Background
Julius Franke was born in 1868 in New York, United States.
Julius Franke was born in 1868 in New York, United States.
Realizing then his lack of proper professional training the young man left for France and for two years studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.
in his teens entered the office of the late George B. Post as architectural student, later supervised for Mr Post the construction of the New York Times Building. Upon his return to New York in 1893 Mr. Franke joined the office of Robert B Maynicke and two years later formed a partnership that continued untii the latter s death in 1914. The firm s first important commission was the New York Commercial Building on Broadway at Waverly Place, followed by other large busmess and mercantile structures, noted examples of which were: the original Stern Brothers Department Store at West 23rd Street, 1910 the Wurlitzer Building on 42nd Street: the Lewisholm Building, West 40th Street, and buildings for the New York Dock Company.
With the dead of his partner in 1914 Mr. Franke continued in practice for alone for 10 years. His most important works in that period included the Art Museum at Huntington, Long Island, 1930; Rhinelander Apartments Washington Square, New York; the Concourse Plaza Hotel, 1922 and the Social Service Building for the Heckscheker Foundation at Fifth Avenue and 194th and 105th Streets in 1922.