Carl Fehmer

Carl Fehmer (November 10, 1838 – c. 1917) was a prominent Boston architect during the 19th century, with Emerson and Fehmer that had a partnership with William Ralph Emerson.

Carl Fehmer
Steel engraving c. 1916
BornNovember 10, 1838
Mecklenburg, Germany
Diedc. 1917 (aged 78–79)
Boston, Massachusetts
Spouse(s)
Therese Wahl
​
(m. 1872)​
Military career
AllegianceUnion (American Civil War)
Service/branchFourth Battalion

Life and career

Fehmer was born in Germany to Heinrich Fehmer and Maria (Zerrahn) Fehmer. His father died in Germany when he was five; the mother and children came to America in 1852 and settled in Boston.

Fehmer attended public school in Boston, and showed an early aptitude for drawing and painting. At the age of 16 he began studying architecture in the office of George Snell, a prominent Boston architect. Fehmer remained in Snell's office for eight years before beginning his own architectural practice.

For 25 years he performed all of the architectural work for the Massachusetts General Hospital until he was forced to retire due to ill health. He designed a number of buildings for the McLean Asylum in Waverly and was appointed by Governor Oliver Ames as consulting architect when the extension to the Massachusetts State House was built.

During the Civil War, Fehmer served in the militia at Fort Independence as a member of the Fourth Battalion under Major Thomas Stevenson.

Fehmer was a charter member of the Boston Society of Architects and the Saint Botolph Club.

On April 20, 1872, he married Therese Wahl.

During his long and active professional career, Fehmer designed the Shuman Corner, the Telephone Building, and numerous Back Bay houses.

Fehmer died in Boston.

Several of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

Works include (with attribution):

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Catherine W. Bishir (2009). "North Carolina Architects & Builders: Emerson and Fehmer (fl. 1870s-1880s)".
  • Eliot, Samuel Atkins, Biographical History of Massachusetts: Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State (Massachusetts Biographical Society, 1916).
  • Carl Fehmer Photos, history, and architecture of Fehmer's extant Boston buildings
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