Louis Skidmore

Louis Skidmore (April 8, 1897–September 27, 1962) was an American architect and a co-founder of the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.

Skidmore was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana and studied at Bradley Polytechnic Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later in Rome and Paris on a fellowship."Louis Skidmore, Architect, Dies; His Firm Designed Lever House :A Co-Founder of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Which Built Oak Ridge, Tenn.." New York Times (1857-Current file), September 29, 1962, http://www.proquest.com/ (accessed August 15, 2008).] He and Nathaniel A. Owings co-founded the firm in 1936 (John O. Merrill became the third partner in 1939). During the war years the firm built a number of large housing projects, most notably the initially secret town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In New York a major wartime project was the Abraham Lincoln Houses, a 14-building complex in Harlem (completed in 1948). ["Architects Picked for Housing Jobs :Head of City Authority Lists the Men Entrusted With $53,000,000 Projects." New York Times (1857-Current file), July 6, 1943, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008). See also the Houses' entry at nyc.gov: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/developments/manlincoln.shtml.] Another major government-appointed project was the United States Air Force Academy. His firm developed its reputation for reliability in large developments, and became one of the largest and most talked-about skyscraper builders in the 1950s. SOM's most famous building was the Lever House, built in 1952.

Skidmore was elected president of the New York Building Congress in 1949 and a vice-president of the Architectural League of New York in 1952. ["Skidmore is Elected: Architect Is Chosen as Head of Building Congress." New York Times (1857-Current file), May 11, 1949; "Elected to the Presidency Of Architectural League." New York Times (1857-Current file), April 4, 1952, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008).] he received a Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects in 1957. ["Architect to Receive Medal of Institute." New York Times (1857-Current file), February 3, 1957, Proquest (accessed August 15, 2008).]

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