Archives West Finding Aid

Milton Stricker (March 9, 1926-June 1, 2008) had the distinction of being the first Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice to be licensed to practice architecture in Washington State. He was born in Clayton, Wisconsin and came to the northwest when he served as an ensign in the navy based at Bremerton, Washington. He began studing architecture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1947. He soon became dissatisfied with the focus on the International Style in architectural studies and dropped out of Carneigie during his final year to join the Frank Lloyd Wright Fellowship in 1951. In 1952, be began his career working as a draftsman for a Minnesota structural engineer, Raymond Roubel. A year later he moved to Denver to work for architect, Ralph Peterson. In 1953, he moved to Seattle to work for the firm of NBBJ and eventually worked his way up to associate level. Before opening his own office, he also worked for Gotteland & Koczarske from 1959-1962. He opened his own office in 1962 and practiced in Seattle, the Northwest and Alaska. He completed over 130 projects throughout the Northwest and Alaska. One of his first independent designs, the Hal Mackey house was featured as a Seattle Times "Home-of-the-Month" project and he would have nine more projects featured in the Times. Some of his notable designs include the Clark Turner House on Vashon Island, Peace Lutheran Church in Bremerton, Seattle Fire Station #24, and the Paul Johnson House. He retired from practice in 1998 and focused on writing and painting. He worked on a book, Design Through Abstraction: The Wright Source to Art & Architecture, which outlines his insights into the process of artistic abstraction as the source and generator of Organic Architecture. The book is available on the web.