Background
Bernard Vonnegut was born in 1858 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
Bernard Vonnegut was born in 1858 in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
After two years of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he went to Hanover, Germany, to attend the Polytechnic Institute.
Returning to New York, he began work in the office of George B. Post, but after a few years there, moved to Indianapolis and in partnership with Arthur Bohn was continuously active in practice until his death at the age of fifty-one.
Among the notable examples of the firm's work was the Methodist Hospital; Herron Art Institute; the Commercial Club (won in a competition in 1895): L. S. Ayres Office Building; Hotel Severn; Pembroke Arcade; All Souls Unitarian Church, also a number of Bank and Trust Company offices, all in Indianapolis. In addition, Bohn and Vonnegut designed the Students' Building at the State University; Federal Building at Vincennes, Ind., Terre Haute Trust Company Building, and new buildings at Shortridge High School.