Eugene Sternberg - A Brand New Start

A Brand New Start

The Sternbergs' moved into a small unit of military surplus faculty housing on the University of Denver Campus. The curriculum of the new University of Denver school was unique in combining training in both architecture and city planning. It was also distinguished by the number of practicing architects on its faculty. The school's approach to architecture enticed Frank Lloyd Wright to accept an invitation sent by the students to visit the new Denver School. The School was housed in a remodeled building in downtown Denver. Sternberg was a forceful and demanding teacher and his students, mostly G.I.'s and many already married, worked long hours in the studios. But he was also hard-working and creative himself, and highly valued by most of the students. Thirty years after his first class graduated from the School of Architecture and Planning his students organized a reunion and wrote to him, "Gene, you taught us to dream. If we accomplished nothing it was our fault. If we have achieved anything, then we are grateful to you."

Although he was licensed to practice architecture in Great Britain and in New York State, Sternberg was required to take the Colorado licensing exams. This was not an easy assignment: English was a third language for him and it was many years since he had taken engineering courses. He spent the summer of 1948-9 in intensive study and succeeded in passing the exams in October. Shortly thereafter, he was asked by a Littleton physician, Dr. McKenzie, to design his new medical clinic. The building was economical, simple, functional and attractive. In the following years, Sternberg received many commissions to design medical and dental clinics. Publication in national architectural magazines brought him to the attention of Reinhold, the major architectural book publisher of the time. Reinhold commissioned him, in cooperation with Seattle architect Paul H. Kirk, to write a book on the architecture of doctors' offices and medical clinics.