PCAD Display Options
PCAD Display Options
Select theme to display preview image.
Male, US, born 1884-01-20, died 1963-01-31
Associated with the firms network
Beelman, Claud, and Associates; Curlett and Beelman, Architects; Ruck and Beelman, Associated Architects
Résumé
Carriage painter, D.L. Beelman Carriage Shop, Lima, OH, c. 1900. Claud's artistic inclinations were put to use in the family carriage-making shop, with him painting carriages produced there.
Architect, Lima, OH, c. 1906. (See R.L. Polk and Company’s Lima City Directory, 1906, p. 130.) In the city directory's classified section, five architectural firms were listed as operating in Lima, OH, in 1906, and it is possible Beelman worked for one of them. They included: J.A. Chapin, (located in Room #404 of the Holland Block), Dawson and McLaughlin, (Room #14 of the Central Building), Leech and Leech, (Rooms #609 of the Badeau Block), B.F. Mathews, (Rooms #34-35 of the Cincinnati Block) and F.J. Sonderman (at 518 West Wayne Street). (See Lima, Ohio, City Directory, 1906, p. 509.)
Designer, Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff, Architects, Toledo, OH, 1913. This firm had an office in Room #1234 of the Ohio Building. Beelman likely relocated to Toledo to work in the office of Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff, which was obtaining work from the rapidly expanding Willys–Overland Motor Company, headquartered there since 1909. (It had been located in Indianapolis.) During the period, 1912-1916, Willys-Overland was the second largest producer of autos in the US behind the Ford Motor Company. Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff designed at least two dealerships for the Willys–Overland Motor Company during the mid-1910s, in Springfield, MA, and Saint Louis, MO, and likely had other work with Willys-Overland on its sprawling Toledo assembly plant at West Central Avenue and Yost Street. (See Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1913, p. 273 and 2038.)
Partner, Wachter, Beelman and Schriber, Architects, Toledo, OH, 1914. This firm leased Rooms #908-915 of the Nicholas Building. (See Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1914, p. 277 and 2229.)
Partner, Schriber and Beelman, Architects, Toledo, OH, 1915-1916. The partnership maintained an office in Room #812 of the 2nd National Bank Building in Downtown Toledo. (See Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1915, p. 253 and 2066 and Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1916,p. 218.)
Principal, Claud Beelman, Architect, Toledo, OH, 1917. In 1917, Beelman continued to occupy the office in Room #812 of the 2nd National Bank Building. (See Toledo City Directory Company's Toledo City Directory, 1917, p. 196.)
Architect, US Air Nitrate Plant, Toledo, OH, 1918. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Lucas, Source Information: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 10/22/2020.)
Beelman continued to work as an architect in Toledo during 1919, but it is not known whether he remained in private practice for himself or worked for another firm. (See Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1919, p. 199.)
Partner, Curlett and Beelman, Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1922-1932.
Principal, Claud W. Beelman and Associates, Architects, Los Angeles, CA. In 04/1942, Beelman maintained an office in Room #1019 of the Union Bank Building in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) for the State of California; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 10/22/2020.)
Archives
Some of Claud Beelman's papers were preserved in the University of California, Santa Barbara, Art, Design and Architecture Museum's Curlett & Beelman Records, 1924-1932. (See University of California, Santa Barbara, Art, Design and Architecture Museum.edu, "Finding Aid for the Curlett & Beelman records, circa 1924-circa 1932 0000124," accessed 07/19/2023.)
Relocation
Claud Wilbur Beelman was born in Bellefontaine, OH to a blacksmith and his wife. In 1900, at age 17, he lived with his family at 126 North McDonel Street in Lima, OH, a small city about 78 miles southwest of Toledo. The household included Claud, his parents, David and Rosa, his brother, William, and his 19-year-old sister-in-law, Ida, (born c. 10/1880 in OH). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Lima Ward 6, Allen, Ohio; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0018; FHL microfilm: 1241236 I, accessed 10/22/2020.)
In 1906, the whole family, Claud, his parents, and William and Ida, lived at 541 East Eureka Street in Lima. At this time, Claud was listed in the city directory as an architect. (See R.L. Polk and Company’s Lima City Directory, 1906, p. 130.)
By 1908, they had moved to a residence in the Saint Joseph neighborhood of Indianapolis, IN on the corner of North Pennsylvania and East Saint Clair Streets. (See Oberlin College 1833-1908, Including an Account of the Principal Events in the History of the College, with Illustration of the College Buildings, [Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College, 1909], p. 958.)
Beelman and his wife lived in Marion, IN, in 1910, according to census records.
A year later, he and Laurene again lived on the northeast corner of North Pennslyvania and Saint Clair Streets, at 801 North Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis. They lived here when their daughter, Helen, was born on 09/13/1911.
Claud relocated his family to Toledo, OH, a fast-growing industrial city, by 1913, where he worked as a designer in the architectural office of Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff, Architects. His family dwelled at 1066 Grand Avenue. (See Toledo, Ohio, City Directory, 1913, p. 273.) During the period 1914-1918, he resided in a residence at 1719 Lawrence Avenue, in the city's Roosevelt neighborhood. (See Toledo City Directory Company's Toledo City Directory, 1914, p. 277 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Lucas, Source Information: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 10/22/2020.)
The architect remained in Toledo for about 8 years, until 1919, when he relocated to Southern California, to enter a Los Angeles partnership with Aleck Curlett, (1881-1942), the son of the celebrated San Francisco architect. William F. Curlett, (1846-1914).
The architect had become quite prosperous by 1930. He lived in Beverly Hills, CA, and his house was valued at $50,000, according to Federal Census records. In 10/1937, Beelman and his wife had a residence at 707 Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: New York, Passenger and Crew Lists [including Castle Garden and Ellis Island], 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, accessed 11/08/2020.) They continued to reside at 707 Rodeo Drive in 1948.
Beelman died in Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 79, and he and his wife, who died in 1948, were buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA.
Parents
His father was Daniel L. Beelman, (born c. 02/1853 in PA-d. 07/1/1929 in Los Angeles County, CA), who, in 1900, worked as a carriage blacksmith. During the 1860s and 1870s, Daniel had grown up in a large family on a farm near Bellefontaine, OH. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: Lake, Logan, Ohio; Page: 37; Family History Library Film: 804000, accessed 10/22/2020 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Bellefontaine Ward 4, Logan, Ohio; Roll: M593_1234; Page: 104B; Family History Library Film: 552733, accessed 10/22/2020.) In 1901, Beelman maintained his own carriage shop on the northwest corner of Market Street and Central Avenue, 116-118 South Central Avenue in Lima. This number had changed to 128 South Central by 1906. (See J. Wiggins and Company’s Lima City Directory, 1901, p. 399, Wiggins' Lima City Directory, 1903, p. 599 and R.L. Polk and Company’s Lima City Directory, 1906, p. 513.)
By 1907 or 1908, Daniel Beelman's carriage-building business in Lima had evaporated, and he had relocated to Dayton, OH, where he continued to make carriages until 1911. (See Dayton, Ohio, City Directory, 1908, p. 203 and Dayton, Ohio, City Directory, 1911, p. 185.) His name disappeared from the Dayton city directory during 1912, 1913 and 1914, but reappeared in 1915, as a carpenter. He continued as a carpenter according to the 1920 US Census. His son, William, still lived at home (1732 5th Street), at this time without his wife, Ida. The household also included Rosa's widowed sister, Julia Hurst, (born c. 1870 in OH). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Dayton Ward 11, Montgomery, Ohio; Roll: T625_1422; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 195, accessed 10/22/2020.) He continued to work as a carpenter in Dayton until at least 1923. (See Dayton, Ohio, City Directory, 1923, p. 128.)
His mother, Rosa Craw, (born 03/16/1856 in OH-d. 03/28/1941 in Los Angeles County, CA), grew up in Bellefontaine, OH. She married Daniel on 09/29/1875 in Logan County, OH. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016, accessed 10/22/2020.) As per the 1880 US Census, Rosa's mother, Sarah Craw, (born c. 1811 in NY), Sarah's two daughters and two grandchildren lived next door. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Bellefontaine, Logan, Ohio; Roll: 1041; Page: 86D; Enumeration District: 116, accessed 10/22/2020.)
Rosa and Daniel had had three children by 1900, two of whom survived at the time of the US Census. Their children included Claud and his elder brother, William Beelman, (born c. 04/1876 in OH) and another brother, Gussie, (born in either late 1879 or early 1880 in Bellefontaine, OH), who died before 1900. In 1900, William worked alongside his father in the family carriage shop as a blacksmith. Claud, according to the census, worked as a carriage painter as a 17 year old.
By the mid-1920s, Claud had managed to entice Daniel and Rosa to move out to Los Angeles, where he had become a prosperous architect. Both of his parents died in Los Angeles County.
Spouse
Claud married Lourene Taft Beelman in OH, (born 11/17/1884 in Spencerville, OH-d. 10/15/1948 in Los Angeles, CA) in c. 1908. Her first name has been spelled variously in some documents as "Laurene" and "Lourene." Her name in Claud's hand-writing on his World War I and II draft registration cards is spelled "Lourene." Her headstone in the Forest Lawn Cemetery was also spelled "Lourene."
She was one of nine children had by Her parents Alverta "Jane" Milhorn, (1831-1916) and Elias Fairbanks Taft, (1831-1886). Elias was a laborer, as per the 1880 US Census, with the family living in Kossuth, Auglaize County, OH. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Kossuth, Auglaize, Ohio; Roll: 994; Page: 499C; Enumeration District: 011, accessed 11/08/2020.)
Lourene resided with her widowed mother and three siblings in Spencerville, OH, in 1900. Despite her family's humble origins, Lourence managed to matriculate at college for a short time, attending Oberlin College in 1901-1902. (See Oberlin College 1833-1908, Including an Account of the Principal Events in the History of the College, with Illustration of the College Buildings, [Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College, 1909], p. 958.)
Children
He and Lourene had a daughter, Helen Louise Beelman, (born 09/13/1911 in Indianapolis, IN). (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Indiana, Birth Certificates, 1907-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016, accessed 10/22/2020.)
Biographical Notes
His World War I draft registration card described the 35-year-old Beelman as being Caucasian, of medium height and build, with blue eyes and bark brown hair. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Lucas, Source Information: U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 10/22/2020.) His World War II draft registration card listed him as being 5-feet, 9-and-½-inches tall, and weighing 187 pounds. He was described as having a light Caucasian complexion. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (4th Registration) for the State of California; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 10/22/2020.)
In 1942 and 1948, Beelman and his wife were (given his wife's maiden name) registered Republicans. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, accessed 11/08/2020.)
Claud Beelman and his wife sailed from Los Angeles, CA, to New York, NY, aboard the Grace Lines' S.S. Santa Rosa. The Beelmans, who were first-class passengers, left the Port of Los Angeles on 09/17/1937. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: New York, Passenger and Crew Lists [including Castle Garden and Ellis Island], 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, accessed 10/25/2020.)
SSN: 950536830.
PCAD id: 152
