P.C. Bettenburg collection

Philip Charles Bettenburg was born on September 23, 1900 in Minnesota. He was educated at St. Thomas College and the Military Academy in St. Paul before graduating from the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture. During World War II, Bettenburg served as a U.S. Army infantry regimental commander and lieutenant colonel in North Africa and in Europe. In 1954, he became commander of Minnesota’s 47th National Guard Division before retiring in 1958. Bettenburg served as president of the St. Paul Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and of the American Society of Military Engineers.

In 1922, Bettenburg formed a partnership with George R. Townsend and Sidney L. Stolte (Bettenburg, Townsend and Stolte), and later including Gordon M. Comb to become Bettenburg, Townsend, Stolte and Comb Architects and Engineers. Bettenburg used his National Guard rank to gain commissions for more than twenty known armories in the state, including the Minneapolis Armory nominated for the National Register of Historic Places by the Heritage Preservation Commission in 1985.

The practice of the firm (Bettenburg, Townsend, Stolte and Comb) was consciously generalized in order to execute a variety of building types such as city and airport planning, civil and municipal engineering, commercial and institutional, military and ecclesiastical architecture. Buildings designed by Bettenburg and his partners include the Anoka (Minnesota) City Hall, First National Auto Bank (St. Paul), the Minneapolis Armory, Church of St. Ambrose (St. Paul), and A. L. Cole Memorial Building (Pequot Lakes, Minnesota). The firm continued to be operated through the 1970s and 1980s by William Estebo. Bettenburg died on March 20, 1968.

Sources:

[Matlach, William. “Obituaries.” 69th Infantry Division Bulletin Aug. 1968: 8. Print.]

[National Register of Historical Places, Minneapolis Armory, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota]