Norman Jaffe
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Norman Jaffe (April 3, 1932 – August 19, 1993) was an American architect widely noted for his
contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...
architecture, and his "strikingly sculptural
beach house Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...
s" on
Eastern Long Island The East End of Long Island is constituted by the five towns at the eastern end of New York's Suffolk County, namely Riverhead, Southampton (which includes Westhampton), Southold, Shelter Island, and East Hampton. Long Island's North Fork ...
, in southeastern New York. He is credited with pioneering the "design of rustic Modernist houses in the Hamptons", and with being an innovator in using natural materials and
passive solar In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...
forms of design, and
urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...
.


Biography

Norman Jaffe was born in 1932 in Chicago to poor immigrant parents from
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
. During the period of the depression, he was sent to live with relatives in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
where he attended high school. After finishing school, he joined the military in 1954, serving with 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 ...
in Japan during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
. In 1956, Jaffe finished his military service and returned to the United States. He began studying architecture at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
, later transferring to the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
where he received his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in 1958. Jaffe went on to complete study at
Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...
and
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
. While at Berkeley, Jaffe studied under noted residential architects
William Wurster William Wilson Wurster (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1973) was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, best known for his residential desig ...
and Joseph Esherick who co-founded the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his degree, Jaffe began working for Esherick and in 1961, he left his wife and son and moved to New York to work for
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...
, one of the largest architectural firms in the world, and later, for
Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...
. In 1965, Jaffe's estranged wife, Barbara Cochran, was living in
Glen Ellyn Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lombar ...
, Illinois with their 7-year-old son Miles and her parents when she was killed in a
motor vehicle accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collision, collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, Utility pole ...
. Miles moved to New York to live with his father. Jaffe had begun visiting Long Island in the 1960s, and in 1973 he moved to Bridgehampton where he opened an architectural practice. He became the most prolific architect in the
Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...
at that time, designing more than 50 local houses, from small summer homes to large estates. His work in the Hamptons included a
golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety o ...
, synagogue and restaurant. The New York Chapter 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 ...
gave Jaffe an award in 1977 for a beach house he designed on Long Island. Jaffe and
Emery Roth & Sons Emery Roth (, died August 20, 1948) was a Hungarian-American architect of Hungarian-Jewish descent who designed many New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, incorporating Beaux-Arts and Art Deco details. His sons co ...
were the architects of the Guardian Life Building, built in the
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...
in 1983. In 1985, Jaffe met Sarah Stahl at a
Hampton Jitney Hampton Jitney is a commuter bus company based in Southampton, New York. It operates three primary routes from the east end of Long Island (The Hamptons and the North Fork) to New York City. Hampton Jitney also operates charter and tour service ...
bus stop. They were married in 1986 and had two sons. In 1987, Jaffe donated his services to the
Jewish Center of the Hamptons The Jewish Center of the Hamptons, abbreviated as JCOH, also called ''Shaarey Pardes'' (transliterated from Hebrew as the "Gates of the Grove"), is a post-denominational Jewish congregation, synagogue, and community center, located at 44 Woods ...
and designed their ''Gates of the Grove'' synagogue, described as Jaffe's "masterpiece...(with) a remarkable blend of material and spiritual substance", and "one of the finest examples of modern synagogue design in America". Jaffe's design won awards for contemporary religious design.
Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born December 4, 1950)Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C''Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Cfp.87on Paul Goldberger
, a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning architecture writer from ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', later described the ''Gates of the Grove'' as Jaffe's "greatest work" and a "truly sacred space...", and architecture historian Alastair Gordon said Jaffe's design for the ''Gates of the Grove'' "was the jewel in the crown of his turbulent career". Jaffe was inducted as a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1991; the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
honored the occasion by exhibiting his work. It was reported he was "commanding design fees of as much as half a million dollars." One of Jaffe's final designs was the office building at 565 Fifth Avenue,
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. It was finished in 1993. Architecture critic Paul Goldberger from ''The New Yorker'', described the building as "quite remarkable...a stunning modernist object (which) respects the street, and in so doing, it enriches the city." Jaffe assisted a number of charities, including medical relief programs in East Africa and local charities on Long Island. He also donated his professional services to charities and completed a design for a
children's hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...
in Croatia.


Death

Early in the morning of August 19, 1993, Jaffe disappeared while swimming off a beach in Bridgehampton, New York, where he was known to often swim alone. His clothes and other personal items were found unattended on the beach. He had only learned to swim in his 50s, and his friends and family were reported as saying he was an overconfident but poor swimmer. A month later, fishermen found a human pelvic bone on the beach near where Jaffe disappeared. A humerus was also found on a beach in East Hampton, several miles away. The Suffolk County, New York,
Medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
used medical records and
x-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
s to confirm the remains belonged to Jaffe. His death was presumed to be an accidental
drowning Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...
. On September 24, 1993, he was buried at Shaare Pardes Accabonac Grove Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery. Norman Jaffe was survived by his wife, Sarah Jaffe Turnbull, and three sons.


Legacy

During his 35-year career as an architect, Norman Jaffe built more than 600 projects and received numerous architecture awards. That comes out to one project every three weeks. His work was displayed in museums exhibitions around the United States and overseas, including at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York. Between 1967 and his death in 1993 he designed more than 50 houses in the Hamptons. From July 24 to September 18, 2005, the
Parrish Art Museum The Parrish Art Museum is an art museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architects and located in Water Mill, New York, whereto it moved in 2012 from Southampton Village. The museum focuses extensively on work by artists from the artist colony o ...
in
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
, New York, presented "Romantic Modernist: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe, Architect", the first major exhibition examining Jaffe's life and work. The curator of the exhibition was
architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...
Alastair Gordon, who is also the author of the book, ''Romantic Modernist: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe Architect 1932-1993''. The exhibition included architectural sketches and models, plans, photographs, furniture and a short documentary film featuring
Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born December 4, 1950)Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C''Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners'' Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Cfp.87on Paul Goldberger
, architecture critic from ''The New Yorker'', and archive footage of Jaffe himself. On December 18, 2008, the
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, the world's largest architecture library, is located in Avery Hall on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in New York City. Serving Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning a ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in New York announced it had acquired Jaffe's architectural archives. The collection includes
architectural drawing An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building (or building project) that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to deve ...
s, presentations and photographs from Jaffe's professional practice and covers more than 80 projects from the 1960s to the 1990s.


Publications

*Gordon, Alastair, ''Romantic Modernist: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe Architect 1932-1993'', Monacelli, July 21, 2005,


External links


Norman Jaffe architectural records and papers, circa 1950-1990


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Norman 1932 births 1993 deaths Accidental deaths in New York (state) American residential architects American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Latvian-Jewish descent Jewish architects 20th-century American architects People from East Hampton (town), New York People from Bridgehampton, New York University of Illinois School of Architecture alumni UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumni