Ralph S Gerganoff born Rashko Stoyan Gerganoff, also frequently referred to as R.S. Gerganoff

Prolific American architect, born in Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 in 1887, he moved to the United States in 1907. He graduated from high school at Fredonia State Normal College

State University of New York at Fredonia

The State University of New York at Fredonia is a four-year liberal arts college located in Fredonia, New York, United States; it is a constituent college of the State University of New York...

 , Fredonia, New York

Fredonia, New York

Fredonia is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 11,068 as of 2009.The Village of Fredonia is in the Town of Pomfret south of Lake Erie...

 in 1913 and moved to Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 shortly thereafter where he studied architecture at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, graduating in 1917.

Gerganoff worked for several years in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 then in 1927 opened an office in Ypsilanti, Michigan

Ypsilanti, Michigan

Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...

. In time he was to erect many buildings in Ypsilanti, and nearby Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...

. From the late 1920s through the 1950s Gerganoff, was to become the unofficial architect of the city of Ypsilanti and its surrounding townships, designing virtually all the public schools, firestations, the hospital, and other public buildings, as well as Cleary College, the Washtenaw Country Club, numerous churches, business, factories, union halls, and the Salvation Army

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 headquarters in Ypsilanti. He was also responsible for designing many private dwellings, ranging from small Cape Cod cottages to large Eclectic and Tudor styled mansions, and apartment buildings.

For the Michigan State Normal College (later Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

) located in Ypsilanti, he designed the Presidents Home, at least six resident halls, the music building, football stadium, laboratory and greenhouse, the Administration Building and the Rackham School for Handicapped Children as well as a Service and a Shop building. Some of these structures have since been destroyed. He was also responsible for designing around two dozen service stations in the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti area, many of them now gone.

In Ann Arbor he designed several landmark buildings including the Wolverine Building, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Kingsley Apartments.

Early in his career Gerganoff developed what could be termed a Low Style Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 vocabulary. He frequently employs the stepped pyramid shape of Art Deco as well as the rounded corners of the Moderne

Moderne

Moderne may refer to:* Moderne architecture, also sometimes referred to as "Style Moderne" or simply "Modern", a more general term for a style of architecture that became popular in 1925 and was described in the 1960s as "Art Deco"...

. He continued designing in the manner well into the 1950s. Following the end of World War II Gerganoff managed to bring his two nephews Steven and Zach Gerganoff to America from Bulgaria and see them trained as architects. Both were to become part of his architectural practice and probably were responsible for his International Style designs of the 1950s and 60s.

At times Gerganoff employed Detroit architectural sculptor

Architectural sculpture

Architectural sculpture is the term for the use of sculpture by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project...

 Corrado Parducci

Corrado Parducci

Corrado Giuseppe Parducci was an Italian-American architectural sculptor who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early 20th Century works.-Early life and education:...

 to create sculpture for his buildings.

R.S. Gerganoff suffered a heart attack while working in the same office that he had worked in since 1927, and died two hours later, on November 25, 1966. He is buried in Highland Cemetery

Highland Cemetery

Highland Cemetery in Ypsilanti, Michigan is a cemetery founded in 1864. It was designed by Col. James Lewis Glenn in 1863.The cemetery is the site of the Starkweather Memorial Chapel which was commissioned by Mary Ann Starkweather to honor her husband. The chapel, an example of Richardsonian...

 in Ypsilanti.

Selected commissions

• Huron Hotel Washington & Pearl streets Ypsilanti, c. 1924

• Wolverine Building, Washington & Forth streets Ann Arbor, c. 1926
• Materials Unlimited, East Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti, 1926

• Washington Apartments Washington Street & Washtenaw Avenue Ypsilanti, , c.1928
• Kingsley Apartments, East Kingsley Street, Ann Arbor, 1929

• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 414 N Main Street, Ann Arbor, 1935 (abandoned by 2011)

• Rawsonville Elementary School, Rawsonville, Michigan, c.1938

• Salvation Army Citadel, East Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti, c. 1940

• Davis Motors, E. Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti, c. 1940

• Beyer Hospital, Ypsilanti, 1942

• Kiddie Korner, South Main and Madison, Ann Arbor, c. 1947

• George School, Ypsilanti, c.1950

• Ypsilanti Township Center, Ecorse Road, Ypsilanti Township, c. 1950

• Washtenaw County Court House, Huron and Main streets, Ann Arbor, 1954

• Gillespie Service Station and Sporting Goods Store, West Michigan Avenue and Carpenter Road, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan
  Ypsilanti Township, Michigan
  Ypsilanti Charter Township is a charter township of Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 49,182...
  
  c. 1955, (destroyed)

• St. Clement Ohridski Macedonian-Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Dearborn, Michigan, c. 1966

• Residence Halls, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti

Gerganoff designed his first residence quadrangle at Michigan State Normal School (now EMU) in 1939 as part of a WPA funded project. The school was later to reuse his designs, thus cutting his commission for them considerably.

King Hall, 1939

Goodison Hall, 1939

Munson Hall, 1940

Jones Hall, 1948

Brown Hall, 1949

Goddard Hall, 1955

• Other EMU buildings

Football stadium, 1938 (destroyed)

Pierce Hall, EMU, Ypsilanti, Michigan 1954

Alexander Music Hall, EMU, Ypsilanti,1939 (destroyed)

Rackham School of Special Education, EMU, Ypsilanti, 1938

Hover Laboratory EMU, Ypsilanti, 1941 and Greenhouse in 1942

University President's House, Forest Avenue, 1949