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Male, born 1923-01-03, died 1987-07-10
Associated with the firms network
Bumgardner Architects; Bumgardner Partnership; Bumgardner, A.O., Architect; Bumgardner, A.O., and Partners, Architects; Burkhard, Ralph H., Architect; Zema and Bumgardner, Architects
Résumé
Draftsman / Specifications Writer, Ralph Burkhard, Architect, Seattle, WA, 1949-1951; worked for various firms in Seattle before establishing his own office, 02/1953.
Principal, Albert Bumgardner, Architect, Seattle, WA, c. 1953-1954.
Partner, [Gene] Zema and Bumgardner, Architects, Seattle, WA, 1954-1956; the Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1956, p. 191, indicated that Zema and Bumgardner continued to work together in 1956.
Partner, A.O. Bumgardner and Partners, Seattle, WA, 1956-1963.
Partner, Bumgardner Partnership, Seattle, WA, 1967-1980.
Partner, Bumgardner Architects, Seattle, WA, 1980-1987. The firm became known as simply "Bumgardner Architecture + Interiors + Planning" after Albert Bumgardner's death.
Professional Activities
Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington State/Seattle Chapter, 1954-1987.
Moderator, AIA, Washington State Chapter, "Architectural Practice," Seattle, WA, 03/25/1957. (See "First of Six Architecture Seminars Set," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 03/24/1957, p. 40.) Bumgardner moderated a discussion on architectural practice held between Jesse T. Wilkins, Jr., (1918-1991) and Waldo Christenson (1908-1959).
President, AIA, Seattle Chapter, Seattle, WA, 1962-1963.
Chair, City of Seattle, Seattle Design Commission. Seattle's mayor appointed him the inaugural chair of the Seattle Design Commission.
According to a 1987 AIA Seattle biographical sketch, written by Marga Rose Hancock, "He directed the drafting of the ordinance creating the Pioneer Square historic district, the first such district in Seattle." (See Marga Rose Hancock, AIA Seattle, "Albert O. Bumgardner FAIA," accessed 02/21/2017.)
in 1970, Bumgardner was a Registered Architect in AK and WA.
He served as a Juror in the award in the biennial award program sponsored by the Red Cedar Shingle and Handsplit Shake Bureau in 1977.
Bumgardner also generously volunteered his time to assist with various local organizations, that included University Preparatory Academy, Historic Seattle, Allied Arts of Seattle, the Washington Roadside Council, and Environmental Works. (See Marga Rose Hancock, AIA Seattle, "Albert O. Bumgardner FAIA," accessed 02/21/2017.)
Professional Awards
Honor Award, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington Chapter, Honor Award, 1954; The American Institute of Architects, Washington Chapter, presented Albert Bumgardner with an Honor Award in 1956 for the T.J. Graham Residence.
Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1971.
He received the AIA Seattle Medal, the AIA Seattle Chapter's highest lifetime achievement honor, in 1987, the year of his death.
Archives
The firm still existed as Bumgardner Architecture + Interiors + Planning in 2010 at 2111 3rd Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98121; tel: 206.223.1361 (2010).
College
Coursework, Illinois State Normal University, 1941-1943; Coursework, City College of New York (CCNY), 1943-1944; B.S. Arch., University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 1949.
College Awards
He was named to Bronze Tablet and Gargoyle Society, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 1949; he received the Second Place, AIA School Medal, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 1949, and graduated summa cum laude.
Relocation
The Bumgardner Family lived in Chatham, IL, in 1930. They owned their own residence that had an approximate value of $3,000. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Chatham, Sangamon, Illinois; Roll: 559; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0053; Image: 1066.0; FHL microfilm: 2340294, accessed 02/21/2017.) In 1942, the family house was located on Route 1 in Chatham.
In 1954, he lived at 1629 North Broadway in Seatte's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1954, p. 204.) He relocated to 2017 North Broadway by 1959.(See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1959, p. 215.) The 2017 North Broadway address was his residence and business office.
Bumgardner died in Seattle, WA, at the age of 64.
Parents
His father. Alfred Orin Bumgardner(1889-1983), married twice. A World War I draft registration record dated 06/05/1917 noted that Alfred had a wife and child and worked as a farmer residing on Rural Route #2 about 1.5 miles outside of Woodside, IL. (See Source Citation: Registration State: Illinois; Registration County: Sangamon; Roll: 1614591; Draft Board: 1. Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, accessed 02/21/2017.) His first wife, Sarah Marie Ballweg Bumgardner (1891-1918), died in 1918, quite possibly during the influenza pandemic. With Sarah, he had a daughter, Dorothy Margaret Bumgardner (1915-2013).
Alfred's second wife, Florence Lonas (1891-1969), bore two boys, Albert Orin and Melvin (born c. 05/1925 in IL). The US Censuses of 1930 and 1940 indicated that Alfred had an eighth-grade education and worked as an automobile mechanic, while Florence maintained the household, Florence had completed two years of high school. The 1940 Census also stated that Florence supplemented the family income by working half-time raising poultry. The same census recorded that Albert worked as 16 hours a week as a gardener in his mother's garden. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Chatham, Sangamon, Illinois; Roll: T627_887; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 84-67, accessed 02/21/2017.)
In 1942, Alfred worked at the garage owned by Romie Fields (1893-1977) at 317 South 3rd Street in Springfield. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Draft Registration Cards for Fourth Registration for Illinois, 04/27/1942 - 04/27/1942; NAI Number: 623284; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 02/21/2017.)
Spouse
Like Lionel Pries, Roland Terry, and a number of other notable Pacific Northwest architects of his time, Bumgardner was gay.
Biographical Notes
In the book, Shaping Seattle Architecture ([Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994], p. 340), historian Jeffrey K. Ochsner indicated that Bumgardner was born in Chatham, IL, a town about 10 miles southwest of Springfield, IL; the American Architects Directory for 1956 ([New York: R.R. Bowker, 1955], p. 73), stated that he had been born in Springfield. It may have been that he was born where the nearest large hospital was (in the IL capitol of Springfield), but that his parents lived in the smaller town of Chatham, a city of a less than 10,000 people in 1923.
SSN: 556-40-1606.
PCAD id: 2759
