- Harry Weese
Infobox Architect
image_size = 160px
caption =
name = Harry Weese
nationality = American
birth_date = birth date|1915|6|30
birth_place =Evanston, Illinois , U.S.
death_date = Death date and age|1998|10|29|1915|6|30
death_place =
practice_name =
significant_buildings=Arena Stage Time-Life Building
significant_projects = Washington Metrorail
significant_design =
awards =Harry Mohr Weese (
June 30 ,1915 -October 29 ,1998 ) was an Americanarchitect , who was born inEvanston, Illinois cite news|author=Muschamp, Herbert |title=Harry Weese, 83, Designer of Metro System in Washington |publisher=The New York Times |date=1998, November 3] in theChicago suburbs who had an important role in 20th century modernism and historic preservation. His brother,Ben Weese , is also a renowned architect.Background
Harry Weese studied under Finnish architect,
Alvar Aalto atMassachusetts Institute of Technology , graduating in 1938, and went on to studycity planning while on a fellowship at theCranbrook Academy of Art inMichigan . Weese was also influenced byCharles Eames andEero Saarinen , whom he met at Cranbrook. He built primarily in the modern architectural style, but integrated other styles as he felt appropriate for the project. Out of Cranbrook, Weese joined the major architectural and engineering firm,Skidmore, Owings and Merrill . DuringWorld War II , Weese served as an engineer on a U.S. Navydestroyer , and 1947, he started his own architectural firm. Weese is also well known for his firm advocacy ofhistoric preservation and was remembered as the architect who "shaped Chicago’s skyline and the way the city thought about everything from the lakefront to its treasure-trove of historical buildings." cite news|title=Harry Weese, Visionary Architect Known as 'Chicago's Conscience' |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=1998, November 1] Weese also served as a judge for theVietnam Veterans Memorial design competition.Works
Other well known works include:
* The United States Embassy Building inAccra ,Ghana .
*Arena Stage ,Washington, D.C. .
* Time-Life Building,Chicago, Illinois .
* First Baptist Church, inColumbus, Indiana .
* Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist in Chicago, Illinois.
* The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts inMilwaukee, Wisconsin .
* The Humanities Building at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison , widely considered one the Midwest's best examples of brutalist architecture but slated for demolition soon.
* TheChazen Museum of Art at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison , formerly known as the Elvehjem Museum of Art.
* Mercantile Bank,Kansas City, Missouri .
* WestinCrown Center Hotel,Kansas City, Missouri .
* The former U.S. Embassy to Ghana in Accra.
* Fulton House at 345 N. Canal Street in Chicago. Converted 19th century 16-story cold-storage warehouse building to condominium building.
* River Cottages at 357-365 N. Canal Street in Chicago. Sloped, structurally expressive facade responds to the angle and cross bracing of the railroad bridge directly across the river.
* William J. Campbell United States Courthouse Annex in downtown Chicago (formerly known as theMetropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago .) Brutalist jail which has no window bars, instead each cell is provided with a vertical slot window. These tall narrow window openings work with the triangular footprint of the building, making the building reminiscent of a slender I.B.M computer card from the 1950s and 60's.
* Middletown City Building,Middletown, Ohio .
* Sterling Morton Library, TheMorton Arboretum .
* O'Brian Hall at theState University of New York at Buffalo Weese also led numerous restoration projects including:
*Louis Sullivan 'sAuditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois 1967.
*Field Museum of Natural History , Chicago, Illinois
* Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois
* Union Station,Washington, DC References
External links
* [http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/caohp/weeseh.html Oral history interview with Harry Weese]
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