Former type Private company Headquarters New York City Defunct 1976 | Industry Architecture Founded 1941 | |
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Founders Max Abramovitz, Wallace Harrison | ||
Harrison & Abramovitz (also known as Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz, Harrison, Abramovitz, & Abbe, and Harrison, Abramovitz, & Harris) was an American architectural firm based in New York and active from 1941 through 1976, a partnership of Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz.
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History
The firm, founded in 1941 by Wallace Harrison (1895–1981), J. André Fouilhoux (1879–1945), Max Abramovitz (1908–2004), was best known for modernist corporate towers on the East coast and Midwestern cities. Most are straightforward. One notable stylistic innovation was the use of stamped metal panels on the facade, first at the 1953 Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, and repeated at the 1953 Republic Center Tower I in Dallas and the 1956 former Socony-Mobil Building at 150 East 42nd Street in New York City.
Both Harrison and Abramovitz were design architects and worked independently. Some projects are clearly attributable to one or the other: for instance the buildings at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Abramovitz's alma mater, are his designs. Harrison's work at the Empire State Plaza "commanded his attention almost exclusively" for 15 years, from 1962 through 1976, which implies the other work of the partnership in that period is primarily attributable to Abramovitz. After 1976 Abramovitz partnered with others.
Also known by
The firm was also known as Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz (1941 through Fouilhoux's death in 1945), Harrison, Abramovitz, & Abbe, and Harrison, Abramovitz, & Harris.
Works
The firm's credits include: