Personal Life
Frohman had a notable lineage in the related worlds of architecture and engineering. His great-great-grandfather was Philippe Joachim Joseph Gengembre, who served as Director of Works for King Louis Philippe of France in the early 19th century. Gengembre designed France’s first steam warship and the first home in Paris to feature gas lighting. Gengembre’s son, Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, both an architect and civil engineer, supervised the building of the first railway from Liverpool to Manchester.
In 1849, the family moved to America. While practicing architecture in New York, Frohman’s grandfather, Philippe Gengembre Hubert, designed the Hotel Chelsea, later to become a well-known residence for actors, writers, musicians and other artists. Built in 1883, it had the distinction of being the tallest building in New York until 1899. Initially constructed as an apartment building, it still remains in operation today, as a hotel. Frohman would be born in this building in 1887 to Gustave Frohman, a theatrical producer, and the former Marie Hubert,an actress and daughter of Philip Gengembre Hubert.
Read more about this topic: Philip H. Frohman
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