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Born: 6/29/1905, Died: 10/18/1975 Fridtjof Tobiessen was born in Norwood, OH, the son of Norwegian immigrants Dorthea M. and Emanuel Tobiessen. He took courses in civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin before coming to Philadelphia to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a B. Arch. in 1930. His sophomore year, he was elected vice-president of the Christian Association. He was a teaching assistant in freehand drawing his senior year. While at Penn, he worked as a draftsman in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin office of Eschweiler & Eschweiler during the summer. After graduation, he struggled with his classmates to find work, and was employed briefly in the office of E. William Martin in Wilmington, DE as a draftsman and then was a draftsman and outside superintendent of construction for Morris & Erskine between 1930 and 1932.He launched his own firm in 1938, the same year he joined the national AIA. The firm became Fridtjof Tobiessen & Associates in 1954, and was succeeded by Tobiessen-Wenger & Associates when Raymond Wenger was made a partner in 1966. Tobiessen was a member of the Chester County Development Council between 1965 and 1970, and chaired the housing advisory board of the Chester County Commissioners between 1966 and 1970. He was also a trustee of the Willistown Friends (Quaker) Meeting, and a member of the steering committee of the Comprehensive Health Planning Advisory Committee in Philadelphia between 1969 and 1970. In addition, he served on the Easttown Township School Board. Tobiessen was a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA and served as its secretary in 1954.
Written by Emily T. Cooperman. Clubs and Membership Organizations
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