William Henry Kessler (December 15, 1924 – November 16, 2002) was an American

Modernist 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 ...

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 ...

Biography

Early life and education

William Kessler was born in 1924 in Reading, Pennsylvania. His father, Fred H. Kessler, established the Lumberman's Merchandising Corporation (LMC) as a cooperative lumber company consortium in the mid-1930s. William Kessler attended the

Chicago Institute of Design Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design. History The Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is a school of design ...

, graduating with a BA in architecture in 1948. He continued his studies with

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 ...

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 high ...

Career, family and later life

After graduation, he was recruited by

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 ...

. and came to Michigan to work at Yamasaki's firm. After working there for some time, Kessler and fellow architect Phil Meathe departed to form their own firm, Meathe, Kessler and Associates. In 1959, Kessler designed William and Margot Kessler House for himself, his wife Margot, and his family; he constructed it for a total cost of $30,000. Meathe, Kessler and Associates was dissolved in 1968, and Kessler established his own eponymous firm, while Meathe joined Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, eventually becoming president of the firm. Kessler's firm worked on a variety of single family houses, public housing, college and university buildings, and hospitals. William Kessler died in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, William 1924 births 2002 deaths Illinois Institute of Technology alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni