Wallace K. Harrison, FAIA

Year Awarded: 1967
Born: September 28, 1895; Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 1981; New York City


Projects
• 1978: Empire State Plaza: The Egg Performance Theater, Albany, N.Y.
• 1973: Empire State Plaza: Agency Towers & Erastus Corning Tower, Albany, N.Y.
• 1965: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City
• 1964: New York Hall of Science, 1964 New York World's Fair
• 1962: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City
• 1960: Time-Life Building, New York City
• 1956: Socony Mobil Building, New York City
• 1953: Alcoa Building, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• 1952: United Nations Headquarters Complex, New York City
• 1940: Rockefeller Center, New York City
• 1939: Perisphere and Trylon, New York World's Fair


Biography
Wallace Harrison studied architecture first at Columbia University with Harvey Corbett for a year and then spent a couple of years in Europe on a traveling scholarship. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the atelier of Gustave Umbdenstock. He returned to New York and worked for Bertram Goodhue briefly, then joined Helmle and Corbett, becoming a partner in 1927. The firm later became Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray and collaborated with three other firms to design and construct the Rockefeller Center.

Joining with André Fouilhoux and Max Abramovitz, Harrison was senior partner in Harrison, Fouilhoux, & Abramovitz (later Harrison & Abramovitz) from 1941 until 1976.

For the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, Harrison and Fouilhoux designed the Trylon and Perisphere, representing the fair’s World of Tomorrow theme. The Trylon was a triangular tower measuring 610 feet high and the Perisphere was a globe measuring 180 feet in diameter. These buildings became the symbols of that year’s World Fair.

An architect and urban planner recognized for his strong organizational skills, Harrison designed and coordinated large-scale corporate complexes that reflected his straightforward approach to planning and functional design. He also designed creative residences, expressing more of an artistic flair in this venue.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Harrison coordinated the collaborative effort to design and build the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City. This international collaboration included such architects as Sven Markelius, Le Corbusier, and Oscar Niemeyer.