Harold Craig Severance (July 1, 1879 – September 2, 1941) was an American architect who designed a number of well-known buildings in New York City, including the Coca-Cola Building,
Nelson Tower and most prominently,
40 Wall Street
40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau Street (Manhattan), Nassau and William Street (Manhattan), William streets in the Financial District, Manh ...
.
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Biography
He was born on July 1, 1879, to George Craig Severance and Emma Alida Gilbert. He married Faith Griswold Thompson.
In his early career, Severance worked for Carrere and Hastings and later, in partnership with William Van Alen
William Van Alen (August 10, 1883 – May 24, 1954) was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing New York City's Chrysler Building (1928–30).
Life
William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1883 to ...
.[ The partnership ended on unfriendly terms, and in the late 1920s, the two found themselves in competition to build the world's tallest building, with Severance's 40 Wall Street and Van Alen's ]Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
. Although the Chrysler Building claimed victory with its spire at 1,046 feet, Severance protested that his building had the highest usable space. The issue became moot when the Empire State Building was completed less than a year later.
He died on September 2, 1941.
Other well-known designs
* 50 Broadway, New York City
*400 Madison Avenue
400 Madison Avenue is a 22-story office building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is along Madison Avenue's western sidewalk between 47th and 48th Streets, near Grand Central Terminal. 400 Madison Avenue was designed by H. Craig Sever ...
, New York City
* Bank of the U.S., New York City
* Montague-Court Building, New York City
* Taft Hotel, New York City
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Severance, H. Craig
1879 births
1941 deaths
20th-century American architects
Architects from New York (state)
People from Clinton County, New York