Erickson & Stevens & Aspen, Colorado

Don Erickson began his business at age 23 as a solo "practitioner."  It was not until 1962, that he took in Arthur Dennis Stevens, another FLW apprentice, and developed Architectural Enterprises which was later renamed, Erickson & Stevens, Inc.  The Erickson & Stevens partnership was informally dissolved in 1992, when Don again went solo to pursue his design ideals. 

At the time the partnership was created, Don had just boldly walked into Singer Sewing Machine Company and presented his design concept for the Singer Bowl to the corporate Board of Directors.  Don needed all "hands on deck," which included Richard Erickson and Dennis.  Don credited Dennis with being the business developer, bringing in new clients and new business.  It was under his partner's influence, that Don began to do more commercial projects.

As the business expanded, and Don's name and reputation began to precede him, Don became a licensed architect in many other states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Colorado, New Jersey, and Florida. 

In Colorado, Charles Matthies (developer of the "Bird Cage" apartments) commissioned Don to develop a building in Aspen, Colorado, a building recently described in an article entitled, "Aspen's 20th Century Architecture: Modernism 1943-1975" and provided to me by Amy Guthrie, City of Aspen Historic Preservation Officer.  For more about modernism in Aspen, please click on the link below to see the full report:

http://www.aspenpitkin.com/Portals/0/docs/City/Comdev/HPC/modernismfinalSMALL.pdf