Bertrand Goldberg (July 17, 1913 – October 8, 1997) was an American architect and industrial designer, best known for the
Marina City
Marina City is a mixed-use residential-commercial building complex in Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America, designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg. The multi-building complex opened between 1963 and 1967 and occupies almost an entir ...
complex in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of completion.
Life and career
Goldberg was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, and trained at the Cambridge School of Landscape Architecture (now part of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
). At age eighteen, in 1932, he went to Germany to study at the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
, working in the small office of architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
. Following civil unrest in Berlin, Goldberg fled to Paris in 1933 and soon returned to Chicago, where he first worked for modernist architects
Keck and Keck,
Paul Schweikher
Robert Paul Schweikher (1903–1997) was a mid-century modern architect from Denver, Colorado.
Biography
Paul Schweikher was born in Denver, Colorado in 1903 to a family of musicians. He originally trained at the University of Colorado for a ...
, and
Howard T. Fisher. Goldberg opened his own architectural office in Chicago in 1937.
Goldberg was known for innovative structural solutions to complex problems, particularly for residential, institutional, and industrial design projects. One of Goldberg's first commissions, in 1938, was for the North Pole chain of ice cream shops. His ingenious design allowed the small shops to be disassembled, transported, and reassembled with little effort. Its flat roof was supported by tension wires from a single, illuminated column rising up through the shop's center; glass windows and a door formed a box below the roof.
During his career, Goldberg designed a rear-engine automobile, canvas houses, unique furniture, prefabricated houses, and mobile vaccine laboratories for the United States government. He collaborated on some projects with his friend and fellow 'design scientist'
R. Buckminster Fuller, as well as other modernists. Goldberg's experimental plywood boxcars, demountable housing units for military use during and after World War II, led him to seek unconventional forms through mundane materials such as plywood and concrete. In the late 1930s, Goldberg was present at the famous meeting of
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
and
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
at
Taliesin
Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the '' Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts ...
. He also was friends with
Josef Albers
Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...
, who taught him at the Bauhaus.
In 1946, he married Nancy Florsheim, granddaughter of
Milton S. Florsheim; they had two daughters, Lisa (born 1950) and Nan (born 1952), and one son, Geoffrey (born 1955).
Marina City
Perhaps his best-known commission,
Marina City
Marina City is a mixed-use residential-commercial building complex in Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America, designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg. The multi-building complex opened between 1963 and 1967 and occupies almost an entir ...
in Chicago (1961–1964), incorporated many different functions into a mixed use complex of five buildings. The two sixty-story towers are on the river's edge, and are well known Chicago features, with striking multi-lobed columnar forms often described as "corn cobs". In addition to the towers, comprising apartments and parking, there was a complex pattern of activities that were incorporated into the original design, including an office building, theater, public pedestrian plaza, an active rail line, a marina, an ice skating rink, and a bowling alley. Much of the complex has evolved and changed over time, and the pattern of activities has shifted significantly, but with only minor changes to Goldberg's design. The office building is now a hotel, and the theater is now the Chicago
House of Blues
House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at ...
. The rail line has since been abandoned, and the skating rink has been covered by a later addition housing a steakhouse.
After the success of Marina City, Goldberg undertook many more large commissions for hospitals with similar structural features, such as the now demolished
Prentice Women's Hospital
Prentice Women's Hospital is an acute care women's hospital located adjacent to both Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial and the Lurie Children's Hospital, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Prentice Women's Hospital is a membe ...
for
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
,
science and medical complexes for
SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
, and the
Good Samaritan Hospital
Good Samaritan Hospital or Good Samaritan Medical Center may refer to:
India
*Good Samaritan Hospital (Panamattom), Koprakalam, Panamattom, Kerala
*Good Samaritan Centre, Mutholath Nagar, Cherpunkal, Kottyam, Kerala
United States
*Banner - Univer ...
in Phoenix, Arizona. Other work includes schools and other public institutional buildings such as
River City
''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera that was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland on 24 September 2002. ''River City'' follows the lives of the people who live and work in the fictional district of Shieldinch. In November 2017, a s ...
and the
Hilliard Homes
Hilliard Towers Apartments, formerly known as the Raymond Hilliard Homes CHA housing project, is a residential high-rise development in the near South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by Bertrand Goldberg and is bounded by Clark Street ...
public housing complex, both in Chicago.
After Marina City, Goldberg moved his work to focus on larger scale social, planning, and engineering issues, and proposed many progressive urban projects. Goldberg also wrote extensively on urban issues and other historical and cultural issues.
The Bertrand Goldberg Archive is held by the
Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
. The archive includes photographs, drawings, correspondence, and audiovisual materials.
Work
![SUNY Medical Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/SUNY_Medical_Center.jpg)
Goldberg's work includes:
*Harriet Higginson house in Wooddale, Illinois
* Dr. Aaron Heimbach House,
Blue Island, Illinois
Blue Island is a city in Cook County, Illinois, located approximately south of Chicago's Loop. Blue Island is adjacent to the city of Chicago and shares its northern boundary with that city's Morgan Park neighborhood. The population was 22,558 ...
, 1939
*
John M. van Beuren House,
(with mural by
T. Lux Feininger
Theodore Lukas (alias T. Lux) Feininger (June 11, 1910 Berlin, Germany – July 7, 2011 Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a German-American painter, avant-garde photographer, author, and art teacher who was born in Berlin to , née Lilienfeld, and Ly ...
), 1955
* Levin House,
Flossmoor, Illinois
Flossmoor () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,704 at the 2020 census. Flossmoor is approximately 25 miles south of the Chicago Loop.
Geography
Flossmoor is located at (41.541684, -87.684970).
According ...
, 1956
* Pineda Island Resort,
Spanish Fort, Alabama
Spanish Fort is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. The 2020 census lists the population of the city as 10,049. It is a suburb of Mobile and is part of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metro ...
, 1959
* Astor Tower Hotel, Chicago, 1963
*
West Palm Beach Christian Convention Center
West Palm Beach Christian Convention Center (originally known as West Palm Beach Auditorium) is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the intersection of North Congress Avenue and Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. It was buil ...
,
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...
, 1965
*
Hilliard Towers Apartments, Chicago, 1966
*
Elgin Mental Health Center
The Elgin Mental Health Center (formerly Elgin State Hospital & the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane) is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Throughout its history, Elgin's mission has ...
,
Elgin, Illinois
Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...
, 1967
*
St. Joseph Medical Center,
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
, 1969
*
Prentice Women's Hospital Building
Prentice Women's Hospital is an acute care women's hospital located adjacent to both Northwestern Memorial and the Lurie Children's Hospital, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Prentice Women's Hospital is a member of Northwestern Medicine and ...
, Chicago, 1975 (demolished 2013)
*
Stony Brook University Hospital,
Stony Brook, New York
Stony Brook is a political subdivisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the No ...
, 1976-1980
* Good Samaritan Hospital (now
Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix
Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix (BUMCP) formerly Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, or "Good Sam," is a 746-bed non-profit, acute care teaching hospital located in Phoenix, Arizona, providing tertiary care and healthcare services to ...
), Phoenix, Arizona, 1982
*
Providence Hospital Providence Hospital may refer to:
*Providence Hospital (Columbia, South Carolina)
*Providence Hospital (Mobile) in Mobile, Alabama
*Providence Hospital (Southfield), Michigan
*Providence Hospital (Washington, D.C.) in Washington, D.C.
*Providence Al ...
,
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, 1987
* master plan and buildings for the campus of
Wilbur Wright College
Wilbur Wright College, formerly known as Wright Junior College, is a public community college in Chicago. Part of the City Colleges of Chicago system, it offers two-year associate's degrees, as well as occupational training in IT, manufacturing, ...
, Chicago, 1993
References
;Bibliography
* Jay Pridmore, George A. Larson, ''Chicago Architecture and Design : Revised and expanded'', Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2005. .
;Notes
External links
* Forgotten Chicago series o
Bertrand Goldberg Website on Bertrand Goldberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Bertrand
1913 births
1997 deaths
Artists from Chicago
20th-century American architects
Jewish American artists
Jewish architects
Bauhaus alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
Illinois Institute of Technology alumni
Florsheim family