Edward Larrabee Barnes (April 22, 1915 – September 22, 2004) was an American architect. His work was characterized by the "fusing fModernism with vernacular architecture and understated design." Barnes was best known for his adherence to strict geometry, simple monolithic shapes and attention to material detail. Among his best-known projects are the Haystack School, Christian Theological Seminary, Dallas Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center,

599 Lexington Avenue 599 Lexington Avenue is a 653 ft (199m) tall, 50-story skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes/John MY Lee Architects. It was the first building constructed by Mortimer Zuckerman and his company B ...

, the

Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building (TMFJB) houses offices that support the work of the United States Courts, including the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencin ...

, and the IBM Building at

590 Madison Avenue 590 Madison Avenue, also known as the IBM Building, is a skyscraper at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and Associates the 41-story, -tall tower was dev ...

Early life and education

Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a family he described as "incense-swinging High Episcopalians", consisting of Cecil Barnes, a lawyer, and Margaret Helen Ayer, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for the novel '' Year of Grace''. Barnes graduated from

Harvard 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 l ...

in 1938 after studying English and Art History before switching to architecture, then taught at his alma mater

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

, before returning to Harvard for further studies under

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

and

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...

. He graduated from the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

in 1942 and served in the Navy during World War II. After the war he worked for Henry Dreyfuss in Los Angeles designing prototypes for mass-produced homes.

Career

In 1949 Barnes founded Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates in Manhattan. During his long career, Barnes, with his wife Mary Barnes as interior designer, designed office buildings, museums, botanical gardens, private houses, churches, schools, camps, colleges, campus master plans, and housing. Although best known for the Haystack Mountain College of Arts and other smaller residential homes, the firm also completed a number of master planning urban development projects. The firm's planning projects include: *

Crown Center Crown Center is a shopping center and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri between Gillham Road and Main Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is a ...

* State University of NY at

Purchase Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

(SUNY) * Florida Atlantic University School of Arts and Letters *

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

Housing *

Southwestern Medical Center The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vis ...

, Texas * Stonecrest, San Diego * SUNY Potsdam * Indiana University/Purdue Over the years, he also taught at Harvard University, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Virginia, and served as a member of the Urban Design Council of New York and as vice-president of the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects ...

. In 1969, Barnes was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote th ...

as an Associate member and became a full member in 1974. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1978. In 2007 he was posthumously honored with the American Institute of Architects' highest award, the

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the In ...

. He also received the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture, the Harvard University 350th Anniversary Medal, and some forty other awards. His

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, commonly called "Haystack," is a craft school located at 89 Haystack School Drive on the coast of Deer Isle, Maine. History Haystack was founded in 1950 by a group of craft artists in the Belfast, Maine area, ...

won the AIA

Twenty-five Year Award The Twenty-five Year Award is an architecture prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architect ...

. In 1993 Barnes announced his retirement but he continued to work as a consultant for Lee / Timchula Architects, founded by Barnes' lead partner, John M.Y. Lee, and associate, Michael Timchula. Lee / Timchula inherited various projects that the Barnes' office was awarded. The AIA Board of Directors posthumously awarded the 2007

to Edward Larrabee Barnes, FAIA. Barnes died in 2004 in Cupertino, California. His archives are located at the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University. He is laid to rest on Mt. Desert Island, Maine.

Partners, associates, notable collaborators and architects mentored by Barnes

* Alistair Bevington (Partner) * Joseph Capecci *Dan Casey (Partner) *

Mark Cavagnero Mark Cavagnero, FAIA (born July 7, 1957) is an American architect and the founder of Mark Cavagnero Associates established in 1988. His works include SFJAZZ Center, in San Francisco, California; the "major Expansion" of the Oakland Museum of Cal ...

* Alexander Cooper *Steven Fisher (Associate) *

Charles Gwathmey Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps bes ...

*Percy Keck * John M.Y. Lee (Lead Partner) F.A.I.A * Toshiko Mori * Laurie Olin *

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast '' All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Earl ...

* Gajinder Singh (Associate) *Mary L. Merz and Joseph G. Merz (Merz Architects)

Selected projects list

* Haystack Mountain School of Arts and Crafts Master Plan, Deer Isle, ME, 1962 * Christian Theological Seminary,

Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

, 1966 *

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in t ...

student housing, Bennington, VT 1966 *

Master Plan,

Kansas City, MO Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

1970s *

28 State Street 28 State Street is a modern skyscraper in the Government Center neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1969, it is Boston's 21st-tallest building, standing 500 feet (152 m) tall, and housing 40 floors. It has been known ...

Boston, MA Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, 1969 * Walker Art Center,

Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

, 1971 *

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is an park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. It is located near the Walker Art Center, which operates it in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. It reopened June 10, 2017 a ...

, Minneapolis MN, 1971 *

Smart Museum The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The permanent collection has over 15,000 objects. Admission is free and open to the general public. The Smart Mus ...

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 1974 *

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbu ...

, Pittsburgh, PA, 1974 * Cochrane-Woods Art Center, Chicago, IL, 1974 *Visual Arts Center at

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

, Brunswick, ME, 1975 * Cross Campus Library, Yale University, 1976 (Remodeled in 2007) *

Citigroup Center The Citigroup Center (formerly Citicorp Center and also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue) is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1977 to house the headquarters of Citibank, it is tal ...

, New York City (collaboration), 1977 * Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,

Burlington, VT Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ra ...

, 1977 *

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Ma ...

building, New York City, 1980 * Hyatt Regency Kansas City, 1981 (lobby redesign) *

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) is an accredited academic art museum focused on modern and contemporary art at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. NEHMA was founded in 1982 with the ceramic collection of philanthropist and namesak ...

, Utah State University,

Logan, UT Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

, 1982 *

, New York City, 1983 * Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, 1984 * 121 South Main Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 1984 * Gooch Dillard, University of Virginia,

Charlottesville, VA Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

, 1984 *

Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is an art museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originating in 1958 as the ''Fort Lauderdale Art Center'', the museum is now located in an modernist building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes. The current building ...

Fort Lauderdale, FL Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

1986 *

, New York City, 1986 *

AXA Center Axa Equitable Center (originally the Equitable Tower or Equitable Center West) is an office skyscraper at 787 Seventh Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1986 and design ...

, New York City, 1986 (Equitable Building) *

125 West 55th Street 125 West 55th Street, also known as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, is a 23-story, office building located on 55th Street between the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building a ...

, New York City, 1988 * Hyde Collection,

Glens Falls, NY Glens Falls is a City (New York), city in Warren County, New York, Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls, New York metropolitan area, Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,7 ...

, 1989 (expansion) *

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur ...

, Los Angeles, CA, 1990 * Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN, 1990 *

, Washington, DC, 1992 *

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

Birmingham, AL Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, 1993 (expansion) * IUPUI Campus Master Plan, Indianapolis, IN, 1994 *

, Master Plan 2 1990's

Gallery

File:Boston City Hall 01 (28 State Street).jpg,

, 1969 File:Carnegie Museum of Art Pittsburgh.jpg,

, Sarah Scaife Galleries, 1974 File:Walker Art Center, May 2009.jpg, Walker Art Center, 1971 File:Wichita Art Museum.jpg, Wichita Art Museum, 1977 File:Asia Society (49957992536).jpg,

, 1980 File:121 South Main St and Providence River.jpg, 121 South Main Street, 1984 File:DMA west.jpg, Dallas Museum of Art, 1984 File:Fort Laud FL MoA02.jpg,

, 1986 File:AXA Center from GE Building, cropped.jpg, 787 Seventh Avenue, 1986 File:HammerMuseum01.jpg,

, 1990 File:Knoxville Museum of Art 2019.jpg, Knoxville Museum of Art, 1990 File:UTSW Medical Phases 1,2.jpg, UTSW Medical Center Phases, 1,2 plus overall development plan File:Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building 1 Columbus Circle NE Washington (DC) 2016 (30398337115).jpg,

, 1992 File:Courtyard of the Thurgood Marshall Building.jpg,

, 1992

References

External links

*
Edward Larrabee Barnes at Greatbuildings.com

Emporis.com biography of Barnes
*Edward Larrabee Barn {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Edward Larrabee Modernist architects from the United States 01 1915 births 2004 deaths Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Architects from Illinois Artists from Chicago Architects from New York City Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty Pratt Institute faculty University of Virginia faculty Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American architects Milton Academy alumni Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters