- Louis Skidmore
Louis Skidmore (
April 8 , 1897–September 27 , 1962) was an American architect and a co-founder of the firmSkidmore, Owings, and Merrill .Skidmore was born in
Lawrenceburg, Indiana and studied atBradley Polytechnic Institute and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology , and later inRome andParis on a fellowship."Louis Skidmore, Architect, Dies; His Firm Designed Lever House :A Co-Founder of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Which Built Oak Ridge, Tenn.." New York Times (1857-Current file), September 29, 1962, http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed August 15, 2008).] He andNathaniel A. Owings co-founded the firm in 1936 (John O. Merrill became the third partner in 1939). During the war years the firm built a number of large housing projects, most notably the initially secret town ofOak Ridge, Tennessee . In New York a major wartime project was theAbraham Lincoln Houses , a 14-building complex inHarlem (completed in 1948). ["Architects Picked for Housing Jobs :Head of City Authority Lists the Men Entrusted With $53,000,000 Projects." New York Times (1857-Current file), July 6, 1943, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008). See also the Houses' entry at nyc.gov: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/developments/manlincoln.shtml.] Another major government-appointed project was theUnited States Air Force Academy . His firm developed its reputation for reliability in large developments, and became one of the largest and most talked-aboutskyscraper builders in the 1950s. SOM's most famous building was theLever House , built in 1952.Skidmore was elected president of the
New York Building Congress in 1949 and a vice-president of theArchitectural League of New York in 1952. ["Skidmore is Elected: Architect Is Chosen as Head of Building Congress." New York Times (1857-Current file), May 11, 1949; "Elected to the Presidency Of Architectural League." New York Times (1857-Current file), April 4, 1952, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008).] he received a Gold Medal from theAmerican Institute of Architects in 1957. ["Architect to Receive Medal of Institute." New York Times (1857-Current file), February 3, 1957, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008).]References
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