Quick Facts
Biography
Joseph P. Guth (1860-April 1928) was a popular civil engineer, architect and builder in Omaha, Nebraska starting in the 1880s.
Biography
Guth was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and attended schools in Wurtemberg and Bavaria. His father, J.P. Guth, was a notable architect of government railroad projects in Germany in the mid-1800s. Graduating from school in 1879, the younger Guth worked as an architect for two years and decided to immigrate to the United States. Following his father in railroad design, he first worked for the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad based in Cleveland, Ohio. Guth soon switched to the Northern Pacific Railroad in Brainerd, Minnesota, and left there to join the Burlington Railroad in Lincoln, Nebraska. He finally landed with the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha and stayed there until 1887.
He immigrated to the United States in 1884. Originally living in Cleveland, Ohio, Guth partnered with Joseph Dietrick to start an architectural firm. However, by 1891 the partnership had dissolved. Continuing as a sole proprietor, Guth worked business blocks, breweries, factories and warehouses, fire stations, schools, single and multifamily residences, churches and halls in Omaha and across eastern Nebraska. Guth is also credited with designing several industrial brewing buildings for the Storz and Krug breweries in Omaha.
Omaha's prolific apartment designer Henry D. Frankfurt apprenticed under Guth. Guth practiced architecture until he died in April 1928. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Omaha.
Notable designs
- Eggerss-O'Flyng Building (1902) NRHP Omaha
- Prague Hotel (1898) NRHP Omaha
- St. John's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, (1902) Lyons
- Schuyler City Hall NRHP 1020 A Street, Schyler
- Druid Hall (1915) 2412 Ames Avenue, Omaha
- Augustus B. Slater Residence (1925) local landmark, 1050 South 32nd Street, Omaha
- Apartments (1906) 536 S 26th Avenue, Omaha
- Apartments (1906) 554 S 26th Avenue, Omaha
- Shirby Apartments (1922) 3320 California Street, Omaha
- Boulevard Apartments (1923) 606 S 32nd Avenue, Omaha
- Seymour Apartments (1923) 608 S 32nd Avenue, Omaha
- Harriet Court Apartments (1925) 137 N 33rd Street, Omaha
- Single family dwelling (1922) 5116 Nicholas Street, Omaha (Part of the Dundee-Happy Hollow Historic District)
- Single family dwelling (1923) 308 South 52nd Street, Omaha (Part of the Dundee-Happy Hollow Historic District)
- Fepco Building (1903)
- Trimble House (1909)
- Omaha Casket Company (1905)
- St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1913) 2304 2nd Avenue, Kearney