Adolf Cluss

German-American architect (1825-1905)

Adolf Ludwig Cluss (July 14, 1825 – July 24, 1905) also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, responsible for the design of numerous schools and other notable public buildings in the capital. Today, several of his buildings are still standing. He was also a City Engineer and a Building Inspector for the Board of Public Works.

Red brick was Cluss' favorite building material; that, and his early communist sympathies, led some to dub him the "Red Architect", though he was a man who in later life became a confirmed Republican.^[1]

Life

Adolf Cluss
(ca. 1860)

He was born on July 24, 1825, in Heilbronn in the Kingdom of Württemberg in Southwest Germany. He was the fifth child of Johann Heinrich Abraham Cluss (1792–1857) and Anna Christine Neuz (1796–1827).^[2] His father was a master builder, and young Cluss set out as an itinerant carpenter when he left Heilbronn at age nineteen. In his travels, he met and became a friend of Karl Marx and a supporter of communist principles at a time of political and revolutionary ferment in Germany. He joined the Communist League and became a member of the Mainz Worker Council. The failure of the German revolutionary movement in 1848 led him to leave Germany when he was twenty-three, along with other Forty-Eighters who emigrated to the United States at that time. In the United States, he continued his political activity into the 1850s, maintaining an extensive correspondence with Marx and Engels and writing and publishing political articles for the German-American community.^[3]

Early life in America

Adolf Cluss in front of the National Museum (1880)

Adolf Cluss immigrated to the United-States in 1848 at the age of 23. He crossed the Atlantic on board the Zürich, a small sailing ship from Le Havre, France to New York City.^[4] He spent the first six months in New York City where he perfected his English. He looked for work in Philadelphia, Baltimore and finally settled in Washington, D.C., in the 1849. In the summer of 1849, he started working for the United States Coast Survey as a technical draftsman surveying the Maryland and Virginia coastlines. The following year, he worked at the Washington Navy Yard designing various project for the Ordnance Department. He did not like this position or his life in the city and considered going back to Europe. He considered becoming a bookseller in 1852, requesting funds from his father who did not provide the funds. In 1855, he became a US citizen^[5] and transferred to the US Treasury Department as a technical draftsman.^[6] He became an abolitionist sometime after that time.^[5]

He briefly returned to Europe in 1859 to receive his share of the inheritance this father had left him when he died in 1857 and returned to Philadelphia. He attempted to become a brewer with a friend but the business soon failed and he was back to his old position in the Ordnance Department at the Washington Navy Yard working closely with Admiral John A. Dahlgren.^[6]

Private practice

Adolf Cluss started his private practice in 1862. While America was torn apart in the Civil War and while still working at the Navy Yard, Cluss started an architectural office with another German immigrant Josef Wildrich von Kammerhueber. He continued to work full-time at the Navy Yard until the following year and part-time as an architect. His partner was working full-time from Cluss' house on 2nd Street, NW. In 1864, their breakthrough was the Wallach School. Adolf Cluss was 39 years old.^[6]

Cluss and Kammerhueber were also civil engineers as many architects at the time. In 1864, the City of Washington requested Cluss and Kammerhueber to write a report on the Washington City Canal and the sewer system. This report led to the Canal being finally covered over in 1871 which had become an open sewer on the National Mall.^[7] The partnership ended in 1868.^[6] He became an active member of the American Institute of Architects in 1867.^[8]

Board of Public Works

Cluss maintained his solo private practice but became a Building Inspector for the Board of Public Works in Washington, DC. The Board was the most powerful entity in the city. Cluss wrote building regulations and was a major proponent of the use of building permits and inspections.^[7] On October 18, 1872, he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as a member of the Board of Public Works and City Engineer. This came at the recommendation of Governor Cooke, Alexander "Boss" Shepherd and his predecessor Alfred B. Mullett.^[9]

I most earnestly recommend the appointment of Adolph Cluss Esq. to fill the vacancy on the Board of Public Works, caused by my resignation. He is a competent architect and engineer and an earnest and sincere republican, and in my opinion a gentleman of the very highest integrity. I know of no person in the District of Columbia whose appointment would in my opinion give more general satisfaction or who is more competent. Mr. Cluss' appointment would, I think, be highly appreciated by the german republicans of this city.^[10]

— Alfred B. Mullett

Cluss had become a member of the local Republican party by then and had led a volunteer committee of local Republicans coordinating parts of the President's inauguration after having been re-elected that same year.^[11] He also volunteered in President James A. Garfield's inauguration committee in 1880.^[12]

The Board had been working to improve the city by paving and grading roads, adding sewers and planting trees but there was a cost associated with this. The expenditures by the Board of Public Works led the city to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Adolf Cluss testified before a Joint Committee in May 1874. His appointment was revoked by the President on May 25, 1874.^[13][14] Congress to pass legislation on June 30, 1874, abolishing the territorial government and replacing it with the three-member Board of Commissioners.

Return to private practice

In 1877, he partnered with architect Frederick Daniel with an office at 701 15th Street, NW^[15] but the partnership came to an end in 1878. The following year, he started working with architect Paul Schulze. The partnership came to an end in 1889 when Cluss retired from his private practice having built almost 90 buildings including at least eleven schools, as well as markets, government buildings, museums, residences and churches.^[6] Cluss' schoolhouse designs were particularly innovative and influential, though only two of his red-brick school masterpieces remain, Franklin School and Sumner School in downtown Washington. The Franklin School was completed in 1869 earning the Washington public school system a Medal for Progress.^[16] He designed four major buildings on the National Mall, including the still-standing Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. He built six houses of worship including Calvary Baptist Church which still stands.

Two of the city's largest food markets, Center Market (1872) and Eastern Market (1873), were built to his design. The first was torn down in 1931 to be replaced by the National Archives Building. The second is still standing having surviving a fire in 2007. His flagship store for Lansburgh's opened in 1882.^[17]

Cluss was also active as a builder of mansions for the Washington elite, such as Stewart's Castle on Dupont Circle. In 1880, he was hired to create what became Washington's first luxury apartment building, Portland Flats, an ornate, six-floor, 39-unit creation on the south side of Thomas Circle. Almost all of Cluss' residential creations have been demolished—Portland Flats, for instance, was torn down in 1962 to make way for an office building.^[18]

In 1877, he was commissioned to oversee the reconstruction of the Old Patent Office Building (today the National Portrait Gallery) in Washington, D.C.^[19]

American Institute of Architects involvement

Adolf Cluss was an active member of the American Institute of Architects. He became a fellow of the Institute in 1876.

He also attended several conventions over the years:

• 21st Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – October 19 to October 21, 1887, in Chicago, IL.^[20]
• 22nd Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – October 17 to October 19, 1888, in Buffalo, New York, during which he presented a paper: Mortars and Concretes of Antiquity and Modern Times.^[21] He attended the conversation with some of his daughters as reported by the transcript of the convention.^[22]
• 24nd Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – October 22, 1890, in Washington, DC.^[23]
• 25th Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – October 28, 1891, in Boston, MA^[24]
• 32nd Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – November 1, 1898, in Washington, D.C. Presented a communication on Acoustics.^[25]

He was one of the founding members of the Washington, D.C., chapter in 1887. He attended Annual Meetings of the Washington Chapter including the January 7, 1898, meeting.^[26]

In 1889, he was elected for one year as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects.^[27][28]

Inspector of Federal Buildings

He became an Inspector of Federal Buildings in the Office of the Supervising Architect under the United States Department of the Treasury^[29] in 1889^[30] after closing his private office in June of that year.^[31] He inspected the Ellis Island buildings in February 1892^[32] and wrote a report on July 15, 1892, a few months after the first Immigration Station opened. He testified in front of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization on how the humidity was a concern in the building only a few months after it was built.^[33] He also inspected many other buildings around the country including the Post Office designed by Alfred B. Mullet in Chicago.^[34]

On September 1, 1894, a few months after the death of his wife and after the victory by the Democrats, he was asked for his resignation by Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle.^[35] He had solicited letters of support from several prominent people but was replaced by a Democrat.^[36]

Personal life

Adolf Cluss (center) with his sister's family, the de Millas in Heidelberg, Germany (1898)

On February 8, 1859, he married Rosa Schmidt (1835–1894) at Zion Lutheran Church in Baltimore, Maryland.^[37][38][39] They lived in a row house at 413 2nd Street, NW between D Street, NW and E Street, NW^[15][30] for thirty-five years. They raised seven children in that house.^[39]

• Lillian Cluss: She was born on January 2, 1860. She had married William Daw and lived above the Daw's pharmacy at 23rd and H Street NW. She died on February 16, 1935.^[40]
• Anita T. Cluss: She was born on September in 6, 1861. She was a harpist at St. John's Church and in the Georgetown Orchestra.^[41][42] She died on November 25, 1917.^[40]
• Adolph S. Cluss: He was born on January 29, 1863. He worked as a clerk for his father. He died in 1886 at the age of 23 of typhoid fever.
• Carl Louis Cluss: He was born on August 14, 1865. He worked as pharmacist. He died 1894 (6 months after his mother) of typhoid fever at the age of 29.
• Flora Maude Cluss: she was born in December 1870. She married Henry S. Lathrop (of New York) on January 21, 1901, and then moved to New York.^[43] She died around 1953.^[40]
• Robert Cluss: He was born on November 4, 1873. He died in April 1893 at the age of 19 of tuberculosis.
• Richard Basil Cluss: He was born on September 30, 1875.^[38][39]

His wife died on April 10, 1894^[44] a year after her son Robert of a lengthy respiratory illness. Following the death of Robert, Carl and Rosa Schmidt, Flora and Anita moved to their sister Lillian's house.^[39]

As published in the Evening Star on March 18, 1897, Cluss was on the Delinquent District of Columbia Real Estate Tax List owing $8.41 as of July 1, 1896.^[45]

In the spring and summer of 1898, Cluss traveled to Germany, Italy and Central Europe and visited his older sister's (Caroline De Millas née Cluss) family in Heidelberg, Germany.^[46]

Grave of Cluss at Oak Hill Cemetery

Adolf Cluss died on July 24, 1905, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 80 years. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery (Plot: Van Ness, Lot 161 East).^[39][47]

Interviews and publications

• November 13, 1872: Our Modes of Building – Evening Star. Opinion of Architect Cluss on mansard roofs and the risque of fire following the Great Boston fire of 1872.^[48]
• May 1875: Modern Street – Pavements – Popular Science Monthly.^[49]
• October 1876: Architecture and Architects at the Capital of the United States from its Foundation until 1875 – The American Architect and Building News (Supplement) presented at the Tenth Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects on October 11, 1876, in Philadelphia, PA.^[50]
• October 1888: Mortars and Concretes of Antiquity and Modern Times – The Inland Architect and News Record (October 1888), Building Budget (October 1888) and Building (November 10, 1888). Presented but not read at the 22nd Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects in Buffalo, NY from October 17 to October 19, 1888.^[51][52]
• November 1898: Professor W. C. Sabine of Harvard University presented a paper title Acoustics followed by a communication by Adolf Cluss at the 32nd Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC.^[25][53]

Legacy

Today, several buildings designed and built by Adolf Cluss still stand in the Washington, D.C., area:

• Calvary Baptist Church
• Eastern Market
• Franklin School
• Sumner School
• Metropolitan Hook & Ladder Company Fire Engine House – 438 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
• Smithsonian Institution, Arts and Industries Building
• Masonic Temple
• Alexandria City Hall

In 2005, after a ceremonial resolution by the DC Council,^[54] DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams made a proclamation that 2005 would be "Adolf Cluss Year" from July 2005 to June 2006. Joint exhibitions would be presented in Washington, D.C., at the Charles Sumner School Museum and at the Stadtarchiv in his birthplace of Heilbronn, Germany.^[55] Both exhibits closed but a website remains: Adolf-Cluss.org

A small street in Washington, D.C., was named in his honor: Adolf Cluss Court. It connects C St SE to D St SE between 12th Street SE and 13th St SE. 38°53′05.1″N 76°59′21.3″W / 38.884750°N 76.989250°W / 38.884750; -76.989250^[56]

A bridge is named in his honor in his birthplace of Heilbronn, Germany over the Neckar river, at 49°08′37.2″N 9°12′59.3″E / 49.143667°N 9.216472°E / 49.143667; 9.216472.^[57]

Buildings

A descriptive list of Cluss's known buildings and an interactive map showing their locations can be found here.^[58]

While Adolf Cluss designed and built close to 90 different buildings in his career, few survive today. In green are the buildings still standing today.

Churches

Markets

Schools

Federal buildings

Military commissions

Local governments

Hospitals and homes

Museums

Commercial and office buildings

Hotels and boarding houses

Halls

Residential

Others

Construction oversight

Adolf Cluss took some projects as a builder (general contractor) designed by other architects.

Notes

1. Forgey, Benjamin (2005-09-17). "'Red Architect' Adolf Cluss: A Study in Sturdy". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
2. Adolf Cluss Exhibition Project - "They called me Cluss..." - Youth in Heilbronn - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=w&topSub=heilbronn&sub=2.1
3. Forgey, Benjamin (2005-09-17). "'Red Architect' Adolf Cluss: A Study in Sturdy". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
4. Adolf-Cluss.org - Family Stories - Cluss's Travels - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.1.3&lang=en&content=h&topSub=washington
5. 'Red Architect' Adolf Cluss: A Study in Sturdy - Benjamin Forgey - Washington Post - September 17, 2005
6. Adolf-Cluss.org - Career and Profession - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington&sub=3.3
7. Adolf-Cluss.org - Engineer in Washington DC - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=h&topSub=adolf&sub=1.4
8. Noted Architect, Adolf Cluss, Dead - The Washington times - 25 July 1905 - page 4
9. Change in the Board of Public Works - Evening Star October 19, 1872 - page 1
10. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 21: November 1, 1870 – May 31, 1871, page 200 - Mississippi State University
11. Adolf-Cluss.org - Inaugural Ball Building (temporary building) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.72&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
12. President Garfield's Committee - Evening star - November 19, 1896 - page 11
13. Evening Star – May 25, 1874 – Front Page
14. Testimony of Adolf cluss – Report of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization under Joint Resolution of Senate and House of January 29, 1892 – Page 581
15. Boyd's Directory - 1877 - page 200
16. Moeller Jr., G Martin. Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Page 11
17. National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/Travel/wash/dc85.htm
18. Then and Now: The Portland Flats "Then and Now: The Portland Flats - Greater Greater Washington". Archived from the original on 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
19. Report of the Commissioner of Patents, Department of the Interior, December 1, 1880 – Message from the President of the United States to the two Houses of Congress at the Commencement of the Third Session of the Forty-sixth Congress, with the Reports of the Heads of the Departments and Sections from Accompanying Documents – Government Printing Office – 1880
20. The Inland architect and news record v. 9-10 Feb 1887-Jan 1888 - October 1887 - page 55
21. The Inland architect and news record v. 11-12 Feb 1888-Jan 1889 - October 1888 - page 35
22. The Inland architect and news record v. 11-12 Feb 1888-Jan 1889 - October 1888 - page 49
23. The Inland architect and news record v. 15-16 Feb 1890-Jan 1891 - page 42
24. The Inland architect and news record v. 18 Aug 1891-Jan 1892 - page 48
25. The Inland architect and news record. v.31-32 1898-1899 Feb-Jan. - November 1898 - page 38
26. Evening star - January 08, 1898 - page 8
27. The Inland architect and news record v. 13-14 Feb 1889-Jan 1890 - Vol. XIV No. 7 December 1889
28. The Inland architect and news record v. 13-14 Feb 1889-Jan 1890 - January 1890 - page 361
29. Official Register of the United States, Containing a list of the Officers and Employes in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service on the First of July, 1893 - page 116
30. Testimony of Adolf cluss - Report of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization under Joint Resolution of Senate and House of January 29, 1892 - Page 581
31. Adolf-Cluss.org - spector of Public Buildings, Office of Supervising Architect, U.S. Treasury Department - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&topSub=adolf&content=w&sub=1.6
32. Testimony of Adolf cluss - Report of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization under Joint Resolution of Senate and House of January 29, 1892 - Page 652
33. Testimony of Adolf cluss - Report of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization under Joint Resolution of Senate and House of January 29, 1892 - Page 571
34. The Inland architect and news record v. 15-16 Feb 1890-Jan 1891 - page 56 Vol. XVI - No. 5
35. Alexandria Gazette - September 01, 1894 - page 3
36. Adolf-Cluss.org - Inspector of Public Buildings, Office of Supervising Architect, U.S. Treasury Department - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&topSub=adolf&content=w&sub=1.6
37. "Family Stories". www.adolf-cluss.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
38. The Cluss and Schmidt Families in Germany and America - https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jbrowne&id=I00084
39. Adolf-Cluss.org - Family Stories - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington&sub=3.1
40. "Architectural History and Historic Preservation | Architectural History & Historic Preservation (AHHP)". ahhp.si.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
41. The Times - May 19, 1901 - page 13
42. Evening Star - May 18, 1901 -page 23
43. Evening star - January 19, 1901 - page 5
44. "Genealogy Information for rosa schmidt Ancestry". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
45. Evening star – March 18, 1897 – Page 14
46. Evening star – December 03, 1898 – page 1
47. "Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Van Ness) - Lot 161 East" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
48. Our Modes of Building – Evening Star – November 13, 1872 – Front page
49. "Modern Street-Pavements", Popular Science Monthly Volume 7 May 1875, retrieved 2023-08-08
50. Architecture and Architects at the Capital of the United States from its Foundation until 1875 – Tenth Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – October 11, 1876 – Philadelphia, PA. – The American Architect and Building News. (Supplement) – page iv
51. "The Inland architect and news record v. 11-12 Feb 1888-Jan 1889". library.si.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
52. American Institute of Architects – Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects – page 127
53. The Evening Times – November 02, 1898 – Front page
54. Ambrose, Sharon. A Ceremonial Resolution - In the Council of the District of Columbia http://www.adolf-cluss.org/press/council-dc-ceremonial-resolution.pdf
55. Office of the Mayor, District of Columbia. Proclamation - Adolf Cluss Year July 2005 – June 2006 http://www.adolf-cluss.org/press/mayoral-proclamation-cluss-adolf-year05.pdf
56. "Adolf Cluss Ct SE · Washington, DC 20003". Adolf Cluss Ct SE · Washington, DC 20003. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
57. "Google Maps". Google Maps.
58. Cluss-Buildings - the Red Brick City around 1900 at www.adolf-cluss.org
59. Adolf-Cluss.org - Foundry Methodist Church (1) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.01&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
60. Adolf-Cluss.de, Center Market (1864) - http://www.adolf-cluss.de/index.php?sub=3.5.109&lang=en&content=h&topSub=washington
61. adolph-cluss.org – Center Market (1871-78) – http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.20&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington "Center Market (1871-78)
62. "Charles Sumner School". Washington, DC, A National Register of Historic Place Travel Itinerary. National Park Service. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
63. Evening Star – March 20, 1867 – page 2 – column 1
64. "Designing the Nation's Capital: The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C." www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
65. "United States Coast Survey (99)". www.adolf-cluss.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
66. "New Ordnance Foundry (23)". www.adolf-cluss.org. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
67. Plan of the Navy Yard at Washington, D.C: showing the position and dimensions of all the buildings as they were June 1st 1881, 1881, retrieved 2023-08-08
68. "Metropolitan Hook and Ladder Company - German Roots in Washington - Goethe-Institut USA". www.goethe.de. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
69. "Актуальное и рабочее зеркало Леон на сегодня | sixthengine.com". www.sixthengine.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-08-08.
70. 60th Congress - Session II - Chapter 267 - 1909
71. Scott, Pamela; Lee, Antoinette J. (1993). "The Mall". Buildings of the District of Columbia. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN 0-19-509389-5
72. Rhode, Michael G. (2006). "The Rise and Fall of the Army Medical Museum and Library". Washington History. 18 (1): 78–97. [1]
73. Adolf-Cluss.org - Thomas Brown Office - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.07&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
74. Adolf-cluss.org - John M. Young Store and Residence (8) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.08&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
75. Adolf-Cluss.org - John M. Young Stores and Residences (67) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.67&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
76. Adolf-Cluss.org - John M. Young Store and Residence (75) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.75&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
77. Adolf-Cluss.org – Lansburgh's Department Store (9) – http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.09&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
78. Adolf-Cluss.org - Lansburgh's Department Store building (77) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.77&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
79. Adolf-Cluss.org - John L. Vogt Store (10) - http://www.adolf-cluss.de/index.php?sub=3.5.10&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
80. Adolf-Cluss.org - Seaton House, extension (17) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.17&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington
81. Adolf-Cluss.org - John A. Gray's Hotel (18) - http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?lang=en&topSub=washington&content=w&sub=3.5.18
82. Adolf-Cluss.org – Welcker's Hotel, six-story extension (19) – http://www.adolf-cluss.org/index.php?sub=3.5.19&lang=en&content=w&topSub=washington

External links

• Adolf Cluss, An International Exhibition Project
• Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC: Notes on Adolf Cluss
• Washington Post: "Red Architect" Adolf Cluss
• "Adolf Cluss (1825-1905), Architect: From Germany to America", Goethe Institute newsletter, June 2009
• CLUSS