Alberto O. Treganza


Alberto Owen Treganza, sometimes known as Albert Treganza or A.O. Treganza, was an American architect and ornithologist in the early 19th century.

Architectural career

Treganza trained at a technical school in Healdsburg, California and then took architectural classes under William S. Hebbard. He was later employed in San Diego, California for Hebbard's firm he had formed with Irving Gill where he learned contemporary architectural styles, including modern, craftsman and prairie school styles. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1900 and formed Ware & Treganza with Walter E. Ware, a partnership that continued for 25 years from 1901 to 1926. Treganza and Ware were prolific designers during a building boom in Utah. One of his first works was designing the home of an artist and friend John Hafen, which still stands in Springville, Utah and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as John Hafen House. Treganza has many of his architectural designs listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places with his design partner Ware.
In 1926 he moved with his family to Florida for a short time before returning to Lemon Grove, California. In California, Treganza continued to design many civic buildings and homes in the Spanish revival style such as the MacGregor house in Lemon Grove and the former San Diego Police Department in San Diego. Treganza was a member of the American Institute of Architects from 1921 until his death in 1944.

Ornithology

Treganza was an avid birder throughout his life. The subspecies Ardea herodias treganzai, commonly known as the "Treganza blue heron" was discovered by Treganza on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake in 1907. Treganza, with his family amassed a collection of 30,000 bird eggs from around the world that have since been portioned out into various museums. Treganza and his second wife, Antwonet Kaufman, were both active members of the Cooper Ornithological Club and she wrote a weekly birding column in the San Diego Union for many years between 1926 and 1940.

Personal life

Treganza married Alma Stevens, who died at the age of 34 in San Diego in 1910. They were the parents of Mary E. and Josephine E. Treganza. He later remarried to Antwonet Kaufman and they were the parents of Dr. Amorita Treganza a noted pediatric optometrist in San Diego, Adán Treganza a well known anthropologist at San Francisco State University who the Treganza Anthropology Museum is named after, and Adalaida Maria Treganza a mother of four and an accomplished elementary school educator who taught in East San Diego County for twenty-five years. Treganza also founded the Lion's Club in Salt Lake City in 1922.

Images of architectural works


Other Individual Works