Jacques André Fouilhoux (September 27, 1879 – June 20, 1945) was a French-born architect active in the United States from 1904 to 1945.''The New York Times''. (July 21, 1945)

''The New York Times'', p. 1. Accessed August 18, 2020. He is most well known for his work on Tribune Tower in Chicago; Rockefeller Center; early skyscrapers such as the Daily News Building and 30 Rockefeller Plaza; and the 1939 New York World's Fair, for which he designed the central Trylon and Perisphere.Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks. (1986)
"Tribune Tower: 435 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois"
[Preliminary Staff Summary of Information]. Accessed April 23, 2020Cohen, Barbara, Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast. (1989)
''Trylon and Perisphere''
New York: Harry N. Abrams. Accessed August 18, 2020.''The New York Times''. (November 25, 1939)

''The New York Times'', p. 16. Accessed August 18, 2020. Many of his early works are also listed in the National Historic Register, including 705 Davis Street Apartments and Wickersham Apartments in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon.National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Seven Hundred Five Davis Street Apartments
National Park Service. 1980. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Wickersham Apartments
National Park Service. 1983. Accessed August 18, 2020. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Fouilhoux has received less attention than partners such as John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, but was "known as an astute engineer and a painstaking supervisor and his work gained the respect of his collaborators."Savage, Charles C. (June 19, 1984)
"Rockefeller Apartments"
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Accessed April 23, 2020.Krinsky, Carol Herselle. (1978)
''Rockefeller Center''
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 47. Accessed August 18, 2020.Wind, Herbert Warren. (November 27, 1954). "Architect," ''The New Yorker'', p. 56.

Early life and education

Jacques André Fouilhoux, better known as J.A. Fouilhoux throughout his career in the United States, was born to a Catholic family in Paris, France, on September 27, 1879. He attended the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris, and went on to earn B.A., B.S. and B.Ph. degrees from the University of Paris (Sorbonne). He was then accepted into the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, where he studied architecture as well as civil and mechanical engineering. Following his graduation, he moved to the United States in 1904 and began his architectural career as a draftsman for Albert Kahn (architect), Albert Kahn in Detroit.Ferry, W. Hawkins. (1970)
''The Legacy of Albert Kahn''
Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, pp. 10–11. Accessed August 18, 2020 In 1908, he and Jean Butler Clark of Baltimore married in New York.New York Building Congress, Inc. (1945). "J. André Fouilhoux." Building Congress News, July 1945 (Commemorative Edition). Accessed April 23, 2020.

Career

Early works

In 1909, Fouilhoux relocated to Portland, and began a partnership with Morris H. Whitehouse that would last until World War I. Fouilhoux was prolific during the eight years he worked in Portland, and constructed a dozen notable buildings, including educational institutions (e.g., Jefferson High School (Portland, Oregon), Jefferson High School, the University Club (Portland, Oregon), University Club) and residential buildings.Oregon Digital. (2009)
Jefferson, Thomas, School (Portland, Oregon)
University of Oregon Libraries. Accessed April 23, 2020. His earliest works were constructed in late-19th and early-20th century revival styles—French Renaissance architecture, French Renaissance, Collegiate Gothic, Tudor Revival architecture, Tudor, Jacobethan, Colonial Revival architecture, Colonial, and English Arts and Crafts architecture, English Arts and Crafts.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Corbett, Elliott R., House
National Park Service. 1996. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Corbett, H. L. and Gretchen Hoyt, House
National Park Service. 1991. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Mann, Anna Lewis, Old People's Home
National Park Service. 1992. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Waverly Country Club Clubhouse
National Park Service. 2013. Accessed March 29, 2020. While this design approach befit the zeitgeist, critics and historic preservationists describe a unique perspective in his architectural style. This is especially evident in Jefferson High School (1909), which subtly revealed and navigated tensions between the Neoclassical architecture, Classical Revival movement and more modern Arts and Crafts style. Fouilhoux's architecture, particularly the balance between referential embellishment and modern sensibility, had an enduring effect on Oregon.American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter. (1968)
''A Guide to Portland architecture''
Portland, OR: Portland, Oregon chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Accessed August 18, 2020.Powell, M. (July 13, 2016)

''The New York Times''. Accessed April 23, 2020. Many of his buildings there are still standing and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Several continue to be highly sought-after residences that have defined luxurious neighborhoods, such as Wickersham Apartments (1910) and 705 Davis Street Apartments (1913).Eastman, Janet. (August 22, 2018)
"Portland's most beautiful apartment buildings"
''Oregonlive''. Accessed April 23, 2020. With the outbreak of World War I, Fouilhoux put his burgeoning career on pause and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as an officer in France in the 129th Field Artillery Regiment with future president Harry S. Truman and was discharged with the rank of major.American Standards Association. (1945). ''Industrial Standardization'' (Vol. 16).

Tribune Tower and Daily News Building

In 1920, Fouilhoux returned to the U.S. and for the rest of his life would be based in New York ''The New York Times''. (November 7, 1931)
"Anita C. Fouilhoux, Debutante, Honored"
''The New York Times'', p. 21. Accessed August 18, 2020.''The New York Times''. (November 3, 1938)

''The New York Times'', p. 43. Accessed August 18, 2020. He began making substantial contributions to modernist architecture, modernist design approaches that would create a new architectural specter: the skyscraper.Korom, Joseph J. (2008)
''The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940: A Celebration of Height''
Boston: Branden Books. Accessed August 18, 2020. In the post-war architectural boom, Fouilhoux's work espoused and memorialized American democratic values, particularly freedom of the press. In 1922, Fouilhoux, Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells devised a design submission to the international competition for the Tribune Tower in Chicago along with over 260 other entries. With Fouilhoux working as an associate to partners Hood and Howells, their submission won the competition. The building melded medieval Gothic architecture, gothic architectural design elements with the Art Deco sensibility of a modern office building.Fila, Bob & Blair Kamin. (2000)
''Tribune Tower: American Landmark''
Chicago: Tribune Company. Accessed April 23, 2020.Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.)
"Tribune Tower: Building, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Accessed April 23, 2020. A lightness in the building's gothic details enables the vibrancy of the design to not be beholden to its silhouette, as with other skyscrapers. Hood and Howell's design and the praise from the competition jurors encapsulated the architectural moment of the time—nostalgic, but on the brink of modern. Old elements were used in new ways, including at least 150 artifacts from historic sites that decorated the walls alongside quotes from historical figures. These inscriptions and sculptural details span decades and continents, memorializing the past in order to imagine the future that the Tribune Company aimed for. Upon opening in 1925, the building was described by critics as idiosyncratic but designed for practical use, with historical perspective, humor, and a vision of the future. Fouilhoux and other contributors were immortalized as fable characters in Aesop's screen in a large carved stone display above the main entrance. In a nod to the nickname assigned to Frenchmen during World War I, Fouilhoux is represented by a frog. In 1930, Howells, Hood and Fouilhoux designed another journalism building—the Daily News Building in New York. Though the owners of the News Building and Tribune Tower had family ties, the buildings did not share the Gothic Revival architecture, neo-gothic design influence that distinguishes the latter; with the towering skyscraper design of the News Building, Fouilhoux entered into the "modernist vanguard." The News Building does, however, share Tribune Tower's use of art deco elements and quotes and symbols of democratic values and the American Protestant work ethic. The building was well received by critics, architects and New Yorkers, with a 1932 exhibition at MoMA describing it as the "most effective skyscraper in New York."Smith, G. E. Kidder and Paul Goldberger. (1996)
''Source Book of American Architecture: 500 Notable Buildings from the 10th Century to the Present''
New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Accessed August 18, 2020.

Rockefeller Center

In 1931, Fouilhoux joined a consortium of preeminent architectural firms coordinated by Raymond Hood that would be involved in the construction of Rockefeller Center.Richards, William. (July 25, 2018)
"Is Rockefeller Center the true center of New York?"
. The American Institute of Architects. Accessed April 23, 2020 Todd, Robertson and Todd Engineering Corp., as advisers to John D. Rockefeller and his family, "selected architects who would be primarily interested in good planning, utility, cost, income, low operating expenses and progress ... men who were not committed to the architectural past nor too much interested in wild modernism."National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Rockefeller Center
National Park Service. 1987. Accessed April 23, 2020. Three different firms—listed as Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray; Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux; and Reinhard & Hofmeister—formed the collective Associated Architects for Rockefeller Center. Fouilhoux had the greatest influence on the central fixture of the complex, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, known colloquially as "30 Rock". The RCA combined Art Deco design elements with Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts inspiration and the increasingly widespread International Style (architecture), International Style.Goldberger, Paul. (July 14, 1976)
"Rockefeller Center Design: A Triumph for 30's and 70's"
''The New York Times''. Accessed April 23, 2020. From its inception, Rockefeller Center has captured the urban imagination of commercial media. In the 1980s, Paul Goldberger of ''The New York Times'' reflected on its status: "It was always respected. Now, however, it seems more to be idolized, copied by young architects as they sketch new towers and chosen by urban planners as the model that large-scale urban complexes should strive to follow."Goldberger, Paul. (June 17, 1982)
"Rockefeller Center at 50: A Model Of Urban Design; An Appraisal"
''The New York Times''. Accessed April 23, 2020. After Hood's death in 1934, and following his work on Rockefeller Center, Fouilhoux partnered with Wallace Harrison on a commission from John D. and Nelson Rockefeller to design the Rockefeller Apartments just to the north. Though there was not a strong demand for housing in Manhattan at the time, the Rockefeller Apartments accumulated a long wait-list before completion because they were an ideal size for young professionals working at Rockefeller Center or Midtown Manhattan. Built in an international style with rounded and south-facing bay windows, it was praised by critics for its strong, progressive design aesthetics and practicalities. Noted urbanist Lewis Mumford compared the apartment build with a romantic row of buildings in an old neighborhood in Germany: "When the windows are open up and down the façade, the effect is like a sudden whirring of birds' wings out of a tree. And if anyone wants to know what is modern ornament, that's what it is—something built for use, which suddenly, when it hits you at the right angle, begins to sing like the four-and-twenty blackbirds."Wojtowicz, Robert. (2000)
''Sidewalk Critic: Lewis Mumford's Writings on New York''
Princeton Architectural Press. Accessed August 18, 2020.

World of Tomorrow

The 1939 New York World's Fair was Fouilhoux and Harrison's most audacious architectural and engineering work. The New York Building Commission wrote that Fouilhoux's design contributions "created the distinctive tone of the exhibition." The 1939 World's Fair would be the second most expensive American World's Fair—an ambitious endeavor during the uncertain time following the Great Depression and leading up to World War II.Fiederer, Luke. (December 11, 2016)
"AD Classics: Trylon and Perisphere / Harrison and Fouilhoux"
''ArchDaily''. Accessed April 23, 2020.Sheidlower, Noah. (April 30, 2020)
"81 Years Ago, FDR Opened the 1939 World's Fair in Queens"
''Untapped New York''. Accessed April 23, 2020. In 1934, the fair's intended theme was to honor the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington, however the more abstract, forward-thinking theme "Building the World of Tomorrow" won out by 1936. The theme and, in turn, design concept therefore prioritized a "utopian aura" that would employ "a structure of ephemeral lines" according to ''The New York Times''.New York World's Fair 1939 Inc. (1938). New York World's Fair Bulletin (Vol. 2). Built in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, a former dump site in Queens, the Fair used over 1,200 acres to imagine the future through a lens of innovation, consumerism, and commercialization. The exhibitions and recreational space were made possible through relationships with 60 countries and 121 New York organizations. According to the book ''Trylon and Perisphere'', "Its goal was to display to the world its organizers' boundless belief in American business and industry, in peace and freedom, and in the potential of average Americans to rise above their difficulties." Fouilhoux's greatest influence was on the central figures of the Fair—the Trylon and Perisphere, respectively a large triangular pyramid and the largest sphere ever constructed.Saraniero, Nicole. (July 18, 2018)
"10 Facts About the Lost Giant Trylon and Perisphere from the 1939 World's Fair"
''Untapped New York''. Accessed April 23, 2020. Imposing white masses of the "finite and infinite"—sometimes called the "spike and sphere" or "ball and bat"—they aptly represented futurism based on modernist principles that envisioned extreme abstractions achievable through new technologies. The Trylon and Perisphere represented impressive feats of engineering, requiring 2,000 cubic yards of concrete, over 7,000 individual pieces, and adding up to a combined weight of approximately 10,000 tons. The Trylon was 610 feet high and the perisphere was 180 feet in diameter and 18 stories high. Inside the Perisphere, accessible via what were the largest escalators in the world, was "Democracity"—the central exhibit of the fair and vision of America's future in 2039.Rothstein, Edward. (December 6, 2012)

''The New York Times''. Accessed April 23, 2020. Technological achievements were central to the Fair theme and to Harrison and Fouilhoux's designs, evidenced in the engineering of the Trylon and Perisphere as well as the emphasis on electrification seen in the Consolidated Edison and Electric Utility building exhibitions. The Fair embodied an imposing physicality and ambitious futuristic vision and welcomed almost 50 million visitors during the two seasons it was open.''Archinect''. (n.d.).
Surveying the U.S. World's Fair Pavilions".
Accessed March 28, 2020. Despite these achievements, it did not live up to attendance or financial revenue goals. Still, it was "by no means a flop… it literally and figuratively replaced ashes with promise... On a practical level, it offered a preview of the tools needed to rebuild the world after the war." With the advent of World War II, architectural opportunities and priorities moved away from imposing skyline-defining monuments.''New York Times''. (May 7, 1942)

''The New York Times'', p. 35. Accessed August 18, 2020. In 1941, Fouilhoux joined the firm Harrison & Abramovitz, Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz and completed the Crotona Toll House for the Bronx Zoo and worked on military bases at Coco Solo and Balboa, Canal Zone.Jennings, Allyn R. (October 1941)
"Flora for Fauna: Fitting the Landscape to the Animals in the Bronx Zoo"
''Landscape Architecture Magazine.'' Accessed March 28, 2020.Embury, Aymar. (n.d.)

Syracuse University. Accessed April 27, 2020. He then worked on the Clinton Hill Housing Development, also called the Clinton Hill Co-ops—good-quality affordable housing for workers and officers of the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard.'' The Brooklyn Daily Eagle''. (January 26, 1942)
"1,200 Defense Families to Live at Clinton Hill"
Accessed April 23, 2020. While some community members lamented the demolition of the 19th century mansions that were removed to make way for the development, the Clinton Hill Co-ops played a significant role in stabilizing the neighborhood with middle-class housing during the war.Spellen, Suzanne. (April 4, 2012)
"Building of the Day: 345-373 Clinton Avenue"
''Brownstoner''. Accessed August 18, 2020. The Clinton Hill Co-ops would be Fouilhoux's final contribution to the architecture of New York City. He fell to his death on June 20, 1945, while conducting an inspection of the Clinton Hill Co-ops roof and upper floors.

Legacy

Tribune Tower and Rockefeller Center are Fouilhoux's most enduring feats of engineering and architectural design and continue to be tourist destinations, as well as culturally notable in academic circles. Though the Trylon and Perisphere of the 1939 World's Fair were dismantled for the war effort, they "earned an enduring legacy as one of the world's greatest symbols of hope for the future." Books, postage stamps, figurines, postcards, and many more paraphernalia immortalized the imagery of Fouilhoux's spike and sphere. Other significant buildings that Fouilhoux worked on include the American Radiator Building and 330 West 42nd Street, McGraw-Hill Building in Manhattan, and the Masonic Temple (now the Scranton Cultural Center).Gray, Christopher. (February 20, 1994)
"Streetscapes/The American Radiator Building; A 1924 Precursor of Art Deco"
''The New York Times''. Accessed August 18, 2020American Radiator Building
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 12, 1974. Accessed April 23, 2020.McGraw Hill Building
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. September 11, 1979. Accessed April 23, 2020.Emanuel, Muriel. (2016)
''Contemporary Architects''
New York: St. James Press. Accessed August 18, 2020 Citations and professional connections * Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded May 26, 1943 * Citation from the New York Chapter of AIA on February 14, 1945 * First prize, New York Chapter of AIA competition for the design of small, affordable dwelling for families, 1935''The New York Times''. (July 10, 1935)
"Plan for a $3,000 Cellarless Home Wins Award for Low-Cost Design; J. Andre Fouilhoux Is Victor in Contest for Dwelling for Average Family "
''The New York Times'', p. 23. Accessed August 18, 2020. * President of New York Building Congress, elected 1942, 1945''The New York Times''. (April 27, 1945)

''The New York Times'', p. 31. Accessed August 18, 2020. * Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers * Member of the Architectural League of New York * Chairman of the French Engineers in the United States, Inc. * Treasurer and trustee of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design * Member of the Advisory Council of the Cooper Union Art School''The New York Times''. (October 16, 1940)
"Architect Named Adviser On Art at Cooper Union"
''The New York Times'', p.15. Accessed August 18, 2020. * Visiting Critic at the Columbia School of Architecture * Member of visiting committee of the School of Architecture of Massachusetts Institute of Technology * President of the American Relief for France, Inc.''The New York Times''. (June 16, 1945)
"Clothing Is Sought for Freed French"
''The New York Times'', p. 10. Accessed August 18, 2020. * Vice President and trustee of the French Hospital and French Benevolent Society * Board of Trustees of St. Vincent de Paul Institute * Member of the Commerce and Industry Association of New York * The University Club * The Catholic Club * President of the Liturgical Arts Society

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fouilhoux, J. Andre 1879 births 1945 deaths Accidental deaths from falls Architects from Oregon Fellows of the American Institute of Architects French civil engineers Architects from Paris French emigrants to the United States University of Paris alumni