Richard "Dick" Lewis Blinder (June 14, 1935 – September 7, 2006) was an American architect and supporter of historical architectural preservation.Pogrebin, Robin (September 8, 2006).
Richard Blinder, Architect of Cultural Buildings, Dies at 71
. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2013-06-21.

Background and career

Blinder was born in 1935 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He graduated from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

School of Architecture and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

's Graduate School of Design before establishing residency in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. He was one of the original founders of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB)"

Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...

", an international architecture firm based in New York City and Washington, DC

The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Richard Blinder, and John Belle. The three architects met in 1961 while working in the New York office of

Victor Gruen Victor David Gruen, born Viktor David Grünbaum
retrieved 25 February 2012 (July 18, 1903 – February 1 ...

. The trio developed a specialty in historic preservation. At the time of his death in September 2006, Blinder was working on the

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

Cultural Plaza, a theater project in the

Luwan District Luwan District (; Shanghainese: lu1uae1 chiu1, pinyin: Lúwān Qū), formerly romanized as Lokawei, was a district located in central Shanghai until its merger with Huangpu District in June 2011. It had an area of and population of 350,000 as of ...

. The project was commissioned to Beyer Blinder Belle through an international design competition in 2003 for the redevelopment of a full-block site in central Shanghai's largest historic preservation area, the former

French Concession The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

. This development was one of the signature projects undertaken by the Chinese government for the

Expo 2010 Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the ...

. Beyer Blinder Belle has won three Presidential Design Awards, the Medal of Honor from the

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

New York Chapter, and the national AIA Firm Award, as well as other awards.American Institute of Architects: College of Fellows. 2000, p. 153.

Notable projects

This is an incomplete list. *

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...

, New York, NY *

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Promenade, New York *

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern termi ...

, New York *

Rubin Museum of Art The Rubin Museum of Art, also known as the Rubin Museum is a museum dedicated to the collection, display, and preservation of the art and cultures of the Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating t ...

, New York * 15–19 Fulton Street, Manhattan, 1983Gallion, Ayesha J. (August 31, 2007). "Grant Launched in Memory of Architect Richard Blinder". Interior Design. Retrieved June 24, 2013. *

Japan Society, New York Japan Society is a non-profit organization formed in 1907 to promote friendly relations between the United States and Japan. Its headquarters was designed by Junzo Yoshimura and opened in 1971 at 333 East 47th Street near the United Nations. With ...

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 m ...

* Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now the Lyric Theater) In 1989, Blinder founded the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to the curatorial management of the built world. The Richard Blinder Award for architectural studies, a bi-annual grant program, was introduced in August 1997. Conceived by the Fitch Foundation,

the award highlights studies addressing buildings that integrate preservation and new construction and is inspired by Blinder's ability to preserve architecture through restoration.

Personal life

Blinder died on a business trip in Shanghai, China in 2006 while designing the Shanghai Cultural Plaza.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blinder, Richard Lewis 2006 deaths 20th-century American architects Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni University of Cincinnati alumni 21st-century American architects 1935 births