1129 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA

Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House - National Register of Historic Places

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Introduction
The Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity chapter house is a “rare example of early European modernism in Minnesota” that has long attracted the attention of historians.’ Built in 1912, it is also a unique example of early 20th-century chapter house design influenced by the Viennese Secession and created at a time when most Greek organizations at the University of Minnesota and their designers chose Classical and Period Revival styles. Viennese -trained architect Carl B. Stravs thoroughly integrated the reinforced concrete structure with many of its decorative elements. The publication of the house in the Western Architect of September 1913 and Stravs’ text explaining its principles of utility and decoration contribute to an understanding of its significance. The period of significance extends from 1912 to 1936, when the Depression halted three decades of new chapter house construction at the University. Phi Gamma Delta is locally significant under National Register Criterion A for its relationship to the development of chapter house construction and related community planning and development at the University of Minnesota, and under National Register Criterion C for its relationship to the work of Carl B. Stravs and early twentieth-century modem architecture in Minnesota. The property also reflects the Minnesota historic context, “Urban Centers, 1870-1940.”

The Greek Letter Chapter House at the University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota began construction of its first building on its 25-acre campus on a Mississippi River bluff in 1857. This single stone building, later known as Old Main, faced what would become University Avenue. Student enrollment rose from 308 in 1880 to 3,235 in 1900, and to 9,027 in 1920. Private boarding houses provided most students with a home at the University, as did some clubs and societies. It was not until 1910 that the first dormitory, Sanford Hall, was erected at the University. It was located on University Avenue, across the street from the future site of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity.

The creation of academic or social fraternities at Minnesota began in 1874 with the Alpha Nu Chapter of Chi Psi Fraternity, and continued a tradition of literary and secret societies at American universities and colleges. Fraternities and sororities typically had constitutions, secret rituals, libraries, and opportunities for debate and oratory. A Greek letter name, Greek motto, and an insignia were standard features. Once a house was secured near the campus by the chapter student members could also be provided with meeting space as well as lodging.

Following Chi Psi, Phi Delta Theta was organized in 1881, followed by Delta Tan Delta (1883), Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Chi (1888), Beta Theta Pi and Delta Kappa Epsilon (1889) and Delta Upsilon and Phi Gamma Delta (1890). The first academic sorority was Kappa Kappa Gamma (1880), followed by Delta Gamma (1882), Kappa Alpha Theta (1889), Alpha Phi (1890), Pi Beta Phi (1890), and Delta Delta Delta (1894). Professional societies, beginning with the medical fraternity Nu Sigma Nu in 1891, were also organized. Professional sororities appeared after the turn of the century, first in 1901 with Alpha Epsilon, a nursing sorority.

In 1910 Minnesota ranked first among U.S. universities in enrollment, with approximately 5,000 students; Michigan, Columbia, and Pennsylvania followed.'^ Greek letter society membership was held by about one-fifth of the Minnesota student body. Fraternities numbered 18, with a total of 435 members, while nine sororities had 198 members. Professional fraternities numbered 14, with a total of377 members. While membership would continue to expand until the 1930s, it would not keep pace with student enrollment. Individual chapter membership ranged from 11 to 33 members in 1896, to a range of 17 to 44 members by 1910.

Minnesota’s strong fraternity and sorority membership in this period reflected the national growth pattern. In 1905, 242,000 members in 1,686 chapters owned 317 houses. By 1912, when Phi Gamma Delta’s new building was completed, there were 389,600 students enrolled in 2,524 sorority and fraternity chapters, and a total of 628 houses were chapter owned.

The Creation of Fraternity Row: Greek Letter Chapter House Construction
Chapter house construction at the University of Minnesota evolved through three phases. The first, before 1900, began with the early occupancy and adaptation of rented private houses. Next, a first generation of chapter houses, many executed in Beaux Arts, Classical, and Georgian Revival styles, were constructed between 1900 and 1917. (One much earlier exception was Chi Psi, whose first house was erected in 1883). Between 1921 and 1936 there was a second phase of Beaux Arts, English, and other Period Revival style building. A subsequent era included the remodeling of older houses and a new generation erected between 1949 and 1973. Fires, additions, and demolition have also been part of the pattern.

Between 1883 and 1936, 36 academic fraternities and sororities built 41 new chapter houses near the campus. Most were on Fraternity Row and west of 12th Ave. S.E., with a few built souths of Washington Ave. Chi Psi Fraternity has had the longest ownership of a single site, occupying 1515 University Ave. in three successive houses since 1883. Phi Gamma Delta was the eighth house erected by a chapter at Minnesota, and was followed by ten more by 1920 and another 19 by 1930. Phi Gamma Delta was one of 12 new houses built between 1911 and 1920.

The chapter house exterior usually evoked a large, stylish and comfortable domestic dwelling, but it concealed a well published new building type refined by American architects through the early 20th century. As evident in the design of Phi Gamma Delta and its neighbors, and in publications such as Bantu’s Greek Exchange and Oswald Herring’s Designing and Building the Chapter House (1930), a prominent entry and porch or terrace were among standard features of the chapter house. At the interior, the typical architectural program was organized around large reception and living rooms with large fireplaces, and a library. Billiard rooms, a dining hall, and chapter rooms were usually located on the first floor or in the basement, and the kitchen was usually placed in the basement. Individual or dormitory rooms were located on the upper floors. Servants’ rooms were placed in the basement or on the upper floor.
By 1930, University Avenue was lined with fraternity houses between 15th and 19th avenues S.E. Many other fraternity and sorority houses, including Phi Gamma Delta, were located along University Avenue north of 11th St. S.E, on 10th Ave. S.E., and on adjacent portions of 5th and 6th streets. The Depression brought declining membership and an end to new construction. No houses were built between 1936 and 1949, and between 1936 and 1998, a total of23 Greek chapters at Minnesota disbanded. However, at least seven fraternities founded before 1900 are still active, and all of the six sororities founded between 1880 and 1894.

Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity
Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity was founded at Washington Jefferson College in 1848 and the Mu Sigma chapter established at Minnesota in 1890. The chapter occupied rented quarters in a number of locations, moving from 1628 4th St. S.E. in 1890 to a location at Oak and Beacon streets, and then to addresses to 7th St. S.E. and 15th Ave. S.E.; 619 4th St. S.E.; 827 University, and 1110 6th St. S.E. Between 1908 and 1911 the chapter was at 1212 5th St. S.E.

The Mu Sigma chapter followed the pattern typical to most. Plans were made for a permanent home, funds raised, and a lot finally purchased on University Avenue in 1906. Construction began late in 1910 and was completed in 1912 with Madsen Bros, as contractor. At the time of construction. Phi Gamma Delta’s neighbor to the west was the just-completed Sigma Alpha Epsilon (1912, A.L. Dorr, architect). In 1916, the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority built a new house just to the north (C. Brown, architect).

No major alterations were made to Phi Gamma Delta until 1958, when a block wall was added to the rear hallway on the second and third floors. It separated the upper floors from the open stairwell and its large windows. In the early 1960s architect David Runyon supervised a modernization that included aluminum windows. Today the building houses chapter members and continues to function as the center of chapter life.

Carl B. Stravs
Carl B. Stravs (1882-1958) was born in Yugoslavia and trained as an engineer at the Imperial and Royal Institute of Technology in Vienna, Austria.’ He arrived in the U.S. in 1902 and entered private practice in Minneapolis; he described himself as an “architect” in the 1910 census.

In 1906 he joined architect John Jager (1871-1959) in a brief partnership. Jager also studied in Vieima, reportedly with Otto Wagner, a leading proponent of the Viennese Secession, and graduated from the College of Architecture of the Vienna Poly technicum in 1902.' Like Stravs, Jager arrived in the United States in 1902 but it is not known if they had been acquainted in Vienna. Stravs and Jager collaborated on the Plan of Minneapolis (1906) with local engineers Edwin’s and Halden. This was the first of the city’s comprehensive plans in the City Beautiful era in Minneapolis, and reflects what would become Stravs’ long interest in city planning. Stravs became a U.S. citizen in 1908, and by 1909 was again in independent practice, while Jager had joined Hewitt and Brown of Minneapolis.

In addition to the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, in ca. 1911-12 Stravs had several restaurant commissions in downtown Minneapolis, including Cafe Grunewald and Shiek’s Cafe (razed).” The tile and glass Affenkasten Restaurant were also illustrated in the Western Architect of September 1913, but its specific location has not been identified. The fraternity and restaurants were both published in the Western Architect, where Stravs served as foreign review editor for a few years. He also designed several distinctive automotive buildings for the Knoblauch real estate company, including 1112 Harmon Place (1915-16; razed), 1229 and 1315-17 Harmon Place (1923), and other commercial buildings on Hennepin Ave.

Stravs served in World War I and then resumed his practice in Minneapolis, where he was on the Minneapolis Survey Commission (1929-31) and the Housing Commission (1935-6), and worked on the Sumner Homes housing project (1935).His residential work included the R.T. Giles House at 4106 Vincent Ave. S. (1908, with John Jager); the William Eurich House at 2322 Lake of the Isles Parkway (1914); two 25-unit apartment buildings at 4412 and 4418 W. Lake Harriet Parkway (1922), and the Arnulf Ueland House at 3850 Richfield Road (1925).''' His solo practice apparently continued into the 1950s.

The 1910 census listed Stravs as a single boarder at 818 18th St. E., Minneapolis.'^ In this period he seems to have used the name “Charles,” later using “Carl.” By 1920 Stravs and his wife Josephine, who was of Swedish parentage, and children Franz and Mary Ann resided at 4649 York Ave. S., Minneapolis.

The Viennese Secession and Stravs
Phi Gamma Delta’s Yugoslavian-born designer was an engineering student in Vienna during the early years of the Viennese Secession, and launched his Minnesota practice with several buildings that reflected its influence. The Secession was part of a larger international design reform movement that swept Europe at the turn of the century. The movement took different forms—such as Art Nouveau (in France), the Jugendstil (in Germany), and Modernism (in Spain)—but all shared a general rejection of earlier styles. An interest in art and design appropriate to modem life and the utilization of modem materials as well as ornamentation derived from natural forms were among common architectural and decorative themes.

Otto Wagner (1841-1918) was Vienna’s best-known architect and engineer and influenced many young architects, particularly with his ideas about city planning.'^ Although he would not have known the later work such as the Kirche am Steinhof(Church of St. Leopold. 1903-07), he would have seen examples of Wagner’s work that showed his preference for flat roofs and horizontal lines as well as an often-unadorned exhibition of construction methods and materials. Most notable is the flat-roofed Majolica apartment building (1899).

Stravs likely witnessed the 1897 “Secession,” which was the departure (or “secession”) of Viennese artists from the Kunstlerhausgenossenschaft, a conservative artists’ society at the Academy of Fine Arts. The Secession embraced both organic, plant-based motifs as well as the cubic and geometric motifs ofthe English Arts and Crafts movement. The architectural monument of the movement was the Secession Building (1898) designed by Joseph Olbrich. The motto at the lower story was inscribed Der ZeilIhre Kunst, Der Kunst Ihre Freiheit (To Every Age Its Art to Art its Freedom). With his departure for the United States, Stravs just missed the founding in 1903 of the Wiener Werkstatte (Viennese Workshop).

In Minnesota, Stravs saw the work of Prairie School architects who embraced principles that echoed some of his own developing ideas. Few practitioners of the Prairie Style, however, had such first-hand experience with European modernism. Stravs showed great zeal for explaining his Secessionist principles, and became a contributor to the Western Architect. In addition to describing his own work—including Phi Gamma Delta, restaurant commissions, and a grammar school design competition—he wrote of the peril of following historical styles, and noted “according to Otto Wagner, the modem architecture of our times endeavors to get the architectural forms and motives from the purpose of the structure, the construction, and the materials used.” He wrote that the forms and motives of buildings should be of “the utmost simplicity, well balanced as to good proportions expressing the vigor and strength upon which alone the beauty of our buildings should be based.”'’ In 1914, he illustrated an article in the Western Architect with Josef Hoffman’s work in Vienna, Joza Gocar’s in Prague, and L.A. Wesninj’s in Moscow.'








After the construction of Phi Gamma Delta, chapter house architecture at Minnesota continued on its traditional course, with two exceptions. Perhaps Phi Gamma Delta contributed to the inspiration for the austere design for Sigma Nu Fraternity at 915 University (J.A. Ecklund, 1912; razed), and the Prairie Style Pi Beta Phi Sorority at 1019 University (Marion Alice Parker and Ethel Bartholomew, 1916).

Local evidence of Art Nouveau—as opposed to its later and flashier cousin Art Deco—is scarce. Examples such as an apartment house fa9ade at 908 Grand in St. Paul (1922) only hint at the ideas developed at Phi Gamma Delta. With the exception of John Jager, no other Minnesota architects seem to have shared Stravs’ particular interest in European modernism. The University of Minnesota Greek Letter Chapter House Designation Study (2003) analyzed the chapter-built houses around the campus. The study cited the Phi Gamma Delta chapter house for its unique design.’" While more costly chapter houses were erected in the same period, none exhibited the earnest originality of Stravs’ modem ideas.

Conclusion
Phi Gamma Delta is a nearly unaltered and early example of European modernism in Minnesota, and is among the most architecturally significant chapter houses at the University of Minnesota.”’' Adhering to the modem architectural principles that Carl B. Stravs carefully described in the Western Architect, the building program was carefully developed for the needs of the chapter. The architect resisted over-decoration of the reinforced concrete construction and relied on simple, graceful geometry to enliven the exterior. The result uniquely evoked the Viennese Secession, with no comparable buildings at the University or in the state.

Phi Gamma Delta is included in the University of Minnesota Greek Letter Chapter House Historic District designated by the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission in 2003. The property is locally significant under National Register Criterion A for its relationship to the development of chapter house design and community planning and development at the University of Minnesota, and under National Register Criterion C for its relationship to the work of Carl B. Stravs and early 20th-century modem architecture in Minnesota.

Photo by C. Zellie
December 2004