Claude Fayette Bragdon

Claude Bragdon ( Claude Fayette Bragdon, born August 1, 1866 in Oberlin, Ohio; † September 17, 1946 in New York City ) was an American architect, author and Theosophist.

Life and work

Childhood, marriage and children

Claude Bragdon was born on August 1, 1866 in Oberlin (Ohio ) as the younger of two children of George Chandler Bragdon ( 1832-1910 ) and Katherine Elmina Shipherd ( 1837-1920 ). The father was a newspaper editor and poet. He attended schools in Watertown, Dansville and Rochester. He married Charlotte Coffin Wilkinson, from his marriage had two children. After Charlotte's death in 1907, Bragdon 1912 was another marriage with Eugenie Julier Macauley († 1920) a; this marriage remained childless.

As an architect,

From 1886 Bragdon was with several architects in Rochester and New York City, 1891 and 1904 with different partners alone worked as an independent architect. His most notable works were the New York Central Railroad Station ( Hauptbahnhof New York), the First Universalist Church ( Church of Unitarian Universalists Unitarian ) and the Italian Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church ), both in Rochester.

After bickering with Eastman Kodak over the look of the Chamber of Commerce Building ( Chamber of Commerce) in Rochester in 1917, at the Bragdon drew the short straw, his contract volume decreased significantly. In 1923 he completed his architectural office and moved to New York, where he lived until his death in the Shelton Hotel in Manhattan.

As an author and Theosophist

Bragdon joined the Theosophical Society in 1891, and went after their split in 1895 of the Theosophical Society Adyar ( Adyar -TG). He remained the theosophy of his life end connected. Since 1909, published numerous publications in the fields of architecture, design, theater, yoga and theosophy. He translated PD Ouspensky's Tertium Organum work into English. For his work on architectural theory Bragdon received in 1932 from the University of Michigan an honorary doctorate.

Works (selection)

• A primer of higher space (the fourth dimension ). First Edition: The Manas Press, Rochester, New York in 1913 (78 pp ill.. ). Further issues: AAKnopf, New York 1923 ( along with the text Man the square, a higher space parable ); A.Dakers, London 1938; Omen Press, Tucson, Arizona in 1972.
• Latest edition: Cosimo Classics, New York 2005, ISBN 1,596,053,615th