{{short description|American architect (1847–1926)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox person | image = Herman Preusse (1847–1926).png | caption = Preusse in 1912 | birth_date = {{Birth year|1847}} | birth_place = Hannover, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|12|10|1847||}} | death_place = Spokane, Washington, US | occupation = Architect | resting_place = {{ill|Fairmount Memorial Park|qid=Q106834471|short=yes}} | education = {{ill|lt=College of Applied Science and Art|HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts|de|Hochschule Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen|ja|HAWK応用科学芸術大学}} | spouse = Rosa Cole (first), Emma Keller Wilke (second) | children = 5 | parents = Carl Victor Preusse and Victoria Eckstinoff }} '''Herman Preusse''' (1847 – December 10, 1926) was a German-born America architect active in Spokane, Washington. He designed several buildings in the National Register of Historic Places and also maintained a long and successful business partnership with fellow German architect Julius Zittel.
==Biography== Preusse was born to Carl Victor Preusse and Victoria Eckstinoff in Hannover, Germany in 1847. Preusse's father died when he was three, after which is mother remarried Prussian architect {{ill|Wilhelm Mehl|de}}. Influenced by his step-father, Preusse studied architecture {{circa|1864}} at the {{ill|lt=College of Applied Science and Art|HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts|de|Hochschule Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen|ja|HAWK応用科学芸術大学}} in Holzminden, Lower Saxony.<ref name=pcad>{{cite web |title= Herman Preusse (Architect) |publisher=University of Washington |website=Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=April 20, 2026 |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/3448/ |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref><ref name=Spokane>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA170 |title=History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time |volume=2 |first=Nelson Wayne |last=Durham |publisher=S. J. Clarke Publishing Company |pages=170–173 |year=1912 |access-date=2021-10-25 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
Preusse came to the United States in 1870, first to Chicago, then to San Bernardino, San Francisco, Sterling, and Kansas City. He was naturalized in 1880 and in 1882, he settled in Spokane Falls.<ref name=pcad/><ref name=ewu>{{cite web|url=http://www.narhist.ewu.edu/pnf/articles/s1/iv-1/jamieson/jamieson.html|title=Mann, The Jamieson and Kuhn Buildings in Spokane|website=www.narhist.ewu.edu|access-date=December 24, 2017|archive-date=November 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101171053/http://www.narhist.ewu.edu/pnf/articles/s1/iv-1/jamieson/jamieson.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1883, the Northern Pacific Railroad reached Spokane Falls, after which the city hired Preusse as their official architect, where he was tasked with guiding new developments in order to showcase the city as prospering and progressive.<ref name=spoke>{{cite web|url=http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jun/05/landmarks-spokanes-first-architect-left-mark-on/|title=Landmarks: Spokane's first architect left mark on city|date=June 5, 2014 |publisher=}}</ref> Preusse designed numerous buildings while in this position, his clients including Edward Herbert Jamieson, Herman A. Van Valkenburg, and Samuel J. Holland. Many of these buildings were destroyed in 1889 during the Great Spokane Fire, the most notable being Auditorium Theatre, which prior to its destruction contained the largest stage in the United States.<ref name=ewu/>
Preusse married Rosa Cole during or before 1885; their wedding was in Kansas City. They had five children together. By 1894, Preusse owned 400 acres of land and four additional 160-acre farms.<ref name=pcad/>
Fellow German architect Julius Zittel started as a draughtsman for Preusse in 1887 before becoming partner in 1893. Their partnership lasted until 1910.<ref name=Dies>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87755587/herman-preusse-architect-dies/ |title=Herman Preusse, Architect, Dies |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review |page=1 |date=1926-12-11 |access-date=2021-10-25 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Julius Albert Johann Zittel (Architect) |url=http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/3449/ |website=Pacific Coast Architecture Database |publisher=University of Washington |first=Alan |last=Michelson |accessdate=April 19, 2026}}</ref> The two designed several buildings that would later be included in the National Register of Historic Places, most notably the Spokane and Ritzville Carnegie libraries.<ref name=historic>{{cite web |title=Herman Preusse (1847-1926) |url=https://www.historicspokane.org/projects/spokane-architects/herman-preusse |access-date=April 20, 2026 |publisher=Spokane City/County Historic Preservation Office and the Spokane Historic Landmarks Commission}}</ref><ref name=ritzville>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=90000676}}|title=Ritzville Historic District |publisher=National Park Service|author=Leonard Garfield and Marcia Riley |date=October 25, 1989 |accessdate=June 2, 2024}} With {{NRHP url|id=90000676|photos=y|title=27 photos}}</ref> Preusse also designed Temple Emmanuel, the state of Washington's first synagogue, during this time; it opened in 1892, four days before another synagogue opened in Seattle.<ref name=spoke/>
Preusse married his second wife, Emma Keller Wilke, by 1912 and he retired by 1920.<ref name=pcad/> He died on December 10, 1926, aged 78 or 79,<ref name=Dies/> and was buried in Spokane at {{ill|Fairmount Memorial Park|qid=Q106834471|short=yes}}.<ref name=pcad/>
==Selected works== Notable Preusse works include (in Spokane, WA unless otherwise noted):
===National Register of Historic Places=== [[File:Sprague Mary Queend of Heaven Catholic Church IMG 1492.jpg|thumb|Mary Queen of Heaven Roman Catholic Church]] *Peyton Building (1898)<ref name=pcad/><ref name=spoke/><ref name=historic/> *Mary Queen of Heaven Roman Catholic Church (1902), Sprague, WA<ref name=spoke/>
====Preusse & Zittel==== [[File:Spokane Public Library.JPG|thumb|Spokane Public Library - Main]] *Edwin H. Hanford House (1892), Oakesdale, WA<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> *Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes concept work (1902)<ref>{{cite web |title=Spokane Civic Center |date=July 30, 1976 |url=https://properties.historicspokane.org/_pdf/districts/national/district-national-31.pdf |via=historicspokane.org |publisher=National Park Service |page=8}}</ref> *Holy Names Academy Building (1903 additions)<ref name=spoke/> *Spokane Public Library - Main (1905)<ref name=pcad/><ref name=historic/> *St. Boniface Church, Convent and Rectory (1905), Uniontown, WA<ref name="nris"/> *Ritzville Carnegie Library (1907), Ritzville, WA<ref name=ritzville/> *Bump Block-Bellevue House-Hawthorne Hotel (1909 expansion)<ref name=historic/>
===Destroyed in the Great Spokane Fire=== * Frankfurt, Boston, Post Office, and Granite blocks (1880s)<ref name=ewu/> * Blalock building (1880s)<ref name=ewu/> * Ziegler building (1880s)<ref name=ewu/> * Victoria Hotel (1880s)<ref name=ewu/> * Auditorium Theatre (1880s)<ref name=ewu/>
===Other=== *First Bank of Spokane (1883)<ref name=pcad/> *Bennett Building (1890), with John K. Dow<ref name=pcad/> *Chamber of Commerce/Fernwell Building (1890)<ref name=pcad/><ref name=spoke/><ref name=historic/> * Edward H. Jamieson Building #2 (1890, demolished 1980)<ref name=pcad/> * Merton Building (1890, demolished 2004)<ref name=pcad/> * Washington State University School of Science buildings (1890-1892), Pullman, WA<ref name=pcad/><ref name=historic/> * Temple Emmanuel (1892, demolished 1934)<ref name=spoke/> *early buildings at Gonzaga University including St. Aloysius Church (1909) and the main administration building,<ref name=pcad/><ref name=historic/> Preusse & Zittel<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gonzaga University : seventy-five years, 1887-1962|last=Schoenberg, Wilfred P.|date=1963|publisher=Gonzaga University|oclc=1498206}}</ref> * Spokane Public Library - Riverside (1904), Preusse & Zittel<ref name=pcad/> * YMCA Building (1907, demolished 1964)<ref name=spoke/> * the state armory (1908)<ref name=spoke/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Preusse, Herman}} Category:1847 births Category:1926 deaths Category:19th-century American architects Category:Architects from Washington (state) Category:20th-century American architects