Janssen, Benno, 1874-1964

Architect, partner in the firms of Janssen & Abbott and Janssen & Cocken. Janssen is best remembered for monumental buildings such as the William Penn Hotel (1914-16 and 1927-1928), and Mellon Institute (1931-1937); and Mellon Institute (1931-1937); and the Janssen firms were responsible for many other prominent Pittsburgh buildings. Janssen's lasting significance probably lies in the area of domestic design. Here, as elsewhere, Janssen's sources were many and eclectic, but he developed a warm and sophisticated domestic manner best represented in the Longue Vue Country Club and country houses such as La Tourelle, the Edgar Kaufmann house. (Janssen was predecessor to Frank Lloyd Wright as Kaufmann's architect-of-choice.).