Inspiration comes from many sources, from the colors and forms in the sky, from the sun on the leaves and grass in the fields, from the laws of nature, from the creation of human works and from the people in our lives. Jan Paul entered ours in the studio of a Cheyenne office.
We all worked at the Cheyenne architectural office of J.T. Banner and Associates, headed by Architect Paul E. Graves, a mannerist who had a knack for combining the local state-of-the-art building with classical principles. Graves designed Banner’s Cheyenne office with a row of five drafting stations in a single file alongside a bank of northern light windows. Everyone looked ahead to the person in front of them except for Jan, who sat at the front drafting table in the driver’s seat. From there, he headed our team’s chain of intern drafters, which also included Doug Coates, who sat at the back humoring us all. Recently registered, Jan led this team of neophytes, calling us younger fellas “whippersnappers” with a characteristic chuckle in his voice. We learned how to work in architecture from his experience.
His voice set Jan apart, telling a life in wartime Germany and the aftereffects. The youngest of five children, his mother with his architect father gave birth to Jan on 14 November 1941 (note the palindrome of the European written date) in Schweidnitz, Poland — later renamed as Swidnica when the border changed after World War II in Nuremberg — in the middle of World War II. Remember, the war started in Europe at the beginning of September 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland. Less than a month after Jan’s birth, on Dec. 11, the United States declared war on Germany, turning the tide in favor of the Allies.
Unlike his older siblings born in an optimistic Germany, Jan grew up with things looking ever increasingly grim. Nonetheless, according to the family, Jan always maintained his cheerfulness and optimism. When the Russians invaded Poland, his mother escaped with the children under the darkness of a cold January night, safely crossing the Iron Curtain to reconnect with their father in Nuremberg. Even after reconnecting, the family lived in poverty. Jan attended a vocational school as a potter in 1957 and the Academy of Fine Arts as a sculptor the following year.
To seek a better life for the children, his parents sent each of them to America. He was the last of his siblings to come to the U.S. but perhaps the one to whom it meant the most. His American citizenship made Jan very proud, and he said the day he immigrated meant more to him than his own birth date.
Jan moved to Cheyenne in 1959, where he had two years of high school to complete. He got his first job as a busboy at the Plains Hotel. After high school, Jan decided to follow in his father’s footsteps with a career as an architect. He enrolled at the University of Wyoming School of Engineering. In 1965, Jan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with an architectural option. He served in the Wyoming Air National Guard from 1966-72. He received his Wyoming registration in 1973 as a licensed professional architect then worked in the offices of J.T. Banner Associates, and later Kemper Architects.
Jan went into private practice in 1982 as Jan H. Paul Architect. His extensive and wide-ranging work took him across Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota and Nevada. Some of his projects involved Wyoming facilities and roads; community development, recreational and cultural facilities; prisons; churches; nursing homes; swimming pools and tennis courts; residences, apartment complexes and motels; restaurants; and office, commercial, industrial, maintenance and medical buildings. His educational projects, ranging from classroom buildings and laboratories to gymnasiums and theaters, can be found at the University of Wyoming, Laramie County Community College, and elementary and secondary schools throughout Laramie County and the region.
Jan served his profession and his community as a member of the American Institute of Architects, Lions Club, Housing Assistance for Neighborhood Development and the Community Development Advisory Council.
No matter how busy he was as a sole practitioner, like many of us in this state, Jan always had time for those around him. In his association with colleagues at AIA Wyoming meetings, Jan would mentor younger architects about their future as independent architects in the state. They would discuss the future when the topic of starting a firm came up. He would turn over projects of his to these entrepreneurs so they could test the waters. Only a rare and sympathetic individual would do that.
Jan had a clock in his office that ran backward. On one occasion, one of us brought along our youngest son to visit Jan, and he noticed the clock. Jan thought that was impressive, especially for a 5-year-old.
Jan was the kind of friend you didn’t have to see or talk to all the time to stay close. He was kind, helpful and sincere.
Beyond the legacy of his family, work and service, those of us who knew Jan will remember and miss his laughter, the bright sparkle in his eye, that chuckle in his voice that overcame any trace of a foreign accent and the inspiration of his life.
