Background
John Lawrence Mauran was born in 1866 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
John Lawrence Mauran was born in 1866 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
He acquired a professional education during four years (1885-89) of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Mauran entered the Boston office of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, and in 1892 while in he employ of the firm was sent to Chicago to supervise the construction of the Chicago Public Library and Art Institute. During the following year he Loins to open a branch office of the firm while the huge Union Trust Building (razed in 1909) was under erection.
Mr. Mauran continued to live in St. Louis after completing the firm’s work, and in 1900 formed a partnership with Ernest J. Russell and Edward C. Garden which was continued for a decade. In 1911 Mr. Garden withdrew from the firm, to be succeeded by William F. Crowell, and later in 1929 W. Oscar Mullgardt became a fourth member of Mauran, Russell & Crowell. During Mr. Mauran’s long career the firm built up a large and successful practice in St. Louis, designing numerous public and business structures. Noted examples of their works were the Humboldt Building, completed prior to 1908; Federal Reserve Bank, erected on site of the old Union Trust Building; New Chamber of Commerce Building; St. Louis Globe-Democrat Building; Railway Exchange; Admistration Building of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company; Children's Hospital, and the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital; Cabana Branch, St. Louis Public Library; Second Baptist Church; Butler Bros. Store; First Church of Christ Scientist, and finally, the huge new Federal Court and Custom House completed in 1935 two years after M. Mauran's death. The firm was also commissioned to plan buildings in other cities, such as the Rice Hotel at Houston, Texas, the Butler Bros. Building at Dallas, and the Galves Hotel at Galveston, Texas.
As a leading architect in St. Louis, Mr. Mauran won national recognition during his professional career. In St. Louis he was active in municipal affairs, especially in planning the architectural development of the city. A member and appointed Chairman in 1904 of the Public Building Commission, he served from 1924 to 1929 on the Executive Committee of the St. Louis Community Council, and after being appointed president of the Plaza Commission in 1925, in charge of the erection of new civic buildings, was active in that work for a number of years.
An early member and officer of the St. Louis Chapter, A. I. A., he was advanced to Institute Fellowship in 1902, and served f6r a year as Treasurer. Chosen in 1915 as President of the Institute, he was called upon to serve for three successive years in that high office.
In 1908 he was named by Theodore Roosevelt as a member of the Fine Arts Commission, and later during President Hoover's administration served as a member of the National Commission of Fine Arts.