Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, founded as Shreve & Lamb, was an

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countri ...

, best known for designing the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

, the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1931. NYC_Empire_State_Building

History

The firm was founded in 1920 as Shreve & Lamb, a partnership of Richmond Harold ("R.H.") Shreve, a Canadian from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, and

William F. Lamb William Frederick Lamb (November 21, 1883 – September 8, 1952), was an American architect, chiefly known as one of the principal designers of the Empire State Building. Biography Lamb joined the New York architecture firm Carrère & Has ...

, from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, U.S.—Shreve was the administrator, while Lamb was the designer. The two met while working at

Carrère & Hastings Carrère (; oc, Carrèra) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 546 communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ...

, and Shreve & Lamb was initially a Carrère & Hastings firm. In 1924 the pair decided to leave Carrère & Hastings and became an autonomous architectural company. In 1929, Arthur Loomis Harmon, from

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

, Illinois, U.S., joined Shreve & Lamb, and the firm became Shreve, Lamb & Harmon.Klose, Oliivia
"500 Fifth Avenue Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(December 14, 2010) Prior to joining the firm, Harmon's works included battle monuments at Tours, Cantigny and Somme-Py in France, a YMCA in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and the Shelton Hotel in New York, U.S. For the construction of the Empire State Building, the firm's most notable work, Lamb was responsible for the design, while Shreve's planning skills facilitated the completion of the construction in a year. Shreve's planning skills were recognized in New York and he was involved in projects beyond the firm, such as the

Slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

Committee of New York. Shreve, Lamb & Harmon primary focus was commercial office buildings and their work in this area was described as "spare and functional" in 2010 by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. However, the firm completed numerous residential projects, such as No. 130 East 57th Street, and this facet of the company's work was mainly conducted in neo-Tudor, as well as other popular historical styles of the 1920s. Shreve, Lamb and Harmon had also employed the future architect behind the original

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

complex,

Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward D ...

after he had completed a masters degree in architecture in 1936. Lasting until 1945, this professional relationship was cut short when Yamasaki took a job at Smith, Hinchman &Grylls. It is not entirely clear when the company went out of business, with 1989 being a likely date.

Notable buildings

All buildings are located 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 ...

unless otherwise indicated: *

Reynolds Building The Reynolds Building is a Art Deco skyscraper at 51 E. 4th Street in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina with of space. It was completed in 1929 and has 21 floors. For much of its history the building served as headquarters for R. J. ...

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, 1929 * 521 Fifth Avenue (also known as the ''Lefcourt National Building''), 1929 *

740 Park Avenue 740 Park Avenue is a luxury cooperative apartment building on the west side of Park Avenue between East 71st and 72nd Streets in the Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was described in ''Business Insider'' in 2011 as "a l ...

(with

Rosario Candela Rosario Candela (March 7, 1890 – October 3, 1953) was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the ci ...

), 1930 *

3 East 57th Street 3 East 57th Street, originally the L. P. Hollander Company Building, is a nine-story commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is along the northern side of 57th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue. 3 East 57t ...

, 1930 *

500 Fifth Avenue 500 Fifth Avenue is a 60-story, office building on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in the Art Deco style and constructed from 1929 to ...

, 1931 *

, 1930–1931 *

14 Wall Street Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

(formerly the ''Bankers Trust Company Building'') addition, 1931–1932 *

Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse, commonly referred to as the Solomon Building, is a historic post office and courthouse located at Chattanooga, Tennessee in Hamilton County, Tennessee. The courthouse serves the Un ...

(with

R. H. Hunt Reuben Harrison Hunt (February 2, 1862 – May 28, 1937), also known as R. H. Hunt, was an American architect who spent most of his life in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is considered to have been one of the city's most significant early architect ...

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, 1932 *

99 John Deco Lofts 99 may refer to: * 99 (number), the natural number following 98 and preceding 100 * one of the years 99 BC, AD 99, 1999, 2099, etc. Art, entertainment, and media * ''The 99'', a comic series based on Islamic culture Film, television and radio * ...

(formerly ''The Great American Insurance Company Building''), 1933 *

Jerusalem International YMCA Jerusalem International YMCA is a YMCA branch in Jerusalem established in the early twentieth century. History In 1924, Archibald Clinton Harte, General Secretary of the International YMCA, raised the sum of one million dollars towards the const ...

(architect Arthur Loomis Harmon),

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, 1933 * Acacia Building,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, 1936 * Hill Building (formerly the ''SunTrust Tower'', ''CCB Building'' or ''Central Carolina Bank'', and ''Durham Bank and Trust Building''),

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, North Carolina, 1935–1937 * 100 Ardsley Avenue West (Hudson House), Irvington, NY 1936 *

Lever Brothers Co. Headquarters (now MIT Sloan School, Building E52) A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam (structure), beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '':wikt:fulcrum, fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, l ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, 1938 *

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, 1940 *

Parkchester Parkchester is a planned community and neighborhood originally developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and located in the central Bronx, New York City. The immediate surrounding area also takes its name from the complex. Its boundari ...

buildings, 1939–1942 * Best & Company Building (demolished), 1947 * 1740 Broadway (formerly the ''MONY Building'' or ''Mutual of New York Building''), 1950 * New York Supreme Court, Kings County, 1957 *

Carman Hall Carman Hall is a dormitory located on Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus and currently houses first-year students from Columbia College as well as the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. History The building ...

, 1960 * United Engineering Center (demolished in 1997), 1961 *

280 Park Avenue 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...

(formerly the ''Bankers Trust Building'', with

Emery Roth & Sons Emery Roth ( hu, Róth Imre, July 17, 1871 – August 20, 1948) was an American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-A ...

), 1961 * 222 Broadway (formerly the ''Western Electric Building''), 1961 * Calyon Building (formerly the ''Crédit Lyonnais Building'' and ''J. C. Penney Building''), 1964 *

Uniroyal Giant Tire The Uniroyal Giant Tire was created by the United States Rubber Company for the 1964 New York World's Fair, where it functioned as a Ferris wheel. Since 1966 it has served as a static display in Allen Park, Michigan, alongside Interstate 94, bet ...

Allen Park Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 28,638. Ford Motor Company is an integral part of the community. Many of the company's offices and facilities lie within the city limit ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, 1964 * 245 Park Avenue (formerly the ''Bear Stearns Building'', ''American Brands Building'', and ''American Tobacco Company Building''), 1967 * 1250 Broadway (formerly the ''Cooper-Bregstein Building''), 1967–1968 *

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

North Bergen, New Jersey North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...

, 1968 * 475 Park Avenue South, 1969 *

Gouverneur Hospital Gouverneur Health, formerly Gouverneur Hospital, (pronounced GU-ver-neer) is a municipally owned healthcare facility in New York City affiliated with the New York University School of Medicine. It is located at 227 Madison Street in Lower Manhatt ...

, 1970 *

Textron Tower The Textron Tower, formerly the Old Stone Tower, is a modern skyscraper in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is the world headquarters of Textron. At , the Textron Tower stands as the 5th-tallest building in the city and the state. Architec ...

(formerly the ''40 Westminster Building'' and ''Old Stone Tower''),

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, 1972 * 55 Church Street,

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, 1974 *

Deutsche Bank Building The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the ...

(formerly the Bankers Trust Plaza, now demolished), 1974 * 3 Park Avenue, 1975

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Defunct architecture firms based in New York City Skyscraper architects Design companies established in 1920 1920 establishments in New York City