Theodore Otto Langerfeldt

Theodore Otto Langerfeldt (1841-1906) was a German-American architectural renderer and painter.

Langerfeldt was born March 2, 1841 in Bückeburg, then capital of the German principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic School of Hanover. Circa 1863 Langerfeldt moved to England, where he studied and worked as a painter for five years. In 1868 he came to the United States, settling in Boston. He was first noted in the Boston directories in 1870 as an architect behind an office in the Studio Building. From 1875 until his death he is then again noted as a watercolor artist.

Langerfeldt was best known for his architectural subjects, and was often employed by architects of Boston and New York to prepare watercolor turn renderings for competition entries or exhibitions. These included Charles B. Atwood, George A. Clough, George Keller, McKim, Mead & White, Peabody & Stearns, William G. Preston and Frederick W. Stickney. Presenting a watercolor by Langerfeldt taking into account a competition design was considered a good advantage. In 1876, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, one of his drawings usual an award.

He was one of the first artists to meet the expense of professional rendering facilities to architects, preceding a unconventional generation which included E. Eldon Deane, David A. Gregg and Hughson Hawley, among others. He largely withdrew from undertaking for architects in the 1890s, as his health worsened. Following an complaint of ten years, Langerfeldt died September 7, 1906 in Boston.

Langerfeldt signed his drawings "T. O. L." In supplement to his architectural work, Langerfeldt as a consequence painted landscapes, and had a solo feint at the Boston Art Club in 1874. Two of his landscapes are in the buildup of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.