"Donald Grieb was a quirky "Tomorrowland" modernist with great ambitions and a knack for winning prominent jobs." (arcchicago.blogspot.com)
BACKGROUND
He grew up in Milwaukee, the son of Leon and Lulu Grieb. AIA Listing 1956
GRIEB, DONALD L(EON). (AIA)
Office: 316 E. Silver Spring Dr, Milwaukee 17, Wise.
Home: 2700 East Jarvis St, Milwaukee, WI
b. Milwaukee, Sep. 24, 1918.
M. 51, Children 1.
Educ: Unlv. of HI, B.S. in Arch, 36-39, 40-41;
Unlv. of Penna, M. In Arch, 42. Amer. Acad. In Rome,
Award In Arch, 41; Gargoyle, BAID, 2-2nd Medals, 41, Joseph Horn Fellowship
In Arch, Unlv. of Penna, 41-42.
Foreign Travel: Panama, Peru, Argentina,
Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Amer. Inst. Trek around S.A, P.I, Austl,
Mex, 49 & 52. Designer, Eschweiler & Eschweiler, 45-46; Fritz Von Grossman,
49-52; Brust & Brust, 52. Prev, Partnership: Von Grossmann-Grleb.
Present Firm: Donald L. Grieb, Archt, org. 52.
Reg: Wis.
Prin. Wks: S. 55th St, Sch. Milwaukee, Wis, 53, G & G; Munic, Bldg, Glendale, Wis, 55.
Con. Archt: Brust & Brust, Brooks Mem. Morquette Union Bldg, 51.
Gen.Types; 1,2,4,5,6,7,9,15.
Mem: Masonic Lodge 267, Milwaukee, Wis. AIA
1962 AIA Listing
GRIEB, DONALD L(EON). AIA 51. Wisconsin Chapter
t Donald L. Grieb, 777 West Glencoe Place, Milwaukee 17, Wise.
b. Milwaukee, Sept. 24, 18. Educ: Univ. of HI, B.S. Arch, 36-39; 40-41; Univ.
of Pa, M. Arch, 42. Amer. Acad, in Rome, Award in Arch, 41; Gargoyle, BAID,2-2nd Medals, 41. Joseph Horn Felshp. in Arch, Univ. of Pa, 41-42.
Present
Firm: Donald L. Grieb, Archt, org. 52.
Registered: Wisconsin
Gen. Types: 1,2,4,5,6,7,9,15.
Principle Works: Whitefish Bay State Bk, Milwaukee, Wash, Irving Elem. Sen, M,
& Green Tree Elem. Sch, Glendale, Wis, 59; C & P Shop. Ctr, Madison, Wis, &
Crystal Lake State Bk, C.L, 111, 61.
1972 AIA Listing
GRIEB, DONALD LEON. AIA 51. Wisconsin Chapter
Office Address: Donald Grieb Assocs, 777 W. Glencoe PI, Milwaukee, Wis. 53217.
Home Address: 8135 N. River Rd, Milwaukee, Wis. 53217.
b. Milwaukee, Wis, Sept. 24, 18.
Educ: B.Sc.Arch.(hons), Univ. Ill, 41;
M.Arch, Univ. Pa, 42: Gargoyle Soc, 39; Beaux Arts 2 second pi. medals,
41; Rome Prize in Arch, 41; Joseph Horn fel, arch, Univ. Pa, 41-42.
Pres.Firm: Prin, Donald Grieb Assocs, org. 52.
Reg: Minn, Wis. Prin. Wks: Milwaukee Rd-R.R. Sta, 65 & Milwaukee Co. Courthouse Annex, 68,
consult, archit. to Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff; Mitchell
Park Conservatory, Milwaukee, 66; Milwaukee Civic Ctr. Plaza, 69; Mem.
Clock Tower, Milwaukee Civic Ctr. Plaza, 69. Hon. Awards: Hon. award for
Mitchell Park Conservatory, Wis. Chap. AIA, 66. Educ. Activ: Lectr. Pub.
Serv: Mem, Milwaukee Civic Ctr. Completion Cmt; mem, Milwaukee Transp.
Ctr-Post. Off. Cmt. Govt. Serv: U.S.A.A.F, 1st Lt, 42-45.
THE DOMES
This young Milwaukee based (316 East Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee, WI) earned the spotlight by designing The Domes (the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory).
More than 30 architects were interviewed for the job, including the established firm of Eschweiler & Eschweiler. A young architect named Donald Grieb won the commission. He began work on the project in 1958, and just as the architect of the original conservatory had turned to a symbol of the modern era for inspiration, Grieb looked to a visionary architect/engineer of his day, Buckminster Fuller, whose signature geodesic domes had gained international repute and were already employed in conservatory designs elsewhere.
Grieb, now more than 90 years old, recalls an early attempt to get Fuller’s design team onboard: “I asked them if they’d like to join hands with me in designing these domes,” Grieb says. “They sent an attorney out and he made it clear their system was one they didn’t want to work on with another architect. So they were off the list.”
Perhaps rightly so, for Grieb ended up significantly tweaking Fuller’s design to maximize the Domes’ height and cut out obstructive structural members. His Domes are described as the world’s first glass conoidal domes and were greeted by the media of the day with comments ranging from the exclamatory “revolutionary” and “ultramodern” to the highly descriptive “Eskimo village” and “glass bubble.” Like Fuller’s domes, they somehow stood outside of their time, and continue to do so today. Interestingly, after the first dome was underway, Grieb was reminded of ancient precedents for his structure.
“I got a call from a friend and he said, ‘Is that dome you’re building anything like the domes I just saw in Italy?’” he recalls. “I asked, ‘What dome did you see’ and he said, ‘It’s the Pantheon in Rome.’ Here was this building built 100 years after Christ and the principles of its design matched my own!”
The Domes’ tessellated, reinforced-concrete substructure also nodded to new and innovative uses of this material by architects of the day like Le Corbusier, Eduardo Torroja and Eero Saarinen, who designed the War Memorial. Even the echoing archways of the Domes’ entryway have a Saarinen feel. And like Fuller’s creations, the futuristic, otherworldy form of the Domes speaks to the Space Age’s fascination with unexplored territories. The first dome was completed in 1964, succeeded by the other two in the following three years. The Mitchell Park Domes symbolized a period for Milwaukee that promised hope and change.
MILWAUKEE AMTRAK STATION
Designed by the architectural firm of Donald L. Grieb and Associates of Milwaukee, the new station was dedicated on August 3, 1965, and saw its first train arrival the next day with the Morning Hiawatha.
ASSOCIATION WITH GUNNAR BIRKERTS
Birkerts received American citizenship in 1955, shortly after leaving Saarinen’s office to join Donald Grieb in Milwaukee. After one year with Grieb, he was invited by Minoru Yamasaki to work with Yamasaki, Leinweber and Associates, in Birmingham, Michigan.
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