Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects. De la warr front view

Early life

He was born into a wealthy Jewish family in

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(today in the

Chechen Republic Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

in the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

), but moved to England at an early age where he received his education at Peterborough Lodge Preparatory School (1910-1913), the

Royal Drawing Society The Royal Drawing Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1888 in London, with the aim of teaching drawing for educational reasons. The methods of instruction were based on the idea that very young children attempt to draw before the ...

School (1910–1913) and

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

(1914–1917).

Continuing education and early career

From 1922 to 1925, he received training at various schools in Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. During this period, he supported himself as a journalist for the

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

(1918–23) before becoming chief designer (1924–27) at E. Williams, a decorating firm. In 1928, he became a British citizen. That year, he and the French designer

Paul Follot Paul Follot (17 July 1877 – 1941) was a French designer of luxury furniture and decorative art objects before World War I. He was one of the leaders of the Art Deco movement, and had huge influence in France and elsewhere.After the war he became ...

were placed in charge of the decorative arts department of

Waring & Gillow Waring & Gillow (also written as Waring and Gillow) was a noted firm of English furniture manufacturers and antique dealers formed in 1897 by the merger of Gillows of Lancaster and London and Waring of Liverpool. Background Gillow & Co. The fir ...

Early career as an architect

After practicing architecture for three years, he and the German architect Erich Mendelsohn briefly partnered in 1933 to form their own architectural firm. They created important works in the British

modernist movement Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

, notably the

De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and S ...

in Bexhill, East Sussex,

Cohen House, London Cohen House is a private house on Old Church Street in Chelsea, London. It was designed and built in 1935–1936 by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff for the Cohen family. It adjoins the house at 66 Old Church Street buil ...

, and Shrubs Wood (formerly Nimmo House) in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire. He was also responsible for Shann House in Rugby, Warwickshire, and Gilbey House, an office and factory complex in Camden for gin distillers Gilbey's. These are all now

Listed Buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, being designated Grade I (De La Warr), Grade II* (Cohen House, Shann House, and Shrubs Wood) and Grade II (Gilbey House) respectively. Both Mendelsohn and Chermayeff were members of the

MARS Group The Modern Architectural Research Group, or MARS Group, was a British architectural think tank founded in 1933 by several prominent architects and architectural critics of the time involved in the British modernist movement. The MARS Group came afte ...

. He also designed Bentley Wood, a Modernist house in a rural location in the

Low Weald Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...

in Sussex, completed in 1938. During the 1930s, Chermayeff designed a

bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...

radio cabinets for the British company

EKCO EKCO (from Eric Kirkham Cole Limited) was a British electronics company producing radio and television sets from 1924 until 1960. Expanding into plastic production for its own use, Ekco Plastics produced both radio cases and later domestic plasti ...

Architect in the U.S.

In 1940, Chermayeff emigrated to the United States where he joined Clarence W. W. Mayhew as associate architect, helping Mayhew design his own residence. Chermayeff taught in 1940 and 1941 at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximatel ...

before moving to

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, where he served as chair of the department of design until 1946. From 1941 until his death, he maintained his principal residence on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer. A t ...

. In 1946, he was recommended by

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

to become the president of the Institute of Design in Chicago; there, he was a close friend and mentor to

Robert Brownjohn Robert Brownjohn (August 8, 1925 – August 1, 1970) was an American graphic designer known for blending formal graphic design concepts with wit and 1960s pop culture. He is best known for his motion picture title sequences, especially '' From R ...

. Beginning in 1949, he oversaw the Institute's merger with the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

before ultimately stepping down in 1951. After teaching at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

for a year, he served as a professor and chair of the architecture department at the

Harvard University 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 ...

(1953-1962) and the Yale University School of Architecture (1962-1971). Following his retirement, he briefly taught at Harvard again in 1974.

Books and awards

He wrote several books, including ''Community and Privacy'' with

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature o ...

in 1964 and ''The Shape of Community'' with

Alexander Tzonis Alexander Tzonis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Τζώνης; born November 8, 1937) is a Greek-born architect, author, and researcher. He has made contributions to architectural theory, history and design cognition, bringing together scientific an ...

in 1971. He died in 1996 in Wellfleet. Chermayeff's architectural drawings, project records, photographs, correspondence, teaching and writing papers, and research files are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at

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 ...

. In 1980 he was awarded the

Sir Misha Black Sir Misha Black (16 October 1910 – 11 October 1977) was a British-Azerbaijani architect and designer. In 1933 he founded with associates in London the organisation that became the Artists' International Association. In 1943, with Milner Gray ...

award and was added to the

College of Medallists The College of Medallists is an association of recipients of The Sir Misha Black Awards, The Sir Misha Black Medal for Distinguished Services in Design Education. Misha Black (1910–1977) was a pioneer of design in United Kingdom, Britain. The ...

Descendants

His son Ivan Chermayeff was a prominent graphic designer and a founding partner of New York-based design studio

Chermayeff & Geismar Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (formerly Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar and Chermayeff & Geismar) is a New York-based branding and graphic design firm. It is currently led by partners Tom Geismar and Sagi Haviv. About It was founded in 1957 ...

. Another son Peter Chermayeff is a prominent architect best known for his design of aquariums, with colleagues, while a founding partner at Cambridge Seven Associates, from 1962 to 1998, at Chermayeff, Sollogub and Poole, 1998–2005, at Chermayeff & Poole, 2005–2009 and currently at Peter Chermayeff LLC. His grandson Sam Chermayeff is an architect and furniture designer in Berlin.

References

External links

Chicago Architects Oral History Project, The Art Institute of Chicago. Serge Chermayeff oral historySerge Chermayeff architectural records and papers, 1909–1980
* ttps://archive.today/20130114025238/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/4814961/Master-builders-Serge-Chermayeff-1900---1996.html Master builders: Serge Chermayeff (1900–1996)* Serge Chermayeff Papers. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chermayeff, Serge 1900 births 1996 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Modernist architects People from Grozny People educated at Harrow School People educated at Downsend School Illinois Institute of Technology faculty Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty Yale University faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States 20th-century British architects Brooklyn College faculty