Giaver, Joachim
Joachim Giaver Soundex Code G160
Wikipedia page about Joachim Giaver
Born: Joachim Gotsche Giæver, August 15, 1856, Lyngen, Norway
Died: May 29, 1925, Chicago, (age 68)
Joachim Gotsche Giæver was a civil engineer with a solid knowledge in bridge construction.
He was born in Lyngen, Norway, a son of Jens Holmboe Giæver (1813–1884) and Hanna Birgithe Holmboe (1821–1903).
He migrated to the United States in 1882, where he found a job in a railway company. In 1883, he went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to work in the bridge construction company, the Pacific Railroad Companyin St. Paul, Minnesota. He fast became a very sought after engineer in the US.
In 1886, he designed the structural framework for the Statue of Liberty. His work involved design computations, detailed fabrication and construction drawings, and oversight of construction. In completing his engineering for the statue’s frame, Giaver worked from drawings and sketches produced by the famous French structural engineer Gustave Eiffel.
In 1891, he came to Chicago to become Assistant Chief Engineer of the World’s Columbian Exposition. In 1898, he became Chief Engineer for the firm of D. H. Burnham & Company, a position he held until 1915.
In 1916, he partnered with Frederick P. Dinkelberg to form the architectural and engineering firm of Giaver and Dinkelberg. The firm's most notable work in Chicago is the terra cotta-clad "Jewelers Building" located at 35 E. Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago. Designed in 1924 and completed in 1926, at the time it was America's largest building outside of New York City. It was also innovative in that it originally included an automobile elevator that provided secure parking adjacent to jewelers' offices on the second through 22d floors, which was replaced by additional ofice space after a few years.
He was a trustee of the Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago, President of the Chicago Norske Klub and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was decorated as a Knight, 1st class of the Order of St. Olav in 1920.