{{short description|American architect}}

{{Infobox architect |name = Dominique Berninger |image = |image_size = |caption = |nationality = |birth_date = May 31, 1898<ref name=AIAquestion>"Questionnaire for Architects’ Roster and/or Register of Architects Qualified for Federal Public Works [http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/AIA%20scans/Rosters/BerningerHaagDEntremont_roster.pdf "Dominique Berninger - G. Harold W. Haag - Paul d/Entremont (firm)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813215501/http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/AIA%20scans/Rosters/BerningerHaagDEntremont_roster.pdf |date=2011-08-13 }} June 25, 1946.</ref> |birth_place = France |death_date = December 5,<ref name=AABbio/> or December 6, 1949<ref>[http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1003302.aspx The AIA Historical Directory of American Architects > Wiki Pages > ahd1003302 "Dominique Berninger"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615172112/http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1003302.aspx |date=June 15, 2012 }}, accessed 9 April 2013.</ref> |death_place = Pennsylvania, United States |alma_mater = |practice = Partner in Carswell, Berninger & Bower (ca. 1933-1935), Berninger & Bower (1935-1945) Berninger, Haag & d'Entremont (1946) |significant_buildings = New York World's Fair French Pavilion (1939) |significant_projects = |significant_design = |awards = 1939 Philadelphia Competition for Housing projects (slated to work on Germantown Housing Project with Edmund R. Purves - George S. Idell Group (but project didn't go ahead.) Various (see listed alongside works) }} '''Dominique Berninger''' {{Post-nominals|list=AIA}} (1898&ndash;1949) was a French-born American architect based in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, United States, who practiced nationally in the mid twentieth century but particularly in Pennsylvania. He is best known for his design of the French Pavilion for the New York World's Fair of 1939. Together with Louis Kahn, he founded the short-lived Architectural Research Group (ARG) in Philadelphia. He was a partner in the firms of Carswell, Berninger & Bower (ca. 1933–1935), Berninger & Bower (1935-1945) and Berninger, Haag & d'Entremont (1946)<ref name=AAD3HdE>''American Architects Directory'', R.R. Bowker LLC, Third Edition, New York 1970, p.360, s.v. ''[http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/American%20Architects%20Directories/1970%20American%20Architects%20Directory/Bowker_1970_H.pdf Haag, G. Harold W.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615170649/http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/American%20Architects%20Directories/1970%20American%20Architects%20Directory/Bowker_1970_H.pdf |date=June 15, 2012 }}'', accessed 9 April 2013.</ref>

==Early life and education== Born May 31, 1898, in Schiltigheim,<ref name=AABbio/> Alsace (at the time part of Germany, soon to be part of France again), Berninger attended high school in Darmstadt, Germany, then went on to be educated in Paris, France, first at a preparatory school, then college, finally graduating from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufacturers.<ref name=AIAquestion/>

==Architectural career== Upon coming to America, Berninger worked for Zantzinger, Borie and Medery, Architects of Philadelphia from 1925 to 1932.<ref name=AIAquestion/> During this time he served as job captain for their design project of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, a project that cost around $1,250,000.<ref name=AIAquestion/><ref>This is probably Strathcona Hall at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (1931), ''see'' Elizabeth Mills Brown, ''New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design,'' (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1976).</ref>

With Louis Kahn, who was also an employee of Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, he formed the Architectural Research Group in Philadelphia "for the group study of Housing and Slum Clearance."<ref name=AIAquestion/> During the whole of the ARG's brief existence, 1932 to 1935, Berninger acted as its president.<ref name=AIAquestion/>

In 1933, Berninger started to practice independently,<ref name=AIAquestion/> initially in partnership with John Arnold Bower (born 2/1/1901, died 1/20/1988)<ref>{{Philadelphia Architects and Buildings |ar=22382 |Bower, John Arnold, Sr. (1901-1988) |short=yes}}</ref> and Harold Thorp Carswell (born 3/25/1886, died 1/1/1940)<ref>{{Philadelphia Architects and Buildings |ar=22849 |Carswell, Harold Thorp (1886-1940) |short=yes}}</ref> as Carswell, Berninger & Bower, renamed Berninger & Bower when Carswell left the firm in 1935.<ref name=AABbio>{{Philadelphia Architects and Buildings |ar=18805 |Berninger, Dominique (1898-1949)}}</ref>

The most expensive and important work of his career was The French pavilion on the Court of Peace at the 1939 New York World's Fair, which was the grand open space northeast of the Theme Center. It ran such a celebrated restaurant that after the fair closed and World War II ended, the restaurant remained in New York City – and soon established itself (as Le Pavilion) as one of the finest French dining establishments in the city. Henri Soulé moved from the French Pavilion at the fair to open Le Pavillon, taking Pierre Franey along as head chef.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898950,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114112649/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898950,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 14, 2009 | magazine=Time | title=Restaurants: The King | date=1966-02-04 | accessdate=2010-04-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/18/garden/de-gustibus-innocence-abroad-memories-of-39-fair.html | work=The New York Times | title=DE GUSTIBUS; Innocence Abroad: Memories of '39 Fair | first=Pierre | last=Franey | date=1989-10-18 | accessdate=2010-04-20}}</ref>

At Berninger & Bower, Harold Haag worked as a draftsman and after the partnership dissolution in 1945, Berninger took Haag and Paul d'Entremont into partnership in 1946 as Berninger, Haag & d'Entremont.<ref name=AIAquestion/> However, it seems that he left this firm the same year, which took the name of Haag & d'Entremont (practicing from the old offices of 445 Cedar Street, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania 19046.)<ref name=AAD3HdE/>

Dominique Berninger died in late 1949 while undergoing surgery for lung cancer.<ref name=AABbio/>

==Works as Berninger & Bower== *1939: New York World's Fair French Pavilion (client: French Government; cost: $1,500,000; demolished 1940)<ref name=AIAquestion/> *Academy of the New Church Elementary School, Bryn Athyn, PA. (cost $70,000)<ref name=AIAquestion/> 0 *1946: Academy of the New Church Elementary School and Dormitories, Bryn Athyn, PA. (cost $300,000)<ref name=AIAquestion/> *George Deming Residence, Philadelphia (cost $75,000)<ref name=AIAquestion/> *Dufur Hospital Addition, Ambler, for the Dufur Hospital, Inc. (cost $35,000)<ref name=AIAquestion/>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berninger, Dominique}} Category:1898 births Category:1949 deaths Category:Defunct architecture firms based in Pennsylvania Category:Architecture firms based in Pennsylvania Category:Architects from Pennsylvania Category:People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Category:École Centrale Paris alumni Category:French emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century American architects