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Otto H. Thorman

American architect

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ64684058 ↗
Source-derived summary

Otto H. Thorman (April 12, 1887 - March 11, 1966) was an American architect. He designed many houses in the Manhattan Heights neighborhood of El Paso, Texas, as well as several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places like the Woman's Club of El Paso and Goddard Hall on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Early life

Thorman was born on April 12, 1887, in Washington, Missouri. He attended the St. Louis Art Institute.

Career

Thorman began his career as an architect in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he focused on the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

From 1911 to his death, Thorman maintained an architectural practice in El Paso, Texas. He designed many houses in the Manhattan Heights neighborhood. He also designed the El Paso Free Public Library and the pavilion for the former Statue of Liberty in Pioneer Plaza. In 1916, he designed the Woman's Club of El Paso in the Georgian Revival and Beaux-Arts styles.

Editorial summary

“Otto H. Thorman” enters the record as american architect. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Otto, Thorman and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1887, 1966, 1911, 1916—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1887-04-12. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Otto, Thorman and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Otto H. Thorman” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Otto, Thorman and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q64684058. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1966, 1911 and 1916.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Otto H. Thorman”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Otto H. Thorman primary sources, Otto H. Thorman archive and Otto research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Otto H. Thorman”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Otto H. Thorman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.