Karl Kamrath
Born(1911-04-25)April 25, 1911
Enid, Oklahoma
DiedJanuary 29, 1988(1988-01-29) (aged 76)
Houston, Texas
EducationBachelor of Architecture, 1934[1]
Alma materUniversity of Texas
OccupationArchitect
Spouse(s)Eugenie Sampson (1934-1975), Gardina McCarthy (1977-1988)[1]

Karl Kamrath FAIA (April 25, 1911 – January 29, 1988) was an American architect and tennis player. He, along with Frederick James MacKie, Jr., created the Houston-based architectural firm Mackie and Kamrath. The firm's buildings reflected the principles of Organic Architecture and Usonian architecture, an outcome of Kamrath's friendship with Frank Lloyd Wright.[2] His career spanned over five decades during which he designed residential, commercial, institutional and government buildings.[3] Prior to founding MacKie and Kamrath, Karl Kamrath worked for Pereira and Pereira, the Interior Studios of Marshall Field and Company, and the Architectural Decorating Company in Chicago, Illinois.[4]

Karl Fred Kamrath was born in Enid, Oklahoma to G.A. and Martha Kreplin Kamrath on April 25, 1911. While still a child, Kamrath's family moved to Austin, Texas. Throughout his life, Kamrath was an avid tennis player, and married fellow tennis player Eugenie Sampson in 1934.[4] That same year that he graduated the University of Texas with a Bachelor's degree in architecture.[1] In 1955, Karl Kamrath was elected as a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), an organization he was affiliated with since 1939.[4] He became the Houston AIA chapter president in 1960 and acted as the chairman of the Frank Lloyd Wright Memorial Committee from 1960 to 1962.[1] He was inducted into the University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.[5]

Major Buildings

  • Phyllis Wheatley High School,[6] Houston (1948)
  • Temple Emanu-El, Houston (1949, with Lenard R. Gabert)[3]
  • Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church,[7] Houston (1975)
  • Houston Contemporary Arts Association Museum (1949, demolished)
  • Dow Chemical Company complex, Freeport (1953)
  • Schlumberger Corporation complex (1953) now University of Houston Energy Research Center[8]
  • Humble Oil Research Center, Houston (1954) (demolished 2017)
  • St. John the Divine Church, Houston (1954, with H. A. Salisbury)
  • University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute (1954, altered), featured in TIME magazine in December 1954[9]
  • Commercial Standard Insurance Company Building,[10] Fort Worth (1956)
  • Farnsworth and Chambers Building (1957) an early office facility for NASA and Project Mercury, now Houston Parks Gragg Building[11]
  • Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, Bunker Hill Village, Houston (1957, 1973)
  • Temple Rodef Shalom, Waco (1962)
  • First Pasadena State Bank Building,[12] Pasadena, Texas (1962)
  • Science and Research Building, University of Houston (1968)
  • Travertine Nature Center, Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Sulphur, Oklahoma (1968)
  • Big Three Industries Building, Houston (1974)
  • Kamrath Second Residence, on Tiel Way in River Oaks, Houston (1953)[13]
  • George P. Mitchell house, Piney Point Village (1963, demolished), profiled in Fortune Magazine
  • C.B. Ellis house, on Green River Trail in Ft. Worth, Texas (1966)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Karl Fred Kamrath (1911-1988), American Institute of Architects
  2. ↑ Miller, Scott Reagan, "Wright", The Architecture of MacKie and Kamrath, Rice University, 1993, pg 16-27
  3. 1 2 Miller, Scott Reagan, "Chronological List of Works", The Architecture of MacKie and Kamrath, Rice University, 1993, pg 193-237
  4. 1 2 3 Kamrath, Karl Fred, Handbook of Texas On-Line
  5. ↑ Karl Kamrath Archive, University of Texas at Austin
  6. ↑ "Houston MOD - Building Detail". www.houstonmod.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24.
  7. ↑ "Mackie and Kamrath: Three Ecclesiastical Venues «".
  8. ↑ "New Energy Research Park". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  9. ↑ Miller, Scott Reagan, The Architecture of MacKie and Kamrath, Rice University, 1993
  10. ↑ "6421 Camp Bowie - Fort Worth, Texas".
  11. ↑ "City of Houston eGovernment Center". www.houstontx.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-09-30.
  12. ↑ "Houston MOD - Building Detail". www.houstonmod.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24.
  13. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2009-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading

  • Strom, Steven, Mackie & Kamrath Architects: Guide to the Architectural Collection, Houston Public Library, 2000, softcover booklet.
  • Miller, Scott Reagan, The Architecture of MacKie and Kamrath, Houston, Texas : Rice University, 1993.
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