Swanke Hayden Connell Architects was an international architecture, interiors and historic preservation firm with U.S. headquarters 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 ...

History

The firm was founded in New York in 1906 by Alexander Stewart Walker (1876-1952) and Leon N. Gillette (1878-1945). Originally known as

Walker & Gillette Walker & Gillette was an architectural firm based in New York City, the partnership of Alexander Stewart Walker (1876–1952) and Leon Narcisse Gillette (1878–1945), active from 1906 through 1945. Biographies Walker was a native of Jersey C ...

, the firm designed country estates and urban townhouses for some of New York's more affluent families. Through the years, the practice expanded to include corporate interiors for prominent banking and brokerage concerns as well as major architectural commissions such as the

Fuller Building The Fuller Building is a skyscraper at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Walker & Gillette, it was erected between 1928 and 1929. The building is named for its original main occ ...

at 57th Street and Madison Avenue and the First National Bank Building at 57th Street. Following Gillette's death in 1945, A. Stewart Walker merged his practice with the Office of Alfred Easton Poor. The firm practiced under the name of Walker & Poor from 1946 to 1952 with commissions that included Sotheby Parke Bernet Galleries,

Chemical Bank Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

& Co. Inc.,

Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

air bases in France. After Walker's death in 1952, the firm continued the practice as the Office of Alfred Easton Poor until 1971. In 1958, the firm opened a second office in Washington, D.C. During this period, the firm expanded and diversified further into governmental facilities, office buildings, communications centers, and industrial structures throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. In 1972, the firm became known as Poor and Swanke & Partners, in 1975, Poor, Swanke, Hayden & Connell, in 1979, Swanke Hayden Connell & Partners, and in 1981, Swanke Hayden Connell Architects. During this time, the firm expanded its disciplines and became a global practice, opening offices in Miami and London in 1987, Istanbul in 1997, Sheffield 2002, Moscow in 2006, and Shanghai in 2010. In 2000, the firm acquired Taylor Clark Architects, a firm specializing in the healthcare field. In 2002, the Firm acquired George Trew Dunn Architects, another healthcare architecture firm with offices in London and Sheffield, England. Swanke Hayden Connell Europe was acquired by Aukett Associates in 2013. On January 6, 2015 the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to receive over $2 million in fees from a client.

Notable buildings

Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...

, New York, New York, 1983 * Continental Center, 1983 *

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

Restoration,

Liberty Island Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated i ...

, New York, New York, 1986 * 4 Columbus Circle, New York, New York, 1989 *

Americas Tower Americas Tower, also known as 1177 Avenue of the Americas, is a 50- story, 692-foot (211 m) skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at Sixth Avenue and 45th Street. Construction began in 1989 and was expected to be completed in 1991. Thi ...

(1177 Avenue of the Americas), New York, New York, 1991 * FDNY Training Center,

Randall's Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City, Some time after the rail bridge was built, a long, 3 span, steel ar ...

, New York, 2003 *

West Virginia State Capitol The West Virginia State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of West Virginia, and houses the West Virginia Legislature and the office of the Governor of West Virginia. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, the building was ded ...

Dome Restoration, Charleston, West Virginia, 2005 * New York City Office of Emergency Management, Brooklyn, New York, 2006 * Nassau County Public Safety Center, Westbury, New York, 2011 * Eurasia Tower, Moscow * Tower 45, New York, New York, 1989 * Tekfen Tower, Istanbul, 2002

References

External links

* Official website: {{cite web , url=http://www.shca.com/ , website=Swanke Hayden Connell Architects , title=Homepage , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326015331/http://www.shca.com/ , archive-date=March 26, 2015 , access-date=December 10, 2019 Defunct architecture firms based in New York City Preservationist architects Design companies established in 1906 1906 establishments in New York (state)