Background
Alfred Hoyt Granger was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on May 31, 1867.
Alfred Hoyt Granger was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on May 31, 1867.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Kenyon College in 1887, and attended one term of graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then studied in Paris from 1889 to 1891 at the École des Beaux-Arts, Atelier Pascal, and Academie Julian.
Returning to the U. S. Mr. Granger entered the Boston office of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, and a few years later in 1891, was sent by the firm to Chicago to supervise the erection of two important buildings in that city, the Art Museum and Public Library.
In 1894 he began professional practice associated with the late Frank B. Meade and carried on work under the name of Granger & Meade over a period of four years, subsequently joined Charles S. Frost in partnership. For more than a decade Frost & Granger maintained an office in Chicago engaged in a large and successful practice. They were employed as architects of a number of large railroad stations, the most important of which were the Northwestern Terminal and the LaSalle Station in Chicago, and the Union Station at Omaha, Nebr. The partners also designed a number of public and commercial buildings in the city including St. Luke's Hospital, 1907, the Northern Trust Bank Building, 1908, and the James C. King Home for Aged Men.
Following the ending of the partnership in 1910, Mr. Granger moved to Philadelphia where for a few years he was associated with the late William D. Hewitt, but for most of the time until 1924 carried on his work alone. In the latter year, he returned to Chicago to organize the firm of Granger, Lowe & Bollenbacher, which following the death of Mr. Lowe in 1930, became Granger & Bollenbacher. During that period of his practice he was identified with the design of the County Court House at Oshkosh, Wis.; Medical and Dental Buildings in Chicago for the University of Illinois; Pierce Hall at Kenyon College, 1932; Administration and Union Buildings at the University of Indiana, 1936; the new Chicago Club, 1930, and the "Cloisters” Apartment House.
A veteran of the first World War, Mr. Granger served as Captain in the U. S. Engineering Corps, later was Chairman of the Construction Committee of the War Industries Board.
Prominent professionally during his career in Chicago, he was a member of the Illinois Society of Architects, past president of the Chicago Chapter, A.I.A., and elected to Institute Fellowship in 1926.