Culturebox: Tall Buildings, Short Architects

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architecture Tall Buildings, Short Architects Why are so many great architects short of stature? By Witold Rybczynski Posted Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010, at 10:41 AM ET The late San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic Allan Temko used to tell a story about Louis Kahn. In the early 1960s, Kahn was visiting the city, and one evening, after a party in Berkeley, Temko suggested they go and see Bernard Maybeck's First Church of Christ, Scientist, one of the great buildings of the Bay Area. When they arrived at the church, Kahn, running his hands over the entrance portico's smooth concrete columns, which were shining in the moonlight, said, "He was a small man too, wasn't he, Allan?" I don't know how tall Maybeck was, but Kahn was 5 feet 61/2 inches, according to his passport (which is in the University of Pennsylvania archive), and he was obviously sensitive about his stature, judging from his comment. But he was in good company; many famous architects have been short. Julia Morgan, another celebrated Bay Area architect, was only 5 feet tall. Raymond Hood, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Ralph Walker dominated New York high-rise architecture in the 1920s--Hood designed 30 Rock, Kahn was responsible for the wonderful 2 Park Avenue, and Walker produced the Art Deco tower at 1 Wall Street. They were so short they were popularly known as the "Three Little Napoleons of Architecture." (Napoleon was 5 feet 61/2 inches.) Contemporary architects as different as I.M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stern, and Daniel Libeskind (5 feet 4 inches) are small men, too. Norman Foster and Frank Gehry are giants on the contemporary architectural scene, but they are not particularly imposing in stature; Gehry is always the shortest figure in group photos. Frank Lloyd Wright claimed to be 5 feet 8 inches, although he was not always a reliable witness and his houses are notorious for their extremely low ceilings. To continue reading, click here. Witold Rybczynski is Slate's architecture critic. His latest book is Makeshift Metropolis: Ideas About Cities. Visit his Web site. Follow him on Twitter. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The RNC Welcomes Its New Tea Party Overlords The Failure To Extend Unemployment Benefits Will Be Economically Catastrophic My Voyage Through Pirate-Infested Waters on a Container Ship	Advertisement
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