Gorman, Henry Austin: In Every Variety of Architectural Style (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2008)
- 1 2 George Dudley Seymour, "David Russell Brown: 1831–1910: Designer of the New Haven City Hall and old County Court House" in New Haven (New Haven: Tuttle, Morsehouse & Taylor Company, printers, 1942): 250-251.
- 1 2 "Ferdinand Von Beren" in A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County 2 (New York: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918): 220-221.
- ↑ "The New Haven case" in Western Architect 13, no. 6 (June 1909): 64-66.
- ↑ "Architectural," New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier, March 2, 1886.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976)
- ↑ "New Haven architect dead at 82; Ferdinand von Beren designed schools and Poli theaters," Hartford Courant, June 12, 1953.
- ↑ "3 state firms given contracts to design structures on thruway," Bridgeport Telegram, August 11, 1954.
- ↑ "The board of education: plans for a new high school selected yesterday," New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, January 19, 1901.
- ↑ "Prize winners announced: plans of Brown & von Beren selected for new YMCA building," New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, May 22, 1899.
- ↑ "Westport Town Hall: plans just completed by Brown & von Beren," New Haven Morning Journal-Courier, August 28, 1908.
- ↑ "New features in big block in New Haven," Meriden Daily Journal, November 2, 1912.
- ↑ "Many homes of popular appeal designed by Mssrs. Brown & von Beren" in Modern Connecticut Homes and Homecrafts (New York: American Homecrafts Company, 1921): 36.
- ↑ Historic Building Detail: WOR.223 (Waite, Frank B. House), Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, no date. Accessed July 9, 2025.
- ↑ Advertisement for Sandusky Portland Cement Company in House Beautiful 40, no. 2 (July 1916): 108.
- ↑ American Contractor (October 8, 1921): 59.
- ↑ Susan Ryan, NRHP Inventory—Nomination: New Haven Jewish Home for the Aged, National Park Service, 1979.