Bernard Dockendorff (b. January 22, 1878, d. September 23, 1952), a La Crosse native, was the son of Bernard J. and Elizabeth Hoeschler Dockendorff. He attended St. Joseph's Cathedral School and secondary school at La Crosse High School, after which he worked for two years (c. 1895-1897) with the local architectural firm of Stolze and Schick before leaving in 1897 to study architecture at the Polytechnic Institute, University of Darmstadt, Germany. He worked for two years with Ludwig Becker, a cathedral architect in Mainz, Germany. Returning to La Crosse around 1902, he formed a partnership with Albert Parkinson, which lasted until their deaths in 1952.(1) A. E. Parkinson (b. February 17, 1870, d. September 21, 1952), a native of England was trained in the practices of architecture by his father and the schools of Scranton. He worked as an engineer and contractor in Sparta, Wisconsin, shortly before forming the architectural firm with Dockendorff.
Licensed to practice in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and Illinois, the Parkinson and Dockendorff offices located in the Linker Building in downtown La Crosse provided practical training for several young area architects including Otto Merman, associated with Percy D. Bentley and later Herbert W. Skogstad, and Robert Cerney, who later became an architect in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Credited with the design of over 800 public buildings, the firm‟s commissions included schools, residences, hospitals, commercial structures and civic buildings.
Thomas Dockendorff described the architectural firm as existing from 1902-1952. “[Parkinson and Dockendorff] were commissioned to design approximately 150 schools and/or additions. Three distinct periods of design may be classified from their work. The early period, 1902-1912, is the classic Georgian style with pyramidal roof, dormer windows, and centrally placed cupola. The principle period, 1912-1930, is characterized by the "academic" or "collegiate" Gothic style with multi-stories of reddish brick and Bedford limestone trim. The third style occurred during the Depression and World War II period and is denoted by a lack of ornamentation, the use of yellow brick, and fewer commissions.” Dockendorff contended that “the influence of one architectural firm upon the design of so many structures had a significant impact of the perception of how schools should look.”
Parkinson and Dockendorff are responsible for the design of four of the school buildings in the city of La Crosse, including the Holy Trinity Catholic Church (built in 1907) on 1417 South 13th Street, the Aquinas Catholic High School on 11th Street, the Blessed Sacrament School (built in 1938), and the physical education building, known as Wittich Hall, at the La Crosse Normal School at 1724 State Street, in 1930.(2)
Following the deaths of Parkinson and Dockendorff, their drawings and supplies were given to another La Crosse architectural firm, Schubert, Boyum and Sorenson, and subsequently to Kratt & Associates Architects.
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Sources:
(1) “Dockendorff, Architect Here 46 Years, Dies,” La Crosse Tribune (September 1952). (2) Architectural Researches, Inc., City of La Crosse, Wisconsin Architectural and Historical Intensive Survey Report (1996), 225-226.
