William G. Tachau


William Gabriel Tachau, AIA,, was an American architect active in early- to mid-twentieth-century New York City. With Lewis Pitcher, he was a partner in the architectural firm of Pitcher & Tachau from 1904 to 1919 when he established the firm of Tachau & Vought. Both firms from 1918 onward specialized in mental hygiene hospitals. The firm moved from 109 Lexington Avenue to 102 East 30th Street around 1923 and remained at that address and that name even after Vought left.

Early life and education

Tachau was born in April 1875 in Louisville, Kentucky where he attended high school and later designed the Louisville Library. He earned a Ph.B. from Columbia University in 1896, and a Diplome
Ecoles des Beaux Arts in 1903. His uncle was banker Elkan Naumburg.

Practice

He worked as a draftsman from 1896 to 1897 in the architectural firm of Lamb and Rich, as a designer for the architectural firm of Herts & Tallant in 1898, 1903 and 1904, and was briefly chief of design for Albert Kelsey in 1903. He joined Lewis Pitcher around 1904 forming Pitcher and Tachau. Like many New York architectural firms active during the Great Depression, Tachau and Vought worked in "almost continuous employment on Federal, State or City work," including on Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia's list of architects since its inception. He practiced under the license No. 3556 in New York and No. C-250 in New Jersey, and was a member of the Society Deplome par le Government Francais and the Beaux Arts Society. Upon's Vought's departure from the firm, Eliot Butler Willauer became a principal in Tachau & Vought

Works as Picher & Tachau