Shreve, Lamb & Harmon

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon
Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Shreve, Lamb & Harmon
Founded	1929
Founders	Wallace Harrison; Arthur Loomis Harmon; Ralph T. Walker
Headquarters	New York City
Significant projects	Empire State Building, General Electric Building (New York City), 70 Pine Street

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon was an American architectural firm active primarily in New York City during the 20th century, best known for its design of the Empire State Building. The firm operated amid the interwar and postwar eras interacting with clients such as RCA, General Electric, United States Postal Service, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and public authorities like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Its practice intersected with contemporaries and institutions including McKim, Mead & White, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Beyer Blinder Belle, Harvard Graduate School of Design and Columbia University.

History

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon was founded in 1929 in Manhattan at a moment when skyscraper commissions from entities such as Chrysler Corporation, General Motors, Standard Oil and National City Bank reshaped the skyline. Early work reflected the influence of prewar firms like Cass Gilbert and William Van Alen, and the firm's trajectory was affected by events including the Great Depression, World War II, and postwar urban redevelopment associated with figures such as Robert Moses and agencies like the Housing Authority of the City of New York. The firm's partnerships and commissions involved collaborations with engineers and contractors including Davis & Platt, WSP Global, Turner Construction Company and designers linked to exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the American Institute of Architects. Over subsequent decades, commissions shifted from speculative towers for clients related to Wall Street and J.P. Morgan to institutional projects for Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, City College of New York and civic clients influenced by New Deal policies and later by Great Society programs.

Notable Works

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon’s portfolio includes the landmark Empire State Building, completed for a consortium involving MacMillan Company and financed by interests tied to Arnold Constable & Company and investors with connections to Delaware & Hudson Railway. Other prominent projects attributed to the firm are high-rise commercial addresses and postal, corporate and residential buildings such as the General Electric Building (New York City), the 70 Pine Street tower, and numerous banks and office commissions for institutions including Chase National Bank, Bank of Manhattan, and municipal entities like the New York City Board of Estimate. The firm’s anonymous competition entries and built work were reviewed in periodicals like The New York Times, Architectural Record, The American Architect, and exhibited at venues including the Century Club and the Brooklyn Museum. Internationally, related practice patterns echoed trends set by firms such as Ernest R. Graham and John Wellborn Root in scaling office towers for multinational clients like Standard Oil of New Jersey and International Telephone and Telegraph.

Architectural Style and Influence

The firm’s aesthetic synthesis combined elements associated with Art Deco, International Style, and commercial high-rise typologies promulgated by earlier practitioners such as Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan. Landmark critics and historians from institutions such as Princeton University, Yale University, and Columbia University have examined the firm’s work alongside that of William F. Lamb, Cross & Cross, and Trowbridge & Livingston. Their projects show kinship with stylistic currents evident in the work of Raymond Hood, Eliel Saarinen, and Le Corbusier, while responding to zoning laws enacted by New York City authorities after the Zoning Resolution of 1916. The firm influenced subsequent generations of practitioners at firms including Emery Roth & Sons and Kohn Pedersen Fox by demonstrating efficient vertical circulation, curtain-wall strategies later seen in Seagram Building-era practice, and a pragmatic approach to program and massing that aligned with clients such as Guggenheim Foundation and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Firm Personnel and Leadership

Key figures associated with the firm included partners and designers who trained or lectured at Columbia University, Pratt Institute, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. Staff frequently moved between offices such as Harrison & Abramovitz, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, creating networks spanning the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects. The firm engaged engineers from firms like Edison Engineering and collaborated with artists and sculptors connected to Lee Lawrie, Paul Manship, and studios that exhibited at the American Academy in Rome. Leadership transitions reflected broader professional patterns involving professional societies such as the Society of Architectural Historians and awards administered by the AIA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Projects and Design Process

Projects typically began with client briefings from corporations and institutions such as RCA, Pan American World Airways, MetLife, and municipal agencies influenced by Works Progress Administration standards. The design process integrated schematic massing models, structural coordination with firms like Avery Dennison-affiliated engineers and construction management by contractors such as Turner Construction Company and Tishman Realty & Construction. For high-rises the team handled elevator zoning, curtain wall detailing and lobby finishes coordinated with artisans who had worked with Louis Comfort Tiffany-style studios and firms that supplied ornamental metalwork for landmarks including Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center. Project delivery engaged regulatory review by entities including the New York City Department of Buildings and preservation assessments by organizations like Landmarks Preservation Commission in later decades.

Category:Architecture firms of the United States