Van Horn and Ritterbush Architects, later Ritterbush Associates, P.C., is one of the state’s oldest practicing architectural firms. The partnership began in 1920 when established Bismarck architect Arthur Van Horn joined forces with brothers Clarence and Robert A. Ritterbush.

Van Horn was born in New Jersey in 1860 and had learned carpentry skills from his father from an early age. He studied architecture at the Cooper Institute in New York City for two years before he headed west to make his career in Dakota Territory.

Like Van Horn, the Ritterbush brothers had been introduced to design and construction by their father. William Ritterbush had settled in Bismarck with his own father the same year Van Horn arrived in Dakota Territory. By 1890 the senior pair of Ritterbush men were advertising themselves as architects, contractors, cabinet makers, and concrete workers under the name of Ritterbush & Son. Robert A. and Clarence, upon graduating from high school in 1911 and 1912, respectively, sought more formal architectural training and entered the Ohio Mechanics Institute in Cincinnati. Both enlisted in the Navy on the eve of World War I, where they received additional training in carpentry as part of their service in the aviation section. Following the war, the Ritterbush brothers returned to North Dakota and registered to practice architecture from offices in Oakes and Minot prior to their merger with Van Horn.

Arthur Van Horn arrived in Bismarck in 1883, his first job was a draftsman for the Weaver Lumber Company. He then worked briefly in Hillsboro, North Dakota. By 1902 he was back in the capital city as an architect and superintendent of building for the new state penitentiary. During this time, his reputation as a skilled designer and builder spread. He quit in 1907 and began taking independent commissions. Many of the civic and commercial buildings in downtown Bismarck are attributable to his early success as one of few trained architects in the region. These include the Bismarck Civic Auditorium now known as the Belle Mehus and the Van Horn Hotel building before you.

From 1920 to 1929, Van Horn and & Ritterbush Architects completed over 80 projects throughout the state, the majority of which were located in the Bismarck-Mandan area. The Mason Apartments on the corner of 2nd Street and Broadway in Bismarck, the Youth Correctional Center west of Mandan, and public works like the Logan and Hettinger County courthouses and Valley City Municipal Auditorium illustrate their reach. The Ritterbush brothers continued to practice after the death of Arthur Van Horn in 1931, and though it has evolved through the generations, a variant of the firm still operates in Bismarck.