Frank Lloyd Wright visited the School of Design at NC State University in 1950, one of school's many well-known guests such as Lewis Mumford, Buckminster Fuller, Mies Van der Rohe, and Richard Neutra. 

Kamphoefner put this personal label on each book in his library (example supplied by Richard Hall)

HENRY LEVEKE KAMPHOEFNER, FAIA
(1907-1990)

Kamphoefner was born in 1907 in Des Moines IA.  He graduated in Architecture from the University of Illinois and in 1931 received a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University.  Kamphoefner claims he was introduced to Modernism by Joseph Hudnut.

Kamphoefner entered private practice in 1932 in Sioux City IA and developed a specialty in outdoor music pavilions.  In 1936, he was associate architect for the Rural Resettlement Administration in Washington DC til 1937.  From Washington, he moved west to teach  architecture at the University of Oklahoma, 1937-1948. 

In 1948, he was appointed first dean of the School of Design at North Carolina State University, a position he would hold until 1972. During that time, he elevated the school from obscurity to national prominence. A passionate modernist, Dean Kamphoefner’s ultimate goal was “the development of an organic and indigenous architecture... to meet the needs and conditions of the southern region.”

Kamphoefner’s changes at the beginning of his tenure were swift and effective. He sacked most of  the old faculty and brought in a handpicked team including Matthew Nowicki, George Matsumoto, Terry Waugh, Duncan Stuart, Lewis Mumford, James Fitzgibbon, and Eduardo Catalano; instituted a distinguished visitors program (see list at left); raised admission standards; and placed the school on the leading edge of modernism. Throughout his administration, the school expanded programs including a Department of Product Design in 1958 and a Graduate Program in 1968. 

In 1960, on the recommendation of Catalano, he hired 31-year-old Brian Shawcroft, an Englishman, who had just completed his Masters in Architecture at MIT and Harvard. A renowned photographer, Shawcroft closely shared Kamphoefner’s architectural philosophy and never yielded to the eclecticism of postmodern trends. In 1988, the peppery Dean (now Emeritus) Kamphoefner declared that Shawcroft’s “buildings provide the only good architecture in . . . [Raleigh] which is blighted by so much architectural trash.”

One of Kamphoefner's greatest contributions to Raleigh's built environment was his way around the state's bureaucracy.  His faculty, since they were technically on the state's payroll, were prohibited from seeking work on state-funded projects.  Kamphoefner created partnerships and mechanisms where his faculty were hired as consultants by other design firms, especially Deitrick, opening the door to significant buildings by NCSU faculty. 

Other new hires included the nationally known Harwell Hamilton Harris, former Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas, and devoted Kamphoefner protégé Robert Burns, whom Kamphoefner appointed as head of the Department of Architecture in 1967.

Kamphoefner had an unparalleled impact on the architecture of the State and the Southeast.  He was awarded the 1978 North Carolina Medal and the 1977 Topaz Medallion for Lifelong Achievement in Architecture by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. In 1989, the NCSU School of Design named their 1978 addition Kamphoefner Hall. 

To counteract this movement, at least in part, he established the Kamphoefner Prize, a gift of $150,000 to the AIANC from which they would award $10,000 each year to an AIANC member who exhibits excellence in the Modern Movement of architecture.  Kamphoefner defined the criteria for this award very specifically:

"The donors and the Selection Committee for this award anticipates that the chosen architect has demonstrated a consistent integrity and devotion over an acceptable period of time to further the modern movement in architecture without yielding to any of the undesirable current cliches, neo-modernistic mannerisms, or artless historicism that have flawed the building culture of today." 

Here is a 1998 brochure on the Kamphoefner Prize.  Pages one, two, three, four.  The following are the recipients of the $10,000 prize.

1988 J. Norman Pease, Jr., FAIA
1989 No recipient chosen
1990 Murray Whisnant, FAIA 
1991 Brian Shawcroft, AIA
1992 Philip A. Shive, FAIA 
1993 Ligon B. Flynn, FAIA 
1994 Marley  P. Carroll, FAIA
1995 Frank Harmon, FAIA
1996 Lee Nichols Hepler Architecture
1997 Kenneth E. Hobgood, AIA
1998 Awarded to NC State Students
1999 Ellen Weinstein, AIA
2000 Awarded to NC State Students
2001 Thomas B. Moore, AIA

2002-2010:  No recipient chosen as due in part to declining financial markets.  There was not enough interest income generated on the original gift to issue the award.  According to the AIANC, the award returns in summer 2010!

In December 1983, Kamphoefner wrote an article on Buckminster Fuller in the  NC Wataugan, an intimate profile into Fuller but even more so into the recently "retired" Kamphoefner.  Also includes comments on Fuller by his colleague T. C. Howard.  Pages one, two, three, four, five, six, or the entire document (12 Meg), scanning courtesy of Perry Cox, AIA.

View NC Archivist Dr. David Brook's excellent dissertation on Kamphoefner.

1938 - The Oleson Park Music Pavilion, 1400 Oleson Park Avenue, Fort Dodge IA.

1948 - The Henry and Mabel Kamphoefner House, 3060 Granville Drive, Raleigh.  Designed with George Matsumoto.  Built by J. M. Thompson.  Charles R. Lawson (Henry’s nephew) inherited the house and rented it for a number of years.  T. Connor Murray bought it in 1996.  Daniel and Virginia Petrocella bought it in 2000.  In 2003, Kamphoefner’s protégé, architect Robert Burns, did a renovation and addition, construction by David Ballard of Ballard Construction. 

1952 - The Rowland and Lillian McElvare Residence, 1630 Valleyview Road, Southern Pines NC.  Kenneth Scott was the associate architect.  E. J. Austin was the builder, with Thomas Hayes as Kamphoefner's superintendent onsite.   T. C. Brown was the mechanical engineer.  3106 square feet on 11 acres.  Four bedrooms, three baths.  Sold in 1993 to current owner Coy Longstreet.  No photo.  Do you have one?