H. William Kirchner

Baltimore-born son of a German physician, H. William Kirchner trained as a draughtsman in the office of George I. Barnett before opening his own practice. He served as St. Louis School Board Architect in 1881-82 and again from 1886 to 1889, designing the Frank P. Blair School (1882) and its 1888 wings for the heavily German 14th Ward, where he lived. His younger brother August H. Kirchner joined him as partner in 1884; between them the brothers held the Board Architect post for eleven of the years from 1881 to 1897, the era that led directly to William B. Ittner's tenure.