Julian Clarence Levi (December 8, 1874 – August 23, 1971) was an American architect, watercolor painter, and philanthropist.

Biography

Levi was born on December 8, 1874, on West 51st Street in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

. His father, Albert Augustus Levi, was an investment banker originally from Germany and was one of the trustees of the

Society for Ethical Culture A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

upon its founding in 1877. The elder Levi was also a brother-in-law of the Seligman brothers who founded J. & W. Seligman & Co. Levi helped found the San Francisco branch of the family business, J. Seligman & Co. Two of his aunts married into the Seligman family and his uncles-in-law included prominent investment bankers Isaac Seligman and

Joseph Seligman Joseph Seligman (November 22, 1819 – April 25, 1880) was an American banker and businessman who founded J. & W. Seligman & Co. He was the patriarch of what became known as the Seligman family in the United States and related to the wealthy Gug ...

. He attended Columbia College, graduating in 1896, and attended the

Columbia School of Architecture The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is also home to the Masters of Science program in Advanced Architectur ...

for two years before moving to Paris to study at the

Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

. He joined the practice of

Francis H. Kimball Francis Hatch Kimball (September 24, 1845 – December 20, 1919) was an American architect practicing in New York City, best known for his work on skyscrapers in lower Manhattan and terra-cotta ornamentation. He was an associate with the firm Ki ...

upon finishing his studies and designed the J. & W. Seligman & Company Building with Kimball. He subsequently co-founded the architecture practice Taylor & Levi with Alfredo S. G. Taylor and designed commercial buildings and residences. He was a partner in the firm from 1907 to 1962. In 1929, he helped design a plan for

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He founded the Architects Emergency Committee in 1930 whose purpose was to provide work for architects throughout the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1937, he co-designed the U.S. Pavilion at the

Paris International Exhibition of 1937 The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mus� ...

and the Romanian House at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. He also served as a president of the

Architectural League of New York The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construct ...

and was a long-time associate with the

American Institute of Architecture The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

. For his work in restoring the

Chartres Cathedral Chartres Cathedral (, lit. Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres) is a Catholic cathedral in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the List of bishops of Chartres, Bishop of Chartres. Dedicated in honour of the Virgin Mary ( ...

, Levi was made a

Commander of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1951 by the

French government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

. Levi was also a watercolorist who painted seascapes, landscapes and still lifes, with some being added to the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

as well as Cooper Hewitt. He was called a

Renaissance man A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

in his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' obituary.

Personal life

Levi was married to Alice Fries Levi, who died in 1961. He died on August 23, 1971. At the time of his death, he was the oldest Columbia alumnus alive. The couple left behind no children. Levi was a resident in the

Osborne Apartments The Osborne, also known as the Osborne Apartments or 205 West 57th Street, is an apartment building at Seventh Avenue and 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The original portion of the Osborne ...

and his apartment was called by the ''

'' a "proper setting for a

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Edith Wharton Edith Newbold Wharton (; ; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gil ...

novel" that contained a vast collection of artwork, ranging from Renaissance art to Persian rugs.

Legacy

In 1966, he gave $150,000 to Columbia for the purchase of the Laura Boulton collection of traditional and liturgical music, the most comprehensive collection of ethnic music recordings in the world, which formed the basis of the Center for Ethnomusicology at Columbia. He bequeathed US$5 million to Columbia upon his death, one of the largest gifts in the university's history. He endowed a number of professorships and helped the university reduce its operating deficit that were incurred due to the

Columbia University protests of 1968 In 1968, a series of protests at Columbia University in New York City were one among the various student demonstrations that Protests of 1968, occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year aft ...

. He also donated his art collections to the Met, Cooper Hewitt, and the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Julian Clarence 1874 births 1971 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni École des Beaux-Arts alumni 20th-century American architects 20th-century American philanthropists American watercolorists People from Manhattan American art collectors Jewish art collectors Jews from New York (state)