Liebenberg and Kaplan
| Liebenberg and Kaplan | |
|---|---|
| Partners |
|
| Founded | 1923 |
| Dissolved | 1973 |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Buildings | Hollywood Theater, Mount Sinai Hospital, Oak Street Cinema, Paradise Center for the Arts, Riverview Theater, Terrace Theatre, Uptown Theater |
Liebenberg and Kaplan (L&K) was a Minneapolis architectural firm founded in 1923 by Jacob J. Liebenberg and Seeman I. Kaplan. Over a fifty-year period, L&K became one of the Twin Cities' most successful architectural firms, best known for designing prestigious homes, synagogues, and theaters. The firm also designed hospitals, commercial and institutional buildings, country clubs, places of worship, radio and television stations, hotels, apartment buildings, and private residences. After designing Temple Israel and the Granada Theatre (later the Suburban World) in Minneapolis, the firm began specializing in acoustics and theater design and went on to plan the construction and/or renovation of more than 200 movie houses throughout Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Architectural records, original drawings, and plans for some 2,500 Liebenberg and Kaplan projects are available for public use at the University of Minnesota's Northwest Architectural Archives.
Architect Jacob "Jack" Liebenberg (born July 4, 1893), a Milwaukee native of German Jewish descent, arrived in Minneapolis in 1912 to work on construction of the Leamington Hotel. After learning that the University of Minnesota was starting an architecture school, he applied, was admitted, and became a member of the School of Architecture's first graduating class in 1916. He received a scholarship to attend Harvard University, where he obtained his master's degree in 1917. The French government awarded Liebenberg the Prix de Rome, a grant for a period of architectural study in Rome, but because of the outbreak of World War I, he was unable to take advantage of this scholarship. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he returned to the University of Minnesota as an instructor in the School of Architecture.
One of his students was Seeman Kaplan (born June 5, 1894), a son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who had worked as a draftsman and served as an officer in the Engineer Corps during World War I. The two became friends and Liebenberg eventually married Seeman's sister, Raleigh Kaplan. A Minneapolis native, Kaplan graduated with honors in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1918.
In 1923, Liebenberg and Kaplan formed a partnership, and over a fifty-year period the firm known as Liebenberg & Kaplan designed significant homes and buildings throughout the Twin Cities and beyond, many of which still stand. Kaplan focused on the business aspects of the firm and engineering details of their projects, while Liebenberg oversaw design. For the last twenty years of Liebenberg's career, Joel Glotter was also a partner in the firm.
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