Alfred was a medical doctor who was born on June 27, 1839, in Philadelphia to George Zantzinger, a grand-nephew of David Rittenhouse,[1] and Caroline Helmuth.
He then spent two years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he worked under Paul Blondel and Henri Grisors and graduated in 1901.
[8] By 1905, he and Charles L. Borie, Jr. (a fellow graduate of St. Paul's School) had launched a firm of their own with offices at 251 South 4th Street in Philadelphia.
[9] In 1917, Zantzinger became a diplomat: President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to represent the U.S. on the War Trade Board in Sweden as a member of the U.S. legation in Stockholm.
[20] In 1922, Clarence and Margaret lived at "Greenacre", their house at Seminole and Highland Avenues in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.