Marshall Erdman


Marshall Erdman was a Lithuanian-American builder and colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Life

Early life

Erdman was born Mausas Erdmanas on September 29, 1922, in Tverai, Lithuania. He emigrated to the United States at age 17 to live with an uncle in Chicago.

Education

Following high school, Erdman studied architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1943, where he helped build the Remagen pontoon bridge. He returned to his studies after the war, receiving a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1946.

Career

Erdman started a construction company in 1946, which he incorporated in 1951 as Marshall Erdman & Associates. An integrated healthcare design-build company, Marshall Erdman & Associates grew rapidly, expanding into six different markets throughout the U.S. In early 2008, Marshall Erdman & Associates was purchased by Cogdell Spencer, a healthcare real estate investment trust, for $247 million. This part of Marshall's legacy is now traded on the NYSE as CSA.
In addition to founding Marshall Erdman & Associates, he introduced U-Form-It prefabricated house kits to the market in 1953 and office furniture in 1969.

Legacy

The Middleton Hills neighborhood in Middleton, Wisconsin had its first homes completed in 1996. This development is considered a Neo-traditional design.

Work

Projects