Charles E. Kemper (1859-1942), Acting Supervising Architect
Charles Edward Kemper was born in Cross Keys, Virginia in 1859, son of Susan Martha (nee Craig) and Edward Stevens Kemper. Charles' father was a merchant and county surveyor. Charles attended Washington & Lee University in the early 1880s, studying law, then practiced law in Staunton, Virginia in the 1880s and early 1890s. He was appointed to a clerkship in the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury in 1893 and worked in that department nearly two decades before resigning in 1911. As a lawyer, rather than designer or builder, his role appears to have been largely administrative, but in two periods between the departure of one Supervising Architect and appointment of the next, he had charge of the office as "Acting Supervising Architect." Kemper was first hired under Supervising Architect Jeremiah O'Rourke by Treasury Secretary Carlisle, whose son Logan served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and who was a college chum of Kemper.[2][a] Kemper reportedly played a lead role in Secretary Carlisle demanding O'Rourke's resignation in September 1894, resulting . .......where he died in 1942.[]
This page is a contribution to the publication, Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. See the Format and contents of Nebraska architect entries page for more information on the compilation and page organization.
Contents
Education & Professional Associations
Nebraska Buildings & Projects
Notes
a. A brief mention in a Richmond, Virginia newspaper of Kemper's appointment in 1893 called him "an able young lawyer of this city" and pointed out "Mr. Kemper was at Washington and Lee with Mr. Logan Carlisle, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and the warm intimacy began at college continues to this day and has stood Mr. Kemper in good stead."[2]
References
1. Antoinette J. Lee, Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 159.
2. "Mr. Charles E. Kemper...," Richmond (Virginia) Dispatch (April 2, 1893), 7.
14. Charles E. Kemper, Annual Report of the Supervising Architect to the Secretary of the Treasury for the year ending September 30, 189_ (Washington: Government Printing Office, 189_), 40.
Other Sources
Page Citation
E. F. Zimmer, “Charles E. Kemper (1859-1942), Acting Supervising Architect,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, August 4, 2024. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, October 30, 2024.
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