The following biography was researched, compiled, and written by Geoffrey K. Fleming, Executive Director, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV.  

ERWIN OTIS LAUFFER (January 3, 1889 – August 6, 1977)

A.K.A. “Erwin O. Lauffer”

Architect, draftsman, painter. Lauffer was born in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio the son of Caroline Berchtold (1862 – 1937) and Jacob I. Lauffer (1858 – 1929). In 1900 the family resided on Trowbridge Road in Cleveland where his father was employed as a machinist.

While it is presently unknown where he received his training, from 1906 forward he is listed either as an architect or a draftsman in Cleveland city directories, originally residing at 3004 Woodbridge Road in that city. As a Cleveland-based architect, he worked on a number of important buildings throughout Ohio, including a private residence on Clifton Road, Lakewood, Ohio (1926); Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, Cleveland, Ohio, (1930); private residences on Lake Road, Lakewood, Ohio (1953-67); among many others.

In the 1930s Lauffer served as the architectural representative for the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) for the northern-Ohio region where he supervised government construction projects that were funded as part of the New Deal of 1933. Among these projects was the renovation of the Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio courthouse.

During the 1950s and 1960s he was increasingly involved in regional art groups. From 1962 through at least 1968 he was a painting instructor for the Tri-County Society of Fine Arts, located in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. He was elected Vice-President of the group in 1961. By 1972 he was Vice-President of The Cleveland Society of Artists and had since 1966 been regularly exhibiting his paintings alongside those of his daughter, the noted Cleveland modernist printmaker and painter, Alice Lauffer Lawrence (1916 – 2008).

Erwin Otis Lauffer died in Lakewood, Cuyahoga, Ohio, on August 6, 1977 at the age of eighty-eight years. He was buried in Lakewood Park Cemetery located in Rocky River, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. His gravestone includes the phrase “Art – Architecture.”

Lauffer’s paintings appear to date from the 1920s through the 1970s and often depict locations in and around northern Ohio and are impressionist in nature. There are examples of his works that apparently depict locations in Pennsylvania as well. The few that have come to auction have not been identified to specific locations in either of these states. His paintings are usually signed fully “Erwin O. Lauffer” on the front of the work.

Though there are undoubtedly other exhibitions in which Lauffer participated, those presently known include the following: Akron General Hospital, Akron, OH, 1966, 1969, 1972-73 (all solos with his daughter); Little Gallery, Woman’s City Club, Cleveland, OH, 1972 (solo with his daughter), Akron Society of Artists, Akron, OH, (u.d.); The Cleveland Society of Artists, Cleveland, OH, (u.d.); Tri-County Society of Fine Arts, Akron, OH, (u.d.).

Lauffer’s works are not known to be in any public collections at present, though a number reside in private collections throughout the United States.