Fehr, Arthur, 1904-1969

Arthur Fehr graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture in 1925. He continued his education, studying in graduate programs at Columbia University, New York University, and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City. Before returning to Austin, Fehr worked with Kenneth Murchison in New York and Harvey Smith in San Antonio. In the 1930’s, he worked for the National Park Service on the Bastrop State Park Project in Bastrop, Texas, where he met Charles T. Granger, another Austin native and University of Texas graduate.

Charles Granger was born in Austin in 1913. During college, he met Fehr while working as a draftsman for the National Park Service at Bastrop State Park, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas (Austin) in 1936 and moved to Los Angeles to work with Richard Neutra after graduation. In 1938, he returned to Austin to join Arthur Fehr's architectural firm. During World War II, when commissions decreased, Granger attended Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield, Michigan and received his master's degree in 1946. While in Michigan he was introduced to the International Style as exhibited in the work of Eliel Saarinen who was teaching at Cranbrook. He worked with the firm Saarinen and Swanson before returning to Austin to reopen Fehr and Granger in 1946.

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