Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, founded as Shreve & Lamb, was an architectural firm best known for designing the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

, the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1931. The firm was prominent in the proliferation of Art Deco architecture in New York City.

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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, and William F. Lamb, from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Shreve was the administrator, while Lamb was the architect. The two met while working at Carrère & Hastings, 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

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, Illinois, 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 Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

(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 is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and the Shelton Hotel in New York, U.S. For the construction of the Empire State Building, the firm's most notable work and a symbol of the American expression of the Art Deco style, 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's 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 complex, Minoru Yamasaki, 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.
The archives
of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon are kept at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Notable buildings

All buildings are located in

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unless otherwise indicated: * Reynolds Building, Winston-Salem, 1929 * 521 Fifth Avenue (also known as the ''Lefcourt National Building''), 1929 * 40 Wall Street (as consulting architect; with H. Craig Severance and Yasuo Matsui), 1930 * 740 Park Avenue (with Rosario Candela), 1930 * 3 East 57th Street, 1930 * 500_Fifth_Avenue_Panorama

500 Fifth Avenue, 1931 *

, 1930–1931 * 14 Wall Street (formerly the ''Bankers Trust Company Building'') addition, 1931–1932 * 99 John Street (also known as '99 John Deco Lofts'), 1932 * Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse (with R. H. Hunt),

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, 1932 * 99 John Deco Lofts (formerly ''The Great American Insurance Company Building''), 1933 * Jerusalem International YMCA (architect Arthur Loomis Harmon),

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, 1933 * Acacia Building, Washington, D.C., 1936 * Hill Building (formerly the ''SunTrust Tower'', ''CCB Building'' or ''Central Carolina Bank'', and ''Durham Bank and Trust Building''), Durham, North Carolina, 1935–1937 * 100 Ardsley Avenue West (Hudson House), Irvington, NY 1936 * Lever Brothers Co. Headquarters (now MIT Sloan School, Building E52),

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, 1938 *

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, 1940 * Parkchester 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, 1960 * United Engineering Center (demolished in 1998), 1961 * 280 Park Avenue (formerly the ''Bankers Trust Building'', with Emery Roth & Sons), 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, Allen Park,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, 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 Megalith, megalithic structure 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, to ...

, North Bergen, New Jersey, 1968 * 475 Park Avenue South, 1969 * Gouverneur Hospital, 1970 * Textron Tower (formerly the ''40 Westminster Building'' and ''Old Stone Tower''), Providence,

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, 1972 * 55 Church Street,

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, 1974 * Deutsche Bank Building (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