Résumé

Service, US Army, 1951-1953.

Employee, American Printing and Lithograph Company, Seattle, WA, 1948.

Assistant Engineer, Birkenwald, Incorporated, Seattle, WA, 1954. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1954, p. 175.) Brikenwald, Incorporated, was a store selling store fittings at 2515 4th Avenue. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1954, p. 142.)

Draftsman, Architectural office, Seattle, WA, c. 1958-1959.

Partner, [Yu Sing] Jung/Brannen Associates, Architects, Boston, MA, 1968- . According to his obituary: "In 1968, Brannen and Jung founded Jung/Brannen. Over the next decades, the firm designed hundreds of office buildings and hotels, including several high-rises in the Financial District of Boston. They designed many buildings in Florida, notably the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Brannen’s magnum opus may have been the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, as harmonious in appearance as in sound quality." (See Dee Funeral Home and Cremation Service.com, "Robert "Buz" Brannen June 21, 1931 - July 29, 2021," 08/30/2021.)

An obituary posted online by the Boston Society of Architects listed some notable works: "Noted Jung/Brannen buildings in Boston include One Post Office Square, One Financial Place, 125 High Street, One Lincoln Street, and the complete restoration of the Custom House Tower. The firm also designed the Tufts University Student Center and buildings in Rhode Island, Florida, Utah, and Colorado. In partnership with Brannen’s mentor Pietro Belluschi, Jung/Brannen designed Baltimore’s acoustically magnificent Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Working with Belluschi early in his career, Brannen had designed the Juilliard School in New York." (See Boston Society of Architects.org, "Remembering Robert "Buz" Brannen FAIA," published 08/03/2021, accessed 08/31/2021.)

Professional Activities

Member, Boston Society of Architects, Boston, MA.

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Member, Building Officials Conference of America (BOCA), Chicago, IL.

Member, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Washington, DC.

Member, National Association of Industrial Office Parks, Herndon, VA.

Member, Central Artery Business Committee, Design and Engineering Committee, Boston. MA.

Trustee, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, Board of Trustees, Lincoln, MA.

Chair, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, Planning Board, Lincoln, MA.

Trustee, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Board of Trustees, Lincoln, MA.

Professional Awards

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1987.

Recipient, Boston Society of Architects, Award of Honor, Boston, MA, 1998.

High School / College

Graduate, Roosevelt High School, Seattle, WA, 1949. He played on the football team and was a part of several social committees at Roosevelt High. (See Roosevelt High School Yearbook, The Strenuous Life, 1948-1949, p. 24.)

B.Arch., University of Washington (UW), Seattle, Seattle, WA, 1957. At UW, Brannen pledged to the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Relocation

Robert C. Brannen, Jr., was born in Seattle, WA. As per the 1940s US Census, his family lived in a rented residence at 6306 Ravenna Avenue in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood. They paid $30 per month in rent when the census was taken on 04/03/1940. The Brannens lived at 6306 Ravenna Avenue until at least 1948. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1948, p. 160.) Like his sister Suzanne, Robert, Jr., attended nearby Roosevelt High School in Seattle, graduating in 1949.

Brannen listed his parents address at 6223 23rd Avenue NE, in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood as his permanent residence between 1950 and 1954.(See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1954, p. 175.) He served in the US Army during the Korean War, enlisting on 06/01/1951 at Fort Lawton, WA. He was discharged at Wolters Air Force Base near Mineral Wells, TX, on 01/21/1953. (See Veterans Affairs, Department of, Korean War Era Veterans Bonus Claims, 1955-1960 - Ar118-5-3-006673.Tif - Robert C Jr Brannen, Department of, Korean War Era Veterans Bonus Claims, 1955-1960, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 08/30/2021.)

Shortly after graduating from the University of Washington in 1957, Brannen worked as a draftsman in Seattle, and he and his wife resided at 4703 Ruffner Street in the Magnolia neighborhood. They lived on Ruffner between 1957 and 1959, at least. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1957, p. 169 and Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1959, p. 180.)

He and his wife moved to Boston, MA, likely later in 1959. (They were listed in the Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1959,but not that of 1960.) They relocated to Lincoln, MA, about 21 miles northwest of Boston, in 1961.

Lincoln became a focal point for Modern residential architecture in the Boston area beginning in 1937, when architect Henry B. Hoover (1902-1989) built his own residence near the Cambridge Reservoir at 154 Trapelo Road. The Chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Walter Gropius (1883-1969), erected his own house at 68 Baker Bridge Road here a year later, and others on the Harvard Faculty began to relocate here thereafter. Former Bauhaus instructor Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), lived nearby to his architectural partner Gropius in a house both men designed (1938) on Woods End Road and Harvard-trained architect Walter F. Bogner (1899-1993) designed three residences in Lincoln, including his own on Woods End Road.

Brannen became deeply involved in the planning and historic preservation of Lincoln, MA, and lived there for for over sixty years.

He and his wife also purchased and upgraded a residence near Lucca, Italy, during his retirement years. His obituary observed: "Although architecture was his deepest passion, Brannen also adored sailing on the coast of Maine, attending opera, and everything about the country of Italy. He and Barbara spent many blissful years at a renovated house near Lucca in Tuscany, picking olives and looking at Italian art and architecture." (See Dee Funeral Home and Cremation Service.com, "Robert "Buz" Brannen June 21, 1931 - July 29, 2021," 08/30/2021.)

Parents

The 1940 US Census indicated that his father, Robert Carleton Brannen, Sr., (born 07/12/1896 in Little Falls, MN-d. ) was a real estate broker. In 1959, Brannen, Sr., bought and sold industrial properties from his home at 6223 23rd Avenue NE in Seattle. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1959, p. 180.) By 1960, he had an office in Seattle's University District at 4347 Brooklyn Avenue, Room #610. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1960, p. 183.)

His mother Gladys Marie Wittwer (born c. 09/1898 in WI-d. 09/20/1984 in WA) coordinated household activities, and managed her two children, Robert, Jr., and his elder sister, Suzanne Brannen Pocock (born 10/13/1928 in Seattle, WA). Suzanne married twice, the first time on 12/26/1953 to Stanley Morgan Graves (born 04/23/1927 in Oakland, CA-d. 04/14/2014 in WA) and the second time on 12/13/1992 to Stanley Richard Pocock (born 10/11/1923 in Seattle, WA-d. 12/15/2014 in Seattle, WA)

Marie's name was recorded as "Glades" Marie Wittwer in the 1900 US Census, and her family resided in Monticello, WI, where her father Albert (born c. 06/1862 in Switzerland) operated a hotel. He emigrated from Switzerland to the US in 1879. Her mother Mary Wittwer (born c. 07/1868 in WI) had had four children, three of whom survived in 1900. They wed c. 1888 in WI. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Monticello, Green, Wisconsin; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 0127; FHL microfilm: 1241789, accessed 08/31/2021.)

Both Marie and Robert Brannen, Sr., were college graduates, according to the 1940 US Census, unusual for the time.

Spouse

He wed Barbara Ann Straight (born Greeley, CO-d. 2017 in MA) in King County, WA, on 11/24/1956. (See King County Marriage Records, 1855-2018 - Robert C Brannen Jr - Barbara Ann Straight, King County Marriage Records, 1855-2018, Washington State Archives, Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.wa.gov, 08/30/2021.) She was the eldest of four daughters of Kenneth Harold Straight (born 03/30/1909 in Greeley, CO-d. 01/30/1991 in Shasta County, CA) and Phyllis Stella Vaughn (born 11/19/1909 in Snohomish County, WA-d. 06/09/1984 in Olympia, WA). (They Straights also had a son who died at birth on 07/04/1931.) They resided in Olympia, WA, in 1940, where Kenneth worked in the general repair of tug boats, according to the 1940s US Census.

After Phyllis's death, Kenneth remarried in 1985.

Barbara attended the University of Washington at the same time Robert was there.

Children

He and Barbara had two daughters, Sarah Brannen and Jennie Brannen.

Biographical Notes

His nickname was "Buz."