Philadelphia's architect Irwin T. Catharine - did he even exist?

Irwin Thornton Catharine (October 22, 1883 – March 3, 1944) was the chief architect of Philadelphia public schools from 1920 until his retirement in 1937. Buildings built during Catharine's tenure ranged from Gothic Revival, as in the case of Simon Gratz High School, to Streamline Moderne, as in his last project, Joseph H. Brown Elementary School. He died in Philadelphia in 1944. - Wikipedia

Irwin T. Catharine
the ghost architect?
unknown_person.png

1883 - 1944

From 1918 to 1937, his work added 104 new buildings (replacing 37 existing ones), added wings to 26 other schools, and otherwise improved at least 50 other schools.


A number of his works (all in Philadelphia ) are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Some of Catharine's Buildings
Overbrook-High-School-1926.jpg

Amadee_Bregy_School_Philly.JPG BoardOfEdNorth.jpg Creighton_School_Philly.JPG Dobson_School_Philly.JPG
Gratz_HS_Philly.JPG JCooke_School_Philly.JPG Phila_LauraHCarnellSchool_1.jpg Shoemaker_Jr_HS_Philly-1.jpg
some look like kit buildings

Fun Fact
Catharine joined the AIA in 1921 and served as the vice-president of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects in 1929.
There was another "appointed" architect named Elmer H. Fisher, who served as a vice-president of AIA.
Fisher was elected Vice-President of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1895.


What we have is this super prominent Philadelphia architect Irwin Thornton Catharine, who built a butt load of older buildings in 1920s-1930s. Did not check all of the above quoted NRHP-listed links, but from what I have seen so far, there is no information which could serve any investigative purpose.
  • Where is any information on this architect?
  • Why there is not a single photograph of the guy (though a single would not do)?
  • Why there is no useful historical information pertaining to any of the buildings constructed by Catharine?
  • NRHP listings become an interesting detail accompanying these suspicious buildings.
WHERE IS HIS PHOTO?
He did not live in the 1850s. His alleged creations pertain to 1920s-1930s. Is he another one of the appointed architects?
 
I came across his obituary in the NY Times.
Source

Edit to add.
Anyone with an ancestry.com membership could look through some documentation here.
 
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