Harry Francis Cunningham's Architectural Drawing Project

Harry Francis Cunningham (1888-1959),

Rare Draft Drawing for the Nebraska World War II Memorial at the Capitol, 1934

1/2 Scale - Diagram "B" -Pencil, colored pencils, watercolor, gouache, gilt on cardboard

Signed and dated Harry Francis Cunningham, Architect, 1934

44.5 cm x 33 cm

Architect of the Nebraska Capitol Tower, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue Associates, Architects, New York, New York

Colonel Harry Francis Cunningham was a prominent Nebraska architect. He first served as the design and construction documents architect for Bertram G. Goodhue Associates during the construction phase of the Nebraska Capitol Tower, from 1926 to 1930, and later as the founder and first chairman of the Department of Architecture in the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska. He was appointed to Nebraska in 1930, where he presided over the university until 1934. Cunningham enjoyed a rich and varied career, both in the U.S. Army and as an architect practicing in Washington, D.C., New York City, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Lincoln, Nebraska.

Cunningham was born in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 1888. After high school, he studied in the United States and France, and obtained his first architectural position with the Supervising Architects of the U.S. Treasury in 1907. His military career began with World War I, after which he returned to architecture from 1919 to 1939, when he resumed his military duties as an intelligence officer and strategic planner. In 1949, he returned to Lincoln, where he remained until his death on April 25, 1959. He was a member of the American Legion Post 3, the Round Table, and the American Institute of Architects, which elected him a Fellow in 1955.

The Harry F. Cunningham Gold Medal is the highest honor the AIA Nebraska can bestow upon an individual. It is awarded in recognition of the most distinguished achievement in architecture or service to the architectural profession.