Louis Lott Architecture Negatives (SC-381)

Louis John Paul Lott was born July 9, 1872, in Dayton, Ohio, to George and Louisa (Roth) Lott. He studied architecture in Cologne, Germany; Munich Polytechnicum; and Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris. He practiced architecture in Dayton, 1901-1904; New York City, 1904-1909; studied in Paris, 1909-1911; and returned to Dayton in 1911. In addition to his architecture career, he served on the Dayton City Planning Board (1914-1921), taught at the Dayton Art Institute, and was a member of the American Institute of Architects, Nomad Club, Torch Club, Civic Music League, Engineers Club of Dayton, and Westminster Presbyterian Church. He is perhaps best remembered as the "master architect" of Schantz Park neighborhood in Oakwood, where he designed no less than 16 homes. Lott never married. He resided at 208 Salem Avenue, and his office was in downtown Dayton.

Louis Lott died November 5, 1934, at his home in Dayton, following a brief illness of hypostatic pneumonia. Funeral arrangements were handled by Boyer's and the funeral itself was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church. To give some insight as to his standing in the community, here is the list of pall bearers, as reported in the Dayton Herald (Nov 7, 1934, page 28): Siegfried R. Weng and R. G. Corwin (of the Dayton Art Institute); Ellason R. Smith and Harry I. Schenck (architects); Adam Schantz, George B. Smith, William G. Frizell, Louis J. Baller, J. A. Reid, Arthur Seiferman, E. M. Thacker, J. R. Woodhull, W. S. McConnaughey, G. J. Capliski, and M. M. Goldberg. Lott was laid to rest in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

Another article printed in the Dayton Daily News (Nov. 6, 1934, p. 10) read as follows: "Louis Lott was one of Dayton's most pungent personalities. His energetic figure, his bearded face and his emphatic voice were familiar to a community which had many reasons to regard him as its friend. He was artist and architect to his finger tips and then he was much more. He was a lover of his city and its environment, and to it he gave a devoation limited only by his strength. His mind ran constantly to plans for the beautification and better ordering of his city. He spent heavily of his time in considering plans for a community center. In the recurring times when efforts arose to deprive the city of its priceless treasure, the old courthouse, he was always active in the defense. One of the most interesting of plans for treating the courthouse corner, an office building enveloping the old temple as it stands, was of his imagining. He was the true artist. Music, painting, architecture, and literature appealed to him much alike. He had with his friendly spirit a provacative mind and nothing of interest and value to his community was foreign to him. By his death Dayton loses a rare personality, a most loyal friend."