VOLKMAN, Carl (1870-1946), also spelled as Karl Volkmann, was born in Norway and received his education at the Royal Arts & Crafts School in Oslo, and then attended the Technical University in Dresden, Germany for two years. He arrived in the United States in 1903 and settled in St. Paul, Minn., and in 1908 he moved to North Dakota where his name is recorded in Fargo, working as an architect's assistant and teaching classes in architectural drawing at Concordia College in Fargo in 1910 (Fargo-Moorhead City Directory, 1910, 481).
He claimed to have "...spent over sixteen years in architects offices in Norway, Germany and United States" before arriving in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in January 1912. There, he was employed as a draftsman with the firm of Reilly, Dawson & Reilly and opened his own office in Moose Jaw in March 1912. He specialized in the design of school and college buildings, and in 1913 he was awarded First Premium in the competition for the West End School, Moose Jaw, but the project was not built (Moose Jaw Evening Times, 15 May 1913, 1). While working in Moose Jaw, he met another architect Edward J. Hancock, who later became his professional business partner when both architects left Canada in 1914 and moved to Wisconsin. Arriving in Eau Claire, Wisc. in early 1915, he opened his own office, and later invited his former colleague from Moose Jaw, E.J. Hancock, to join him in a new partnership of Volkman & Hancock, Architects (Eau Claire Leader, 10 July 1915, 7, advert.). Their collaboration, however, was a brief one, and was dissolved by mutual agreement in November 1916 (Eau Claire Leader, 2 Dec. 1916, 8). Both architects then opened separate offices in Eau Claire, often competing directly against one another for major commissions. Over the next twenty years Volkman prepared dozens of designs for educational and ecclesiastical building throughout the state of Wisconsin, employing a Romanesque Revival style for his churches, and a simplified Collegiate Gothic style for his school buildings. Volkman died in Milwaukee, Wisc. on 26 September 1946 (obit. Eau Claire Leader, 28 Sept. 1946, 2; inf. Saskatchewan Assoc. of Architects; inf. Gordon Fulton, Moose Jaw).
(works by Carl Volkman)
MOOSE JAW, SASK., major addition to King Edward School, Main Street South at Iroquois Street East, South Hill, 1912; demol. 1980 (Moose Jaw Evening Times, 9 April 1912, 16, t.c.; 4 Jan. 1913, 8)
MOOSE JAW, SASK., residence for the architect, Clyde Avenue, 1912 (Moose Jaw Evening Times, 21 June 1912, 16)
MOOSE JAW, SASK., terrace of brick houses on Athabasca Street West, for William Grayson, 1914, but not built
OUTLOOK, SASK., Norwegian Lutheran College, 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 1 April 1914, 79; Daily Leader [Regina], 28 Feb. 1920, 13, illus. in advert for Poole Construction Ltd.)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., Grace Lutheran Church, West Grand Avenue at 2nd Avenue, 1915 (Eau Claire Leader, 15 May 1915, 7, t.c.)
(works by Volkman & Hancock)
COLFAX, WISC., Municipal Hall, Main Street at 1st Avenue, 1915 (Eau Claire Leader, 27 July 1915, 7, t.c.)
PAINT CREEK DAM, WISC., two staff houses for the Wisconsin-Minnesota Light & Power Co., 1915-16 (Eau Claire Leader, 14 Nov. 1915, 8, descrip.)
STANLEY, WISC., school for School District No. 11, Chippewa County, 1916 (Eau Claire Leader, 20 June 1916, 6, t.c.)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., Second Ward School, Main Street at McGraw Street, 1916-17 (Eau Claire Leader, 21 Jan 1917, 10, illus. & descrip., with correction and attribution to Volkman only, 23 Jan. 1917, 6, Letter to the Editor)
(works by Carl Volkman)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., Lake Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Lake Street at 4th Avenue, 1916-17 (Eau Claire Leader, 19 Nov. 1915, 3, descrip.; 23 June 1917, 4, illus. & descrip.)
STANLEY, WISC., residence for S.F. Anderson, City View Farm, 1917 (Eau Claire Leader, 14 July 1917, 7, t.c.)
BLOOMER, WISC., High School, 1919 (Eau Claire Leader, 25 May 1919, 8)
WESTBY, WISC., Lutheran Church, 1919 (Eau Claire Leader, 25 May 1919, 8)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., residence for Hans Rust, 1919 (Eau Claire Leader, 25 May 1919, 8)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., First Norwegian Lutheran Church, Oxford Avenue at Central Street, 1919-20 (Eau Claire Leader, 16 Feb. 1919, 6, illus. & descrip.; 25 April 1920, 6, descrip.)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., Tenth Ward School, Summit Street, 1919-20 (Eau Claire Leader, 22 May 1919, 4, illus. & descrip.; 3 Oct. 1920, 12, illus. & descrip.)
ALTOONA, WISC., addition to a public school, 1921-22 (Eau Claire Leader, 20 Nov., 1921, 4, t.c.)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., North Presbyterian Church, Birch Street at Fall Street, 1923 (Eau Claire Leader, 16 June 1923, 13, t.c.)
RICE LAKE, WISC., Bethany Lutheran Church, West Messenger Street at North Wilson Avenue, 1923-24 (Eau Claire Leader, 7 July 1923, 3, descrip.)