Résumé

Principal, T. Beverley Keim, Architect, Los Angeles, CA, 1918. His World War I registration card indicated that Keim had his own architectural practice in 1918. He had an office in Room #202 of the Haas Building in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles; Roll: 1530902; Draft Board: 13, accessed 03/25/2019.)

Principal, T. Beverley Keim, Jr., Structural Engineers, Los Angeles, CA, 1913. His firm supported the Los Angeles Architectural Club in 1913, and was listed as a "patron" in the Los Angeles Architectural Club Yearbook, 1913, n.p.

Keim went by the professional name, "T. Beverley Keim." His obituary indicated that Keim was also a civil engineer.

College

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 1906. His Senior Thesis at Purdue was entitled: "Boiler Performance under Constant Steam Pressure and Varying Lead while Burning Oil."

At Purdue he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity, was part of the Athletic Association in years 2-4, was a member of the Mechanical Engineering Society, Tennis Association and the Minstrels. He also joined the LaFayette Dramatic Club. (See Purdue University Debris Yearbook, vol. XVIII, 1906, p. 124.)

Relocation

Keim was born in Reading, PA, and baptized at the Christ Episcopal Church there on 10/119/1884. His family moved to Portland, OR. Keim attended Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, and moved to Los Angeles in 1911.

As per his World War I registration card, Keim lived at 3966 West 5th Street , Los Angeles, on 09/10/1918. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles; Roll: 1530902; Draft Board: 13, accessed 03/25/2019.)

Parents

His father, T. Beverley Keim, Sr., worked as an executive in the railroad industry.

Spouse

Thomas Beverley Keim, Jr., married Edna Swift (born 06/17/1890 in NJ-d. 06/20/1975 in Riverside County, CA). She resided in Brooklyn, NY, in 1900 with her parents, Thomas P. and Margaret C Swift, Her father was born in England, her mother, NY. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 29, Kings, New York; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0538; FHL microfilm: 1241068, accessed 03/25/2019.) She married Keim on 10/03/1912, in Los Angeles, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images, accessed 03/25/2019.)

The widowed Edna Keim lived at 829 Westchester Place in Los Angeles in 1936. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1936, p. 989.)

Children

T. Beverley Keim, Jr., and Edna Keim had two children, one son, Thomas Beverley Keim III, (10/1/1913-1/8/1982), who was born in CA, and died in Los Angeles County, CA, and one daughter, Elizabeth M. Keim (born c. 1917).

His World War I registration card listed Keim, at age 34, as being tall, and slender with brown eyes and black hair. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Registration State: California; Registration County: Los Angeles; Roll: 1530902; Draft Board: 13, accessed 03/25/2019.)

Biographical Notes

Keim committed suicide in an office that he shared with associate G. Edward Blixt. Blixt found the architect dead at his desk with a self-inflicted wound to his right temple. Keim wrote four suicide notes: one to his brother, W.C. Keim, a Los Angeles realtor, one to his father, T. Beverley Keim, Sr., a wealthy, retired railroad executive, one to his associate, Blixt, and presumably one to his wife. He repeatedly referred to himself as "hopelessly ill" and mentioned the thought of "checking out" on more than one occasion. Friends and family thought the architect was joking. The Los Angeles Times story described Keim as "an artistic temperament that 'clashed with the commercial world.'" (See "Architect Ends Life at Office," Los Angeles Times, 10/24/1926, p. 3.)

• Reading, PA (Architect's Birth)
  Reading, PA

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• Los Angeles, CA (Architect's Death)
  Los Angeles, CA

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  Keim died in the Haas Building in Los Angeles.

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