Background
Theodore Vigo Wadskier was born in 1827 on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies.
(In 1873, Asahel Gage and his wife, Helen, hired architect...)
In 1873, Asahel Gage and his wife, Helen, hired architect Theodore Vigo Wadskier, a Danish immigrant who had designed a number of Chicago buildings, to design their home at 1134 Elmwood Avenue. Ashael's cousins, brothers Horace and Edwin Drury, built the impressive Italianate showplace.
Theodore Vigo Wadskier was born in 1827 on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies.
The youth was sent to Copenhagen for an education, and while in that city completed a course in Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1850 Mr. Wadskier left his native country for a career in the United States. Following his arrival in New York, he went directly to Philadelphia, and for seven years earned on architectural work there. His next move was westward to Chicago where he subsequently settled, and practiced for twenty years, known to have designed many school buildings, churches and business blocks. During the great fire of 1871 Mr. Wadskier lost all his possessions, but later resumed work, and at one time was associated in partnership with Henry Harned, who succeeded to his practice.