Biography
Steinbrueck came to Seattle from North Dakota in 1913. In 1930 he enrolled in the University of Washington Program in Architecture, graduating in 1935 with a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.). In this period he also worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps. After apprenticing in a number of private Seattle firms and serving in the military during World War II, he joined the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Washington in 1946. He also initiated his own practice and, over the next two decades, designed a series of regional-modernist residences, built with indigenous materials suited to the climate.
Steinbrueck's focus on the character of Seattle's architecture and urban places dates from the early 1950s when he authored A Guide to Seattle Architecture, published for American Institute of Architects national convention held in Seattle in 1953. Steinbrueck went on to publish several other books promoting awareness of the unique character of Seattle: Seattle Cityscape (1962; published to coincide with Century 21, the Seattle World's Fair), Market Sketchbook (1968), and Seattle Cityscape #2 (1973).
In the 1960s Steinbruck became active in historic preservation, and, with others, successfully fought developers' plans to obliterate Seattle's most significant historic district. He was instrumental in the creation of Seattle's first two historic districts, Pioneer Square (1970) and Pike Place Market (1971). His own projects were guided by a strong sense of public spirit and social consciousness: low-income housing, the inclusion of social services, and a number of city parks co-designed with landscape architect Richard Haag, including the one that now bears his name.
Working as a consultant to John Graham & Company, Steinbrueck played a key role in the design work of the Space Needle. In 1963, Steinbrueck was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects.
His son, Peter Steinbrueck, also has an architecture degree from the University of Washington and is licensed as an architect. He served as a member of the Seattle City Council from 1997 to 2007. He is currently the principal of Urban Strategies, a consulting company in Seattle.
Read more about this topic: Victor Steinbrueck
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