Schweikher, Paul, 1903-1997

Robert Paul Schweikher (1903-1997) was born in Denver in 1903 and began his architectural training at the University of Colorado in 1921. After moving to Chicago in 1922, he enrolled in architecture and design classes at the The Art Institute of Chicago and then at the Armour Institute of Technology. While studying in Chicago, he also worked at the architectural firm of Lowe and Bollenbacher and, later, with David Adler. He completed his bachelor's degree at the Yale School of Architecture in 1929. After graduation, Schweikher spent a year in European study and travel, funded by a fellowship from Yale. Schweikher returned to Chicago in 1930 and worked for several local architects, including George Fred Keck and Philip Maher. His early reputation as an avant-garde architect was bolstered by his inclusion in the 1933 landmark exhibition on modern architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1934, he became principal and senior partner in the firm of Lamb and Elting, renamed Schweikher and Elting in 1946. He left that partnership in 1953 to become chairman of the School of Architecture at Yale University, and also established a private practice of residential architecture. In 1958, Schweikher resigned his position at Yale to serve as head of the Deparment of Architecture at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon), retiring from that position in 1970. He subsquently moved to Arizona and opened a small private practice there. Schweikher died in Phoenix in 1997. (portions taken from Art Institute of Chicago interview with Schweikher)

From the guide to the Paul Schweikher Papers, 1955-1966, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)

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