Frederick E. Giesecke establishes
architectural education in Texas

On September 1, 1905, approximately 100 years ago at this writing, Texas’ first formal architectural education program was established by Dr. Frederick E. Giesecke at what was then the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and is today known as Texas A&M University.

The program began with the introduction of a brand new curriculum in architectural engineering, which was developed and taught by Giesecke.

A wunderkind of the first magnitude, Giesecke, was a product of the A&M Corps of Cadets. An excellent student and former captain in the Corps, he joined the A&M faculty after graduating in 1886 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

He was only 17 years old!

Within two years, at age 19, he was appointed head of A&M’s Department of Mechanical Drawing. He completed a Mechanical Engineering degree at A&M in 1890, and in the ensuing years, while still on the A&M faculty, he studied architectural drawing at Cornell University and architectural design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology — where he earned a degree in architecture in 1904.

It was upon returning to College Station that Giesecke developed a curriculum in architectural engineering. He served as head of the A&M architecture program until 1912 when he took a job as professor of architecture at the University of Texas. There, until 1920 he engaged primarily in research as head of the Division of Engineering’s Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology.

In 1924, Giesecke earned his fourth degree, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Then, in 1927, he returned to Texas A&M as head of the Department of Architecture and the official college architect. Within a year, he was named head of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station.

He was, without question, the first Aggie architect.

Through 1939, Giesecke designed and supervised the construction of many campus buildings that are still standing today, including the Academic Building, the Chemistry Building, the Williams Building, Cushing Library and Hart and Walton halls.

Giesecke’s life was characterized by his desire to learn by study, experimentation and observation. His daily notebook contained an entry from an experiment he was conducting just two hours before he died of a heart attack on June 27, 1953.

Following in Frederick Giesecke’s footsteps, as Aggies and designers who contributed significantly to Texas architecture, were his son-in-law, Preston Geren, Sr., Class of 1912, and his grandson, Preston Geren, Jr., Class of 1945.