William Rupp

William J. Rupp (August 25, 1927 – February 7, 2002) was an American architect and one of the modernist architects considered part the Sarasota School of Architecture. With a focus on making architecture in harmony with its surroundings, Sarasota architecture featured a clean, open contemporary floor plan, filled with light and terrazzo floors, wide overhangs, and flat roofs.^[1]

Rupp worked with founding Sarasota School of Architecture member architect Paul Rudolph and ran his Sarasota office before starting his own practice. Other major members include: Ralph Twitchell; Jack West; Gene Leedy, Mark Hampton; Tim Seibert, Victor Lundy; Bert Brosmith; and Carl Abbott. Mr. Rupp designed many projects in Florida, New York and New England. Among them were a dining pavilion for the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, the Scott Commercial Building now housing the Center For Architecture Sarasota, numerous residential buildings, renovations and new exhibits for The Bronx Zoo, work for the New York Aquarium and other private and public commissions including residences, banks, schools, hospitals and housing developments.

We students at the University of Florida in the early 50s began to hear of an architect named Twitchell doing some remarkable work. Some students went down and reported that, in fact, the work was being done by a young Harvard man named Rudolph. Soon the publications were being sought and studied. A field trip was organized to see Frank Lloyd Wright's campus at Lakeland and over to Sarasota for the work of Twitchell and Rudolph. Both principals were out of town but an accommodating young man, Mark Hampton, their sole employee, took us on the tour. It is no understatement to say that we felt that we had found The Answer.

— William Rupp, "Paul Rudolph: The Florida Years" (1974)

Early life, education, personal life

• Born August 25, 1927 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of the late Frank J. Rupp and Sarah Viola Hibbs Rupp.^[2]
• 1945-1946 Military Service, Commission Infantry 1952, Hon. Discharge 1955
• 1946 Moved to Florida
• 1953 Graduated University of Florida, Phi Kappa Phi
• 1957 Married Gwendolyn Marie O'Rourke, three children

Work

• 1953-1955 Employed in the office of Paul Rudolph, Sarasota, Florida
• 1955-1964 Private architectural practice: William Rupp, Architect, 224 South Orange Ave. Sarasota, Florida
• 1965-1966 Private Architectural Practice, Naples, Florida
• 1968-1972 Associate Architect, Morris Ketchum, Jr., & Associates
• 1972-1976 Joined Callister, Payne & Bischoff, Architects and Community Planners, Amherst, Massachusetts
• 1976 Private Architectural Practice, Amherst, Massachusetts
• 1976 Visiting Lecturer, Art Department, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• 1978 Full-time teaching appointment, Art Department, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Served as Director of the Architectural Studies Program and the Interior Design Program, working to expand its scope.
• Retired 1994

Awards and citations

• 1960 Architectural Record, Award for Excellence, House Design
• 1961 Progressive Architecture Design Award, for Caladesi National Bank, Dunedin, FL
• 1962 Mr. Rupp was featured by Life Magazine in its special issue “The Takeover Generation –The 100 Most Outstanding Young Men and Women in the United States”
• 1962 Progressive Architecture Design Award, for the Uhr Studio, Sarasota FL
• 1963 "Gli Giovani Architetti Americani" Italian Exhibition
• 1964 First Award, New York Chapter AIA, for the Uhr Studio

Publications

• 1958 Willis Residence, Arts and Architecture
• 1959 Willis Residence, House and Home (February)
• 1959 Brentwood Elementary School, Architectural Record (February), Architectural Forum (February), Florida Architect (March)
• 1960 Hatt Residence, Architectural Record (May)
• 1961 Caladesi National Bank, Progressive Architecture (January), Florida Architect, (August)
• 1961 Ringling Museum Pavilion, Architectural Forum (August)
• 1962 Uhr Studio, Progressive Architecture (September), L'Architecture d'Aujour d'Hui (October)
• 1962 Wilcox Residence, Architectural Design Preview USA, Reinhold Publishing Co.
• 1963 Project House Sarasota, American Home (June)
• 1964 Bowling Green Subdivision, House and Home (September)
• 1965 Uhr Studio, Casabella (September)
• 1965 Everglades City Villas, Family Circle (August)
• 1966 Uhr Studio, American Home (May)
• 1983 Florida Architect (winter) "Sarasota School of Architects" pp. 12–15 color
• 2010 Hauser Magazine, "Florida's Gentle Modernism" by Andres Lepik; Undine Prohl.

Principle projects in Florida

Notes

References

• http://www.sarasotamodernarchitecture.org/architects
• Weaving, Andrew (1997) Sarasota Modern
• Howey, John; Guy Wilson, Richard (2006)The Sarasota School of Architecture
• Rupp, William, C.V.
• Rupp, William; (1978) "Paul Rudolph: The Florida Years" Unpublished academic paper,