Max O. Urbahn (1912–1995) was a German-born American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

in practice in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

from 1945 until his death in 1995. Among his notable projects is the

Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Satu ...

at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, one of the largest buildings in the world. He served as president of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

for the year 1972.

Life and career

Maximilian Otto Urbahn, known professionally as Max O. Urbahn, was born February 2, 1912, in Burscheid,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, to Maximilian Otto Urbahn and Hedwig (Hilbertz) Urbahn. His family immigrated to the United States in 1925, and Urbahn later became a citizen."Urbahn, Maximilian Otto" in ''Who's Who in America'' (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1982): 3396. He earned a BS in architecture from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1935 followed by a BFA and an MFA from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Over the next few years he worked for Eggers & Higgins and in the New York City branch office of

Holabird & Root The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Moder ...

. He served in the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

from 1942 to 1945.R. Randall Vosbeck, ''A Legacy of Leadership: The Presidents of the American Institute of Architects, 1857–2007'' (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 2008): 124–126. In 1945 he cofounded the firm of Reisner & Urbahn, architects, with Jedd Stow Reisner, and in 1952 the partnership was expanded to include Richard M. Brayton and John S. Burrows Jr. When Reisner withdrew in 1954 the firm became Urbahn, Brayton & Burrows. Burrows withdrew in 1961, followed by Brayton in 1963, and the firm was again reorganized as the Office of Max O. Urbahn. Urbahn was noted as a coordinator of large teams for the design of complex projects. In 1962 he was hired to lead the design of what would become the

for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

at the

. To complete this project he organized URSAM, a joint venture of the Urbahn firm and the engineering firms of Roberts & Schaefer, Seelye Stevenson Value & Knecht (STV) and Moran, Proctor, Mueser & Rutledge. The resulting building, completed in 1966, is still one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. Other major projects completed by Urbahn include

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located in Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle phys ...

, designed by a DUSAF, the joint venture of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, Urbahn, STV and the George A. Fuller Company, and 909 Third Avenue in New York City. In the 1970s Urbahn again reorganized his firm as Max O. Urbahn Associates. He retired from his New York practice in 1978 but continued to practice on a smaller scale near his home in eastern Connecticut. As of 2023, his firm, now known as Urbahn Architects, remains active in New York City. Urbahn joined the

(AIA) in 1947 as a member of the New York City chapter. He served in various chapter roles before being elected to the AIA board of directors in 1968. In 1969 he was elected first vice president/president elect for 1971 and president for 1972. During his presidency Urbahn oversaw significant revisions to the AIA code of ethics under pressure from the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the ...

and advocated for a national land-use policy. Urbahn was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the AIA in 1966. Urbahn was also a member and post president of the

Society of American Military Engineers The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) unites public and private sector individuals and organizations from across the architecture, engineering, construction, environmental, facility management, contracting and acquisition fields and ...

(SAME), a vice president of the Pan American Federation of Architects' Associations (FPAA) and a director of the

American Arbitration Association The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is an organization focused in the field of alternative dispute resolution, one of several arbitration organizations that administers arbitration proceedings. Structured as a non-profit, the AAA also admin ...

Personal life

Urbahn was married three times: first to Marion Frank in 1937, second to Allyn Delano Smith in 1957 and third to Bess (Engelbrethsen) Balchen in 1979. He had a total of three children, all sons: Eric McGregor, Maximilian Otto III and John Arthur. Urbahn died July 9, 1995, at home in

Stonington, Connecticut Stonington is a town located on Long Island Sound in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The municipal limits of the town include the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pa ...

, at the age of 83. Urbahn's eldest son, Eric M. Urbahn is an architect in practice in Cabarete,

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, and his grandson is Keith Urbahn.

Legacy

SAME has awarded a medal in his name since 1997.

Architectural works

Federal Home Loan Bank Board Building DC 01

* University Hospital of Brooklyn, 445 Lenox Rd,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

(1966) * 909 Third Avenue,

(1967) * Junior High School 144 Michelangelo, 2545 Gunther Ave,

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

(1968) * Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center, 1300 Waters Pl,

(1969) * Public School 214 Lorraine Hansberry, 1970 W Farms Rd,

(1973) * Lincoln Hospital, 234 East 149th St,

(1976) * Nassau University Medical Center,

East Meadow, New York East Meadow is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The popula ...

(1974) *

Federal Home Loan Bank Board Building The Federal Home Loan Bank Board Building is a historic structure located in Downtown Washington, D.C. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. History The structure was built to house the Acacia Mutual Insurance Compan ...

, 1700 G St NW,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

(1977, NRHP 2016)Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, ''Buildings of the District of Columbia'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993): 206. * James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 130 W Kingsbridge Rd,

(1979)

References

External links

*
Urbahn Architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbahn, Max O. Architects from New York City Architects from Connecticut 20th-century American architects Presidents of the American Institute of Architects Fellows of the American Institute of Architects German emigrants to the United States University of Illinois alumni Yale University alumni People from Stonington, Connecticut 1912 births 1995 deaths