Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. He was a
principal at
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects
Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects LLC (formerly Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects) is a New York City-based architectural firm founded in 1967 by architects Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel.
The firm's work ranges from art ...
, as well as one of the five architects identified as
The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps best known for the 1992 renovation 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 ...
's
Guggenheim Museum in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Born in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...
, he was the son of the American painter
Robert Gwathmey and photographer
Rosalie Gwathmey
Rosalie Gwathmey (nee Hook, September 15, 1908 – February 12, 2001) was an American painter and photographer known for her photos of black southern communities around her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Life and work
Gwathmey was born i ...
. He attended the
High School of Music and Art in New York City, graduating in 1956. Charles Gwathmey attended the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
and received his
Master of Architecture degree in 1962 from
Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
,
where he won both the William Wirt Winchester Fellowship as the outstanding graduate and a
Fulbright Grant. While at Yale, he studied under
Paul Rudolph.
[Charles Gwathmey FAIA (1938-2009)](_blank)
/ref>
Gwathmey served as president of the board of trustees for The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies
The Institute for Architecture & Urban Studies is a non-profit architecture studio and think tank located in Manhattan, New York, United States.
IAUS (1967–1984)
The Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies was founded in 1967 as a non-pr ...
and was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...
in 1981.
Career
In 1965, while not yet a licensed architect, he designed a house and studio for his parents in Amagansett, New York, that became famous and revolutionized beach house design. When he did take the professional licensing exam, he was surprised to see a multiple-choice question on the test that asked "Which of these is the organic house?" The choices included the house he designed for his parents. He wanted to answer that the organic house was his, but in order to pass the exam he chose 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 ...
's Fallingwater
Fallingwater is a house designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in the Laurel Highlands of southwest Pennsylvania, about southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. It is built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill ...
House. He knew that was the answer they wanted. He passed. By 1977, Gwathmey had designed 21 houses and renovations while still under 40 years old and ten years of practice. From 1965 through 1991, Gwathmey taught at Pratt Institute, Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique ...
for the Advancement of Science and Art, Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
, the University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, and the University of California at Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. He was Davenport Professor (1983 and 1999) and Bishop Professor (1991) at Yale, and the Eliot Noyes Visiting Professor at 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 highe ...
(1985). Gwathmey was the Spring 2005 William A. Bernoudy Resident in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome
Gwathmey's firm designed the Museum Of Contemporary Art of North Miami, Florida in 1995, and the Astor Place Tower, a 21-story condominium project in Manhattan's East Village, in 2005. In 2011 the Ron Brown Building would serve as the new home of the United States Mission to the United Nations for which he was the lead architect. The building was dedicated to him. In her remarks, Ambassador Susan Rice
Susan Elizabeth Rice (born November 17, 1964) is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official serving as Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 27th U.S ...
thanked Gwathmey posthumously.
Personal life
His first marriage to Emily Margolin, a writer, ended in divorce. He had one child from that marriage, Annie Gwathmey. In 1974 Gwathmey married Bette-Ann Damson.
Gwathmey died of esophageal cancer on August 3, 2009, one day before the opening of Bay Lake Tower, one of his projects. He was 71. His wife donated his archives to Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
in 2010.[Glancey, Jonathan, and Richard Bryant. The New Moderns. New York: Crown, 1990. Print.]
Awards and honors
Gwathmey was the recipient of the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970, and in 1976 he was elected to the academy. In 1983, he won the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...
and in 1985, he received the first Yale Alumni Arts Award from the Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
. In 1988 the Guild Hall Academy of Arts awarded Gwathmey its Lifetime Achievement Medal in Visual Arts, followed in 1990 by a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Society of Architects. Gwathmey was the only architect named in the Leadership in America issue of ''Time'' magazine.[Breslow, Kay, and Paul Breslow. Charles Gwathmey & Robert Siegel: Residential Works, 1966-1977. New York: Architectural Book Pub., 1977. Print.]
Completed projects
References
;Notes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwathmey, Charles
1938 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American architects
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Columbia University faculty
Deaths from esophageal cancer
Harvard University staff
Pratt Institute faculty
Princeton University faculty
UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Yale School of Architecture alumni
Yale University faculty
The High School of Music & Art alumni
University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni
Burials at Green River Cemetery
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters