Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from: Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Born in Ancona, Italy, Belluschi began his architectural career as a draftsman in a Portland, Oregon firm. He achieved a national reputation within about 20 years, largely for his 1947 aluminum-clad Equitable Building. In 1951, he was named the dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, where he served until 1965, also working as collaborator and design consultant for many high-profile commissions, most famously the 1963 Pan Am Building. He won the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal in 1972.

Early life

Pietro Belluschi was born in Ancona, Italy, in 1899.Gragg, Randy. "Belluschi revered as creative, 'spiritual' architect". The Oregonian, February 15, 1994. He grew up in Italy and served in the Italian armed forces during World War I when Italy was allied with Great Britain, France, and later the United States. Serving in the army he fought against the Austrians at the battles of Caporetto and Vittorio Veneto. After the war, Belluschi studied at the University of Rome, earning a degree in civil engineering in 1922.

He moved to the United States in 1923, despite speaking no English, and finished his education—as an exchange student on a scholarship—at Cornell University with a second degree in civil engineering. Instead of returning to Italy, he worked briefly as a mining engineer in Idaho earning $5 per day, but he then joined the architectural office of A. E. Doyle in Portland, living in Goose Hollow. He remained in the U.S., as friends in Italy had cautioned him to not return home because of the rise to power of Benito Mussolini and the Fascist government.

Career

At Doyle's office, Belluschi rose rapidly, soon becoming chief designer. After Doyle died in 1928, the firm took him into partnership in 1933. By 1943, Belluschi had assumed control of the firm by buying out all the other partners and was practicing under his own name.

In 1951, Belluschi became Dean of the architecture and planning school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he held until 1965. When he accepted the position of dean and moved to Massachusetts, he transferred his office in Portland to the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The move reduced his annual income from $150,000 to a salary of $15,000, but was prompted by health concerns attributable to the long hours of managing his office while still designing buildings.

Belluschi emerged as a leader in the development of American Modern architecture, with the design of several buildings reflecting the influence of the International Style and his awareness of the technological opportunities of new materials. Most important was the Equitable Building (1944–47) in Portland, Oregon: a concrete frame office block clad in aluminum, and considered the first office building with a completely sealed air-conditioned environment.

Belluschi's churches and residences differed from his commercial works. Although of Modern design, they fit within the development of the Pacific Northwest regional Modern idiom as they frequently used regional materials (particularly wood) and were often integrated with their suburban or rural sites.

Awards and honors Belluschi was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952. In 1953, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1957. He served as a presidential appointee on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1950 to 1955.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 540. He was a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and was awarded the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award given by the institute, in 1972. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991 for his lifetime achievements.National Medal of Arts: Medalists. National Endowment for the Arts, accessed September 22, 2007. Belluschi was on the jury that selected the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.Clausen, Meredith L., Pietro Belluschi: Modern American Architect, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London 1994,

Later life After leaving MIT in 1965, he continued to work. Belluschi would design and consult on both buildings and issues surrounding urban planning. Pietro Belluschi was married first to Helen Hemmila on December 1, 1934, the mother of his two sons, Peter and Anthony. His son Anthony Belluschi is an architect. After his wife's death in 1962, he married in 1965 to Marjorie Bruckner (1920–2009). Pietro Belluschi died in Portland on February 14, 1994.

Selected works

Belluschi's designs include:

Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company Building, southern addition, Portland, 1926 Pacific Building, Portland, 1926 Public Service Building, Portland, 1927 Belluschi Building, Portland Art Museum (NRHP), 1932 Guardians' Lodge (1929), Kiwanis Lodge (1931), Uncle Toby's Story House (1932), and Blue Wing Lodge (1936), Camp Namanu, Sandy, Oregon Northrup Library (now T. J. Day Hall) at Linfield University, McMinnville, 1936 Library Building (now Smullin Hall) at Willamette University, Salem,Gregg, Robert D. 1970. Chronicles of Willamette, volume II: Those eventful years of the President Smith era. Salem, Or: Willamette University. 1938 St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Portland, 1940 Peter Kerr House, Gearhart, Oregon, 1941 Chapel, River View Cemetery, Portland, 1942 Korten Music Store, Longview, Washington, 1946 Sweeney, Straub and Dimm Printing Plant, Portland (NRHP), 1946 Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Longview, Washington, 1946 Burkes House, Portland, 1947 Coats House, 3600 Whiskey Creek Rd, Netarts, 1942 Oregonian Building, Portland, 1947 Baxter Hall and Collins Hall, Willamette University, Salem, 1947 Charles and Blanche Sprague Weekend House, also known as Thetford Lodge, Little North Santiam River, Oregon, 1947 Psychology Building, Reed College, Portland, 1947–1948 Breitenbush Hall, Oregon State Hospital, Salem (NRHP), 1948 (demolished 2017) Equitable Building, Portland, 1948 First Presbyterian Church, Cottage Grove, Oregon (NRHP), 1948 Percy L. Menefee Ranch House, Yamhill, Oregon, 1948 Sacred Heart Church, Lake Oswego, Oregon, 1949 Zion Lutheran Church, Portland (NRHP), 1950 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Portland Branch, 1950 Central Lutheran Church, Portland, 1951 St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, Portland, 1952 Tucker Maxon School, Portland, 1953 YWCA building, Salem, 1954 Marion County Courthouse and World War II Memorial, Salem,Marion County Circuit Court:The Marion County Courthouse: A Historical Perspective 1954 Trinity Lutheran Church, Walnut Creek, California, 1954 Temple Israel, Swampcott, Massachusetts, 1953-1956 First Lutheran Church, Boston, 1954–1957 Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, Bethesda, Maryland, 1955 Temple Adath Israel of the Main Line, with Charles Frederick Wise, Merion, Pennsylvania, 1956–1957 Church of the Redeemer (Baltimore), 1958A Guide To Baltimore Architecture, Third Edition, Dorsey & Dilts, 1997 , pg. 333-334"Raising Baltimore's Skyline" Gunts, Edward. The Sun [Baltimore, Md] 27 Dec 1987: T11. Bennington College Library, Bennington, Vermont, 1957–1958 Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, Oregon, 1959 Temple B'rith Kodesh, Rochester, New York, 1959–1963 Goucher College Center, Towson, Maryland, 1960A Guide To Baltimore Architecture, Third Edition, Dorsey & Dilts, 1997 , pg. 347 Trinity Episcopal Church, Concord, Massachusetts, dedicated October 6, 1963 First Methodist Church, Duluth, Minnesota, 1962–1969 The Alice Tully Hall at the Juilliard School within the Lincoln Center, New York City, 1963–1969 Pan Am Building, Belluschi and Walter Gropius as design consultants to Emery Roth & Sons, New York City, 1963 Rohm and Haas Corporate Headquarters, with George M. Ewing Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1964 Church of the Christian Union, Rockford, Illinois, 1964-1965 Hoffman Columbia Plaza, now Unitus Plaza, Portland, 1966 Immanuel Lutheran Church, Silverton, Oregon, 1966 Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Roseburg, Oregon, 1968 555 California Street, as consultant to Wurster, Benardi and Emmons and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, San Francisco, 1969 One Boston Place, with Emery Roth & Sons, Boston, 1970 Tower Square, also known as BayState West, with Eduardo Catalano, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1970 University of Virginia School of Architecture, 1970 Woodbrook Baptist Church, Towson, Maryland, 1970"Finally Looking Like A Church", Gunts, Edward. The Sun [Baltimore, Md] 02 Jan 1997: 2B. Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco (collaborating with Pier Luigi Nervi and others), 1971 Clark Art Institute, with The Architects Collaborative, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1973 100 East Pratt Street, with Emery Roth & Sons, Baltimore, 1975 Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore, 1978–1982 Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, San Francisco, 1980 One Financial Center, Boston, 1983 US Bancorp Tower, as consultant to Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Portland, 1983 Chapel of Christ the Teacher, University of Portland, 1986 United Hebrew Congregation, Chesterfield, Missouri, 1986–1989 Murray Hills Christian Church, Beaverton, Oregon (1987–89)Clausen, Meredith L. Spiritual Space: The Religious Architecture of Pietro Belluschi, University of Washington Press; First Edition, August 1992. Centennial Tower and Wheeler Sports Center, George Fox University, George Fox University: Centennial Clock Tower , Newberg, Oregon, 1991 and 1977 Portsmouth Abbey School campus, Portsmouth, Rhode Island; Belluschi designed 14 of the 27 buildings on campus between 1960 and 1991

References

External links

Oregon Encyclopedia biography 1983 interview from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art Photographs of Pietro Belluschi's works from the Phyllis and Robert Massar Photograph Collection of Pacific Northwest Architecture - University of Washington Digital Collections