Jane West Clauss

CLAUSS JANE WEST, Madison, WI- Jane West Clauss, a registered Pennsylvania architect and teacher, died at her home in Madison, Wisconsin on Jan. 12, 2003. Before moving to Madison after the death of her husband in 1998, she was a resident of Wallingford for 50 years. Ms. Clauss was 95 years old. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sept. 23, 1907. Her parents were both professors at the University of Minnesota and her father, Willis Mason West, was the author of numerous history books. Jane graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1927, after which she went to Paris to work in the architectural firm of Le Corbusier. She returned to the United States in 1932 and married another architect, Alfred Clauss, in 1934. Jane and her husband designed numerous homes and buildings including the Federal Courthouse Complex next to Independence Hall, the Riverview Home for the Aged and the Children's Reception Center all in Philadelphia and the Health and Agriculture Complex in Trenton, New Jersey. The seven homes they designed between 1939 and 1943, and built in Little Switzerland, Tennessee, with the help of a local laborer, are widely regarded as one of the earliest examples of the International Style of Architecture in the United States. This project, like many of their other collaborative works, was published in the Progressive Architecture Magazine. Ms. Clauss also taught interior architectural design at Beaver College (now Arcadia University ) for twenty years until 1967. She was a member of the Central New Jersey Chapter of the AIA, Tau Sigma Delta, and Who's Who of American Women. Jane was preceeded in death by her husband of 64 years and by her 13 brothers and sisters. She is survived by a daughter, Carin of Madison, Wisconsin and two sons, Carl of Wallingford, Pennsylvania and Peter of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to America's Second Harvest, 35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. CRESS FUNERAL SERVICE, 608- 238-3434