Herbert W. Tullgren

Tullgren was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second child of Martin and Barbara (née Kregness) Tullgren.^[3] In 1894, Martin Tullgren caught the gold rush fever, and left Chicago with his family to become a prospector in Black Hills, South Dakota. Later, he would work as a superintendent of the mines for the Storm Cloud Mining Company in Arizona.^[4] The family lived in Maple Gulch and used a mule as a means of transportation. By the end of the Tullgren's time in Arizona, Martin worked at Homestake Mining Company building and assisting in timbering and supporting of galleries.^[5]

In 1900, the family moved back to Chicago, where Martin, along with Chicago partner Archibald Hood, set up their own practice architecture firm, Hood & Tullgren. The pair received contracts from people/companies such as United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Melville Fuller, Montgomery Ward & Co., and other leading firms in Chicago. By 1902, they had moved their business, and Martin's family including Herbert, to Milwaukee. Herbert, under Hood & Tullgren, began his architectural training with his father, which proved to be the only formal architectural education he would receive.^[5]

In 1907, at age 18, Tullgren left Milwaukee to attend Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia. However, he only spent a year there. Afterwards, he began work as a draftsman with his father's partnership, Hood & Tullgren. By 1909, the partnership had dissolved, and Martin began a new practice, Martin Tullgren & Sons, with both sons, Sven Minard and Herbert. Tullgren took only a short break from 1917 to 1919, when he joined the Wisconsin State Guard as a Captain-Adjutant during World War I.^[3]

Under Martin, the firm designed buildings such as the Downer Theater, Astor on the Lake, and Hotel Retlaw. However, by 1922 Martin, who had been ill for several months, died at the age of 64, leaving Tullgren to take charge of the office.^[6] This included design, office practice, and supervision, thus making him president of the firm by 1926 to 1936, before the firm dissolved.^[3]

During the 1920s, Tullgren also started other companies alongside the family firm. In 1923, he founded the Terra Company, a real estate company, along with Minard as president, and carpenter Emil Grossmann as vice president. Then sometime in 1927 or 1928, he founded Herbert W & S. Minard Tullgren, Inc., another real estate company. This put Tullgren as president, and Minard as vice president. However, in 1928 after Minard's death, Pansy, Minard's widow, became vice president of Herbert W & S. Minard Tullgren, Inc. While Tullgren remained president of that company, he became the treasurer of Terra Co., and Emil Grossmann became president.^[4]

By the 1930s, Tullgren was a well established architect having designed multiple office buildings, apartments, hotels, theaters, and even schools. In the early 1930s, Tullgren shifted his sights to building affordable middle to working class urban housing. He even patented, Patent No. 1896734, the duplex (two-story) apartment design, in 1933 after finishing the Viking Apartments in 1931. Tullgren was sure of the economic and functional advantages of his design.^[3] The Viking Apartments proved this by setting a record for occupancy during hard times at 92%, when the national average for apartments was only about 60%.^[7]

Confident in the benefits of duplex apartments, Tullgren published a pamphlet in 1937,The Tullgren Plan for City Housing, to further describe the social and economic benefits.^[3] The floor plans included a living room, dining room, and a kitchen on one floor, and sleeping quarters and a bathroom on the floor above. Public corridors were not required on the sleeping quarters floor, and thus creating more space. In fact, it would create 15% more space, oppose to a conventional single floor apartment. By cutting down corridor space that would have needed to be furnished, equipped, heated, lit, and cleaned it would save 20% in maintenance cost. Since sleeping quarters were adjoined with the other sleeping quarters, it would create minimum sound from the other parts of the apartments. Overall, the project would cut construction cost by at least 15%, and still provide liquidating income, and profit owners.^[8]

Along with this pamphlet was a description of the Tullgren Plan Residence Apartment. The plan was seven apartment buildings within the same area. Each apartment was placed so each family would receive maximum sunlight and air. The buildings would’ve also occupied 22% less land, creating more open space around each building. More space meant more things to do with the landscaping. Tullgren's plan for the outside included a sunken garden cour, pool, flower garden, shaded lawn, and promenade. There would have also been a playground area for small children between the buildings, and facilities for larger children. The playground would’ve included the usual playground equipment like swings, sand pits, shallow wading pools, and a camp-fire space. With the open space between buildings, it also allotted space for laundry drying yards. Tullgren saw the possibilities to do the project in a plot of 206,965 square feet, offering maximum housing at a minimum cost. Tullgren's ideal was with careful planning and some government assistance would amount to a great deal of affordable housing at a reasonable profit.^[9]

This mindset helped Tullgren become an associated architect on the Parklawn Public Housing Project during the mid-1930s. Parklawn was endorsed by the administration of Daniel Hoan, Mayor of Milwaukee. It included the Allied Architects of Milwaukee, an association of Milwaukee's finest architects, which included Gerrit J de Gelleke, Peter Brust, A.C. Eschweiler, Herbert Tullgren, R.A. Messner, and Phelps Wyman. The project took the vacant spot at Hope Avenue between Sherman Boulevard and North 47th street. This area was selected because it didn't involve a condemnation of any private property. Parklawn included 64 fireproof buildings with 518 units of 3, 4, or 5 room rentals. To this day, Parklawn is still owned and leased by the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee.^[10]

By 1938, Tullgren published his own magazine, which was overseen by his company and at his own expense, called Architecture and Design. The magazine was a showcase of not only Tullgren's office, but the contractors he worked with. Architecture and Design was aimed to promote their work in hopes of gaining more business.^[11]

However, Tullgren's last documented building in Milwaukee was built in 1937, the Badger Mutual Insurance Company building. Shortly thereafter, in 1944, Tullgren died at the age of 54 from heart disease. He left behind a son, Herbert A. Tullgren, two daughters, Mary and Allison, and his wife Eloise A., who would take over the last of his business concerns.^[12]

The consistent architectural style under Hood & Tullgren was Neoclassical, a design that would be rarely seen in Tullgren's own work later on. When Martin, Herbert's father, started his own business, the style changed to Revival, Tudor Revival and Georgian. By the time, Tullgren was head of the company, the style changed to Tullgren's trademark style, Art Deco and Art Moderne. This occurred around 1928, when Tullgren wanted to embrace modernity that was happening in the urban areas of America after 1925. With this he often incorporated terra cotta ornamentation. Something else that was emphasized in Tullgren's work was the detail through contrast, especially during the 1930s.^[4] Tullgren designed apartments with the ideal to help relieve the growing housing crisis during the 1930s. He emphasized affordability for both tenants and owners. Since during the mid-1930s, Americans had felt that free market became incapable of supplying adequate affordable housing for them.^[13]

A notable project for Tullgren was the 1260 Exton Apartments. Built in 1937, it is claimed to be the best preserved and sophisticated example of Art Moderne in the country. Another duplex apartment structure, it takes advantage of the interior stacking function, which creates view-orienting spaces. Tullgren built the Exton with grouping of bedrooms on alternate floors with the public corridors, entries, and living space on the floor below. The method behind this was the advantage of the use of skip-stop elevator.^[14] This reduces the capital and maintenance costs of the public areas by half.^[15] The use of the duplex plan allowed Tullgren to eliminate long public corridors, private halls, and passageways. All rooms have direct access to one central stair hall. Grouped around the central service stacks were the kitchen and baths, which permitted economical structure.^[16] The apartment has a reinforced concrete structure, the elevators are flanked by fire towers, and there is sound insulation provided by the double walls between each unit and public spaces.^[15]

Tullgren in his later life belonged to many different clubs and organizations. He was a member of the Masonic Order, Kenwood Lodge, Ivanhoe Commandery, and Tripoli Temple. He also belonged to the University Club of Milwaukee. Tullgren was part of architectural clubs such as American Institute of Architects and the State Association of Wisconsin Architects. In addition, he was president of The Bluemound Country Club, the Wisconsin Golf Association, and the Gyro Club. He even held other positions such as secretary for the Prospect Park Co.^[17]

A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.^[18] Works include (with attribution):