Gunvald Aus
| Gunvald Aus | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gunvald Aus May 30, 1851 Haugesund, Rogaland, Norway |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Asker, Norway |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Technical University of Munich |
| Known for | Woolworth Building in New York City |
Gunvald Aus, also written Aas (May 30, 1851 – May 27, 1950) was a Norwegian-American engineer. He is most associated with the engineering of the Woolworth Building in New York City. [1]
Background
He was born the son of Gabriel Godfrey Aas and Sophie Schroeder in Haugesund in the county of Rogaland, Norway. He was educated at the Bergen Technical School (now Norwegian University of Science and Technology (1879). He graduated from the Technical University of Munich (1882). He was then hired in the Norwegian Directorate of Public Roads as an assistant to Road Director Hans Hagerup Krag, but left for the United States in 1883. Initially, he was employed by railroad and highway bridge designer Theodore Cooper. [2]
Career
Having worked in different companies, including the Phoenix Bridge Company, he was hired as chief engineer in the United States Department of the Treasury. In 1902, he started his own firm of consulting engineers, Gusvald Aus Company in New York City. The firm completed the engineering work for a number of projects including Harkness Memorial Quadrangle at Yale University, the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul and the Library building at Northwestern University. Together with his chief assistant, Kort Berle, he later was involved in the construction of the Woolworth Building. Gunvald Aus Company designed the steel frame, supported on massive caissons that penetrate to the bedrock. [3]
In 1910, he and his family acquired property at Vennelslund in Vollen in Asker.
During 1914, he did the structural engineering for the construction of the Austin, Nichols & Company Warehouse in Brooklyn, a building significant for its architecture and engineering. It was one of many collaborations with architect Cass Gilbert and was viewed as an "engineering marvel".[4]:8,20
In 1915, he retired from active leadership in business and handed control to Kort Berle. Gunvald Aus had become an American citizen in 1892 but he returned to Norway and in 1917 he regained his Norwegian citizenship. He served for a period as a local politician in Asker. He was a member of the district council and executive committee from 1923 to 1928 and deputy mayor from 1923 to 1925. He died in Asker in 1950.[3]
References
Other Sources
- Bjork, Kenneth (1947) Saga in Steel and Concrete – Norwegian Engineers in America ( Northfield, MN: Norwegian-American Historical Association) ISBN 9781406768299
- Fenske, Gail (2008) The Skyscraper and the City: The Woolworth Building and the Making of Modern New York (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) ISBN 9780226241418
- Landau, Sarah Bradford; Carl W. Condit (1999) Rise of the New York Skyscraper: 1865-1913 (Yale University Press) ISBN 9780300077391
External links
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  |
This Norwegian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This article about a United States engineer, inventor or industrial designer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- Pages with broken file links
- 1851 births
- 1950 deaths
- American civil engineers
- Norwegian engineers
- Technische Universität München alumni
- Norwegian emigrants to the United States
- Akershus politicians
- People from Asker
- People from Haugesund
- Directorate of Public Roads people
- NRHP engineers
- Norwegian people stubs
- American engineer stubs
