William Jacob Dilthey
Architect, Man of Affairs.
Germany has furnished the United States of America with many citizens whose descendants have become distinguished as artisans, tradesmen, and in the professions. Charles Frederick (or August) Dilthey came to this country in an old-time sailing vessel, and left descendants who have since distinguished and honored the name. He was born near Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, about 1838, and died in 1901, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served his allotted time in the Prussian army before coming to America. His early ancestors were Scotch. He learned the trade of upholsterer and harness maker in the army, and followed the trade of upholsterer and decorator in Philadelphia. He finally settled on a farm near Three Tuns, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he lived during the latter years of his life. He married Elizabeth Helen Hess, who came to America from Germany in early life with her brothers.
William Jacob Dilthey, son of Charles Frederick (or August) and Elizabeth Helen (Hess) Dilthey, was born February 17, 1867, at Three Tuns, Upper Dublin township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, about seventeen miles north of Philadelphia, in a log cabin there standing and which dated back to Revolutionary days of "76." He received elementary instruction in the public schools of his native village, then attended the Central High School of Philadelphia. He studied architecture for two years at the Spring Garden Institute of Philadelphia. While taking this course he studied at night and worked at the trade of builder by day, in order to pay expenses, and at the same time secure a practical training for his chosen vocation. In 1892 he came to New York City and secured employment as draftsman in the office of Richard M. Hunt, an architect. He was also employed in the office of De Lemos & Cordes, architects and engineers, and while thus employed assisted in the preparation of plans for the Vanderbilt Mansion on the Biltmore estate, near Asheville, North Carolina, and on both the Astor and Vanderbilt mansions of New York City, and was also with C.H. Gilbert, Van Campen Taylor, architects, in New York City.
In 1896 he opened an office and began his professional career under his own name, with an office at No. 1-3 Union Square West, New York City, and has achieved considerable success in his vocation. He designed and supervised the construction of a fourteen-story mercantile building at Nos. 547-555 Broadway, New York City, for Charles Broadway Rouss, in 1900, and in 1907-08 a fifteen-story mercantile building at Nos. 123-125 Mercer street, New York City, for Peter Winchester Rouss. He planned and remodelled a residence for William Floyd Jones, at Massapequa, Long Island, New York; designed and erected one for F. Taylor Pusey, at Lansdowne, Delaware county, Pennsylvania; and a fine mansion for Peter Winchester Rouss, in the Prospect Park section of Brooklyn, New York. A few years ago he planned the design upon which the historical old Lutheran Church at Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania, was rebuilt; he designed the plans and decorations for the Epiphany Church, of Sterling Place, Brooklyn, New York; the St. Mark's Church, at Jamaica, Long Island; the Church of the Advent, in Flatbush, Long Island; the Church of the Good Shepherd, at South Ozone Park, Long Island; and has just completed the enlargement and remodelling of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, at Oyster Bay, Long Island.
Mr. Dilthey is a Republican in politics; has twice been nominated for assemblyman in the Second Assembly District of Brooklyn by the Republicans, and endorsed by the Citizens Union, an independent organization, and while he has not been elected to office he has been instrumental in securing improved political conditions in his district. He was a member of the Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania at his old home, and a communicant of St. Matthew's Lutheran and Calvary Church in Brooklyn. He is a member of the Central Branch Young Men's Christian Association, also president of the Central Branch Young Men's Christian Association Literary Society, and was president of the Franklin Literary Society. He has traveled extensively in the south and west, and has made several trips to the mining regions of the south-west. He is president of the Arizona Copper Belt Mining Company, of Yavapai county, Arizona, a mining property that consists of three hundred acres of mineral lands in copper, gold and silver, which is under development. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, Brooklyn Chapter; the Taxpayers Association of New York City, and the Young Republican Club of Brooklyn, New York, and is active in civic and public improvements for the common welfare.
Source: Jordan, John W. Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, volume III. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1914, pp. 720-723.
Submitted by Nancy.