Henry Osterman

• German

Henry Osterman was a German-born architect and contractor who built his career in Walla Walla, Washington, despite arriving in the United States with limited English and largely self-taught architectural training. Over several decades he shaped much of the city's civic and educational landscape, designing Walla Walla City Hall, the Walla Walla County Courthouse, the Carnegie Library, Central Christian Church, Walla Walla High School and its gymnasium, Green Park School, Sharpstein School, the YMCA, the Dixie School, and the First Congregational Church Parish House. He also built his own residence at 508 Lincoln Street. Osterman and his wife, Genevra, joined First Congregational Church in 1902, a connection later shared by their three daughters. His son, Hugo Osterman, continued the family's architectural legacy as a practitioner in Seattle. - AsNotedIn