Theodore L. Mularz (born 1933)

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ted Mularz served in the Coast Guard (1953-1955) and graduated with a B. Arch from the University of Illinois in 1959.  He and Molny had worked together in Park Ridge, Illinois, and after Molny moved to Aspen and started working for Benedict, he called and said they needed help for the summer. At that point, Mularz didn’t have his degree and didn’t know where Aspen was.  He spent the summer of 1958 working in Benedict’s office for $1.75 an hour, went home to complete his undergraduate program and a semester of graduate work, and then returned for a permanent position in June 1959, starting at $2.00 an hour. Mularz remembers working on projects for Bayer, whose office was around the corner, when things were slow in the Benedict office.  Though not a skier when he came to Aspen, he became an avid skier afterward.

In November 1963, he established his own practice.  He employed one of the three women architects working in Aspen at the time; Jean Wolaver-Green.

He was briefly associated with Benedict in a corporate firm as Benedict-Mularz Associates, Architects, from 1978-1981.  Among his designs are the modern studio adjacent to the West End cottage of Aspen photographer Ferenc Berko (1964); the Manor Vail and Lord Gore Club (1965), Fasching Haus Condominium (747 S. Galena, 1966), and the Scott Building (400 W. Hopkins, 1973) and numerous residences.  Active in the community, he chaired the Historic Resources Committee in the 1960s, and he and his wife were founding members of the Aspen Historical Society.  Mularz also served as President of the Aspen Chamber of Commerce.  In 1990, he left Aspen for another attractive, culturally oriented community, Ashland, Oregon.