Frederick Gutheim papers

Frederick Albert Gutheim (1908-1993) was a city planner, urban historian and architectural critic, and professor at The George Washington University from 1971-79, and director of the University's graduate program in historic preservation from 1976-79.

Mr. Guthheim was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 3, 1908. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931 from the University of Wisconsin. He continued his studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Urbaines, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Heidelberg. From 1933 to 1936 he studied at the University of Chicago.

Gutheim was a junior staff member of the Institute for Government Research at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He became an adjunct professor of American History and Civilization, urban and regional planning at George Washington University in 1971. He served on the U.S. Capitol Master Plan Group, the President's Commission, the AIA Interior Department Task Force on the Potomac and as a member of many federal and local planning bodies concerned with the city and the region.

He attended the third conference of the Planning History Group in Dublin, Ireland in 1982, and participated in a traveling seminar at the invitation of the Architecture Society of the People's Republic of China. In addition, he gave the Honor's Day Address to the Clemson University School of Architecture on April 10, 1983, and received an award of merit from the American Association for State and Local History for his achievement as initiator and chairman of the Sugarloaf Regional Trails.

Gutheim's writing career began in 1931 when he became a contributing editor for the American Magazine of Art. In 1948, he became the first architectural writer for the New York Herald Tribune. He later became an architectural critic for The Washington Post and advisory editor for Washingtonian magazine. His articles have appeared in numerous national magazines, such as Nation, Harper's, and Saturday Review. He received a decoration from the President of Finland in 1974 for bringing that country's new town of Tapiola to the attention of the American public.

Dr. Fritz, as he was sometimes called, wrote extensively on architectural subjects and "Washington History: Housing As Environment" (1953); "The Potomac" (1949); "Planning Washington: 1924-1976" (1976); and "Worthy of the Nation: The History of Planning for the National Capital" (1977), to name a few.

Gutheim married Mary Pardon on June 8, 1935 and they had one son. Dr. Gutheim died October 2, 1993 in Washington, D.C.

There are no copyright or literary rights restrictions on it. Note also that an oral history done with Mr. Gutheim in 1977 can be found in MS0371, and other papers of his reside in the Special Collections Department. Other manuscripts can be found at the University of Wyoming.

See also an article in "Washington History" magazine (call number F191.C72; v.10:1)

N.B. This history note was written in 2005