1889 - 1974
Gugler commenced his study of architecture at Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago, and completed his education at Columbia University in New York. In 1911 he was awarded a Charles F. McKim Fellowship for three years' study at the American Academy in Rome. He commenced his career as an architect on his return to New York.
In 1930, while in partnership with Roger Bailey, Gugler won the Chicago War Memorial design competition. The most celebrated of his architectural projects was the enlargement and reconstruction of the office wing of the White House, the first construction on the executive mansion to be undertaken in modern times. President Franklin Roosevelt, for whom Gugler had previously worked, appointed him to this work in 1934. A feature of his White House design that has become recognized world-wide is the presidential oval office. Other architectural projects include the Admisistration Building of the 1939 New York World's Fair; the American Cemetery Memorial, Anzio-Nettuno, Italy, for which received the Henry Hering Medal from the National Sculpture Society; and the Foreman School, Litchfield, Connecticut.
Although by profession Gugler was an architect, he was also active as a sculptor and painter. Among his outstanding work in, or related to, sculpture were memorial images of Roosevelts: Eleanor for the United Nations building, New York; Franklin Delano, intended to be placed on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.; and the setting for Paul Manship's full length image of Theodore for the renamed Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Island in the Potomac River, closely adjacent to Washington. Gugler and Manship had a close relationship. The architect helped the sculptor remodel into a home and studio two town houses on New York's East 72nd Street, purchased in 1927. In addition to working together on the Roosevelt memorial in the early 1960s, they cooperated in the design of the Armillary Sphere for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Gugler's outstanding work as a mural painter is the domed ceiling decoration for the auditorium of the State Education Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Gugler was an early advocate of historic preservation, expressed in his service as a trustee of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, and on the advisory board of the United States National Park Service. He carried his convictions into practice in chairing the committee directing rehabilitation of the Sub-Treasury building on Wall Street, New York. In the years just before World War II, he was instrumental in blocking proposed construction of a bridge that would have obstructed New York's Battery Park.
Gugler was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and member of the National Sculpture Society, and of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. As second vice president of the National Academy he served on its Council from 1957 to 1959.
In 1930, while in partnership with Roger Bailey, Gugler won the Chicago War Memorial design competition. The most celebrated of his architectural projects was the enlargement and reconstruction of the office wing of the White House, the first construction on the executive mansion to be undertaken in modern times. President Franklin Roosevelt, for whom Gugler had previously worked, appointed him to this work in 1934. A feature of his White House design that has become recognized world-wide is the presidential oval office. Other architectural projects include the Admisistration Building of the 1939 New York World's Fair; the American Cemetery Memorial, Anzio-Nettuno, Italy, for which received the Henry Hering Medal from the National Sculpture Society; and the Foreman School, Litchfield, Connecticut.
Although by profession Gugler was an architect, he was also active as a sculptor and painter. Among his outstanding work in, or related to, sculpture were memorial images of Roosevelts: Eleanor for the United Nations building, New York; Franklin Delano, intended to be placed on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.; and the setting for Paul Manship's full length image of Theodore for the renamed Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Island in the Potomac River, closely adjacent to Washington. Gugler and Manship had a close relationship. The architect helped the sculptor remodel into a home and studio two town houses on New York's East 72nd Street, purchased in 1927. In addition to working together on the Roosevelt memorial in the early 1960s, they cooperated in the design of the Armillary Sphere for the 1964 New York World's Fair. Gugler's outstanding work as a mural painter is the domed ceiling decoration for the auditorium of the State Education Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Gugler was an early advocate of historic preservation, expressed in his service as a trustee of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, and on the advisory board of the United States National Park Service. He carried his convictions into practice in chairing the committee directing rehabilitation of the Sub-Treasury building on Wall Street, New York. In the years just before World War II, he was instrumental in blocking proposed construction of a bridge that would have obstructed New York's Battery Park.
Gugler was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and member of the National Sculpture Society, and of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. As second vice president of the National Academy he served on its Council from 1957 to 1959.
