Background
J. L. Smithmeyer was born in 1832 in Vienna, Austria. He arrived in this country when a youth.
J. L. Smithmeyer was born in 1832 in Vienna, Austria. He arrived in this country when a youth.
After an apprenticeship in the office of a Chicago architect, he began practice during the early sixties in Indianapolis. One of his important commissions of that period was the old Court House (now Museum) at South Bend, Ind„ afterward remodeled, and in 1897 moved to its present site.
Following the end of the Civil War Mr. Smithmeyer went to Washington seeking Government work, and was later appointed by the Office of the U. S. Supervising Architect as Superintendent on public buildings being erected in the southern states. After a few years in that position he resigned in 1872 to form a partnership with Paul C. Pelz in order to prepare plans for a competition instituted for the new Library of Congress Building in Washington. Successful in wining the first prize, they were later commissioned architects in charge of the construction of the building; work however was not started until 1888, and was further delayed by a controversy in which Mr. Smithmeyer was involved. He was subsequently discharged from his position as supervising architect, and replaced by General Edward C. Casey, Chief of U. S. Engineers.
Believing they had been treated unfairly Smithmeyer & Pelz brought suit against the Federal Government for $210,000, basing their fees on a sum equal to three percent of the approximate cost of the building. The Court of Claims, however, awarded them only $48,000. Thirteen years passed, then in 1906 the architects appealed their case to the Supreme Court, but that august body upheld the decision of the lower Court, awarding them six years salary at $8000.00 a year, plus office and drafting expenses. However at the time of Mr. Smithmeyer's death in 1908 Congress had made no appropriation to pay the amount of the award.
While Smithmeyer & Pelz may be remembered mainly for their work on the Library of Congress, the firm also designed the Academic Building at Georgetown College in Washington; Army and Navy Hospital at Hot Springs, Ark.; Carnegie Music Hall at Allegheny, Pa., and Hotel Chamberlain at Old Point Comfort, Va.