Harrison & Abramovitz Facts for Kids

Harrison & Abramovitz
Former type	Private company
Industry	Architecture
Founded	1941
Founder	Wallace Harrison J. André Fouilhoux Max Abramovitz
Defunct	1976
Headquarters	New York, New York

Harrison & Abramovitz was a famous American architecture company. They designed many buildings in New York and other cities. The company was active from 1941 to 1976. It was started by two main architects, Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz.

Building Big Ideas: Harrison & Abramovitz
- Working Together and Apart
- Other Names for the Company
Amazing Buildings They Designed
Images for kids

Building Big Ideas: Harrison & Abramovitz

This architecture company was founded in 1941. The founders were Wallace Harrison (born 1895, died 1981), J. André Fouilhoux (born 1879, died 1945), and Max Abramovitz (born 1908, died 2004). They became well-known for designing modern corporate towers. These tall, sleek buildings were mostly found on the East Coast and in Midwestern cities.

One cool design idea they used was special metal panels. These panels were stamped with patterns. They first used them on the Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh in 1953. Later, they used them on the Republic Center Tower I in Dallas (1953). You can also see them on the former Socony–Mobil Building in New York City (1956).

Their first really big project was the United Nations headquarters in New York City. They worked on it from 1947 to 1952.

Working Together and Apart

Both Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz were talented designers. They often worked on projects independently. For example, the buildings at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign were designed by Abramovitz. This was his old university.

Harrison spent about 15 years, from 1962 to 1976, working mostly on the Empire State Plaza. This means that many of the other projects during that time were likely designed by Abramovitz. After 1976, Abramovitz started working with other partners.

Other Names for the Company

The company had a few different names over the years:

From 1941 until Fouilhoux passed away in 1945, it was called Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz.
Later, it was known as Harrison, Abramovitz, & Abbe.
Finally, it was called Harrison, Abramovitz, & Harris.

Amazing Buildings They Designed

Harrison & Abramovitz created many important buildings. Here are some of their famous works:

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York (1951)
525 William Penn Place, Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1951)
Regional Enterprise Tower, originally the Alcoa Building, Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1953)
Republic Center Tower I, Dallas, Texas (1953)
Embassy of the United States, Havana, Havana, Cuba (1953)
Socony–Mobil Building, 150 East 42nd Street, NYC (1956)
Commercial Credit Company Building, Baltimore (1957)
129 West Trade, Charlotte, North Carolina (1958)
Several projects for Brandeis University, including the general Master Plan (1950s), Three Chapels (1955), Slosberg Music Center (1957), Pearlman Hall (1957), Goldfarb Library (1959), Wien Faculty Center (1959), Rose Art Museum (1961), Rapaporte Treasure Hall (1965), Spingold Theater (1965), and Sachar International Center
Chase Tower, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1961)
Springs Mills Building (Charles H. Abbe, chief designer), 104 West 40th Street, New York (1961–63)
Jerome L. Greene Hall, Columbia Law School, New York City (1961)
United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library Building, New York (1961)
Continental Can Building, New York City (1961)
General site planning and Plaza for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York (1961–1966)
David Geffen Hall (Formerly Avery Fisher Hall, and opened as Philharmonic Hall) at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York (1962)
Assembly Hall, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (1963)
Erieview Tower, Cleveland, Ohio (1964)
New York Hall of Science, Flushing, New York (1964)
Columbus Center, Columbus, Ohio (1964)
Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York (1966)
Main Place Tower, Buffalo, New York (1969)
PNC Center, Akron, Ohio (1969)
Fifth Third Center, Cincinnati, Ohio (1969)
Fiberglas Tower, Toledo, Ohio (1970)
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York City (1970)
U.S. Steel Tower, originally the USX Tower, the tallest building in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1970)
11 Stanwix Street, originally the Westinghouse Tower, Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1970)
CIA Original Headquarters Building, Langley, Virginia (1961)
National City Tower, Louisville, Kentucky (1972)
Borden Building, Columbus, Ohio (1973)
Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh (1974)