Francis Drischler was born in New York in 1873. He studied in Belgium, Germany, and France before serving in the Spanish American War. Drischler came to St. Louis in 1901 and began working as a draftsman for Eames & Young. He opened his own office and became a member of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1904.
In 1907 Drischler was hired to design a Renaissance Revival-style country estate (pictured above) for Charles D. Garnett, a paper manufacturer and founder of Garnett & Allen Paper Company. The property is owned by the City of Overland and opened as Wild Acres Park in 1995. He also designed 4509 Pershing in 1907 – which we currently have listed!
Drischler later formed a partnership with Harry G. Clymer who a biographer in 1921 remarked: “Not by leaps and bounds, but by an orderly progression, Harry G. Clymer has reached a position as one of the foremost architects of St. Louis.”
One of the partnership’s first commissions was the 1908 house at #44 Kingsbury Place for the German G. Powell family. Between 1909 and 1912, the firm designed five houses in Parkview, #22 Kingsbury Place for Mr. & Mrs. Henry Pauk (to left), the building for the Ford Motor Company at 4100 Forest Park (now West End Lofts), the Princess Theatre and Studio Building in Midtown (demolished for a Wendy’s), the State Normal School in Springfield, Missouri and the Schubert Theatre in Denver, Colorado. The partnership ended in 1916 when Clymer applied for membership in the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Francis Drischler was the architect of our home (4548 Westminster Place) built in 1904. So great to hear a little more about him