Von Herbulis, Albert O. | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

VON HERBULIS, Albert Olszewski (1860-1928) of Washington, D.C. prepared an elaborate and grandiose design for the Arts Building, University of Ottawa, Cumberland Street, OTTAWA, ONT. (1904-05; additions 1922). Born in Budapest, Hungary on 23 April 1860 he was educated at the Polytechnical School in Vienna and emigrated to the United States after 1885. He worked briefly as an architect in Scranton, Penn. and then moved to Washington where he remained for the rest of his career, specializing in the design of ecclesiastical and educational works for the Catholic church. In early 1904 the Catholic Diocese of Ottawa, Ontario commissioned him to prepare a new campus plan for the college originally founded in 1848 by the Oblate Fathers. With the hope of replacing many of the buildings which had been destroyed by fire on 2 December 1903 Von Herbulis presented an ambitious visionary scheme for eight new buildings, but only the Arts and Sciences Building, the centre piece of his plan, was realized, and even this monumental Beaux-Arts scheme had to be substantially reduced from the original proposal that bore a distinct resemblance to the United States Capitol Building in Washington (Souvenir of the Cornerstone Laying, New Arts Building, University of Ottawa, 1904, illus. & descrip.; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 9 March 1904, 1, illus. & descrip.; 28 Nov. 1904, 9, descrip.; Montreal Daily Star, 30 April 1904, 22, illus. & descrip.). It was not until early 1923 that the flanking wings of Tabaret Hall were finally completed in conformance with the original design (C.R., xxxvi, 18 Oct. 1922, 1003, illus. & descrip.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 86-7, illus. & descrip.)
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In the United States, Von Herbulis designed the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Helena, Montana, Holy Angels Roman Catholic Academy & School, Buffalo, N.Y., and Ryan Hall at Georgetown University, Washington. He died near West Falls Church, Virginia on 14 April 1928 (obituary The True Voice (Omaha, Nebraska), 20 April 1928, 5; biography in F.W. Kervick, Architects in American of Catholic Tradition, 1962, 132-4; Pamela Scott, Directory of District of Columbia Architects 1822-1960, 1999, 201)