Occupation Architect | Name Frank Ludewig | |
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Full Name Franciscus Adrianus Ludewig Born 22 October 1863 ( 1863-10-22 ) Beverwijk, Netherlands Died 16 September 1940(1940-09-16) (aged 76)
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA | ||
Franciscus Adrianus (Frank A.) Ludewig (22 October 1863 – 16 September 1940), was a Dutch architect who lived and worked mostly in the United States. He is primarily known for his church architecture. Two of the buildings which he designed are on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Life and career
Ludewig was born in Beverwijk, Netherlands and studied architecture at the Polytechnical Institute in Delft where he befriended another future architect, Jacobus van Gils (1869–1919), whose sister Dorothea he married in 1896. The couple had two children, James W. Ludewig and Frank M. Ludewig.
After graduation, Ludewig worked at the Amsterdam office of architect P.J.H. Cuypers, probably as a draftsman. In 1902 he began his own office in Arnhem and moved two years later to Nijmegen. He build several houses, reconstructed Wijchen castle and restored churches in Beek, Leur and Rosmalen. In 1912 he migrated to the United States, hoping to find opportunities to design churches. He set up an architectural office in St. Louis, Missouri and later moved to Holland, Michigan. In the nineteen years of his American career, Ludewig built 21 churches and chapels, 11 schools and 10 presbyteries. His most important work, and one of his last, was the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. Ludewig retired at the age of 69 and, after suffering from heart ailment for 18 months, died in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1940. His grave is at the Pilgrim Home Cemetery, Holland, Michigan.