Louis Curtiss will always be tied to Snyder. He designed the Santa Fe depots in Snyder, Post, Lubbock and Sweetwater.
Only the Snyder and Post depots remain standing, but that will change after BNSF officials announced plans to demolish the College Ave. building.
In the early 1900s, the Canadian-born architect was well-known throughout West Texas for his railroad architecture. In addition to the four West Texas depots, Curtiss designed the 1910-11 Joplin Union depot in Joplin, Mo. and the 1910-12 Union Terminal in Wichita, Kan. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Curtiss, who pioneered the curtain wall design, was once described as “the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City (Mo.).” Throughout his career, he designed more than 200 buildings, though not all of them were constructed.
Curtiss spent his career in Kansas City, where approximately 30 examples of his work still exist, including his best known design, The Boley Clothing Company building.
Other notable works are the Tarrant County Courthouse, Bernard Corrigan House and the Louis Curtiss Studio Building.
Curtiss studied architecture at the University of Toronto and in Paris before moving to Kansas City in 1887. Curtiss and Frederick C. Gunn formed an architectural partnership in 1889 that produced more than a dozen buildings. After the partnership dissolved in 1899, Curtiss continued as a solo architect.
The Curtiss-designed Boley Clothing Company Building in Kansas City is renowned as one of the first glass curtain-wall structures in the world. The building has six stories and also features cantilever floor slabs, cast iron structural detailing and terra cotta decorative elements.
According to the Historic American Building Survey, Curtiss’ residence for Bernard Corrigan was described as “an important regional example of the Prairie Style” and “among the earliest residential structures in Kansas City to make extensive use of reinforced concrete.”
Image
Body