Paul Schweikher was born in
Denver, Colorado in 1903 to a family of musicians. He originally trained at the
University of Colorado for a year (1921–22) before marrying his wife. He moved with her to
Chicago, Illinois and studied at
The Art Institute of Chicago while working for the firm of Lowe & Bollenbacher. Schweikher worked his way up from a
clerk to a construction supervisor. After two-and-a-half years at the firm, Schweikher left to join the
David Adler practice. Among the projects that Schweikher worked on was the
William McCormick Blair Estate in
Lake Bluff, Illinois.
In 1953, Schweikher was named chairman of the Yale School of Architecture, following the retirement of
George Howe. Five years later, he resigned from the university to take a position as head of the
Carnegie School of Architecture. He retired in 1970 and moved to
Sedona, Arizona, where he opened a small practice. Schweikher died in 1997.