Clarence Clark Zantzinger (1872-1954) was an architect and public servant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Clarence was born in Philadelphia, the son of Alfred Zantzinger (1839-1873) and Sarah Crawford Clark.
Alfred was a medical doctor who was born on June 27, 1839, in Philadelphia to George Zantzinger, a grand-nephew of David Rittenhouse,[1] and Caroline Helmuth.[2] Alfred entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1855, graduated from Philadelphia's Hahnemann Medical College in 1862,[2] and became a volunteer surgeon with the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry.[3] In January 1863, Alfred married Sarah Crawford Clark, the daughter of Philadelphia financier Enoch White Clark.[2] When their son was born in 1872, they named him for Sarah's brother Clarence Clark.
Alfred died of typhoid in Philadelphia on August 15, 1873.[4] Sarah later married C. George Currie, a rector of St. Luke's Church in Philadelphia.[5]
Clarence attended private school in Germany, then St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He matriculated at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School, where he was a member of the senior S.S.S. Society[6] and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1892. Three years later, he earned a B.S. in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He then spent two years at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he worked under Paul Blondel and Henri Grisors and graduated in 1901.[7]
He returned to Philadelphia, set out his shingle, and soon received his first commission: a building to house the West Philadelphia branch (today, the Walnut Street West branch) of the Free Library of Philadelphia.[8] By 1905, he and Charles L. Borie, Jr. (a fellow graduate of St. Paul's School) had launched a firm of their own with offices at 251 South 4th Street in Philadelphia. They were joined in 1910 by Milton Bennett Medary, and the firm was renamed Zantzinger, Borie & Medary, which specialized in institutional and civic projects.[7]
In 1903, Zantzinger joined the American Institute of Architects; eight years later, the group made him a fellow. He served for years on the group's National Committee on Foreign Relations and Education; he also served as president of the Philadelphia chapter. Zantzinger was also a member of the T-Square Club; he directed its atelier and served on its education committee.[7]
In 1906, he was elected to the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[9]
In 1917, Zantzinger became a diplomat: President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to represent the U.S. on the War Trade Board in Sweden as a member of the U.S. legation in Stockholm.[7]
He also served on the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission and as president of Philadelphia's City Parks Association.[7]
In 1951, he retired from his firm, by then renamed Zantzinger & Borie.[10]
Among his works were:[10]
In 1903, Clarence married Margaret Shippen Buckley (d. Jan. 16, 1958[14]),[10] part of a prominent Philadelphia family that descended from John Buckley (1664-1732), of Wiltshire, England, who in 1681 became one of the first people to purchase land in the colony of Pennsylvania from William Penn.[15] She was a daughter of iron manufacturer Edward Swift Buckley[15] and granddaughter of Matthew Brooke Buckley (1794-1856),[16] a president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad from 1842[17] to 1846.[18][19] Matthew was the son of Daniel Buckley (1761-1827), a lawyer and former member of the Assembly of Pennsylvania.[20]
In 1922, Clarence and Margaret lived at "Greenacre", their house at Seminole and Highland Avenues in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.[21]
They had at least four children: