FRANCIS HIMPLER, ARCHITECT

Francis Himpler, architect of the St. Joseph’s church, was born 1833, in Trier, Germany. He attended the prestigious and demanding Royal Academy in Berlin from 1854 to 1858 where he would have undertaken the study of the officially sanctioned classical style of architecture, which was based on Greek, Roman, and Renaissance examples, and was the canon against which all creations were to be measured. He clearly gravitated toward the Gothic, certainly also included in the curriculum, but it was at unusual to specialize in Gothic Revival in 19th century Berlin.

Himpler arrived in America 1867 and designed a Benedictine monastery in Atchison, Kansas. He set up practice in New York City, apparently specializing in church work for the German community. Designs include: Hoboken City Hall; St. Francis de Sales Church, Cincinnati; SS. Peter and Paul Church, St. Louis; St. Alphonsus Church, NYC; St. Anne, Buffalo; and St. Mary in Sandusky, Ohio (resembling St. Joseph in some ways).

Himpler died 1916.