Sara Wermiel

American Architect-Engineers in the 19th Century

In 2008, Ms. Wermiel received the Kress Mid-Career grant. She will complete a book-length publishable study of American architect engineers in the nineteenth century, their accomplishments and technological contributions, and why this type of professional disappeared in the twentieth century.

Advertisement for S. E. Loring’s Chicago Terra Cotta Works, 1878. Loring was an important architect-engineer: he began his career as an architect, then became a manufacturer – founder of the modern terra cotta industry in the U.S. – and he also was a structural innovator. (Credit: American Architect and Building News 3 [1878])