Robert Andrews Little (1919–2005) was a

modernist architect Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture was ...

based in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He received the Cleveland Arts Prize for Architecture in 1965. Little practiced in the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

and International styles. He also designed and advocated energy-efficient features, and employed Jewish and African-American architects and engineers. Born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, he was a direct descendant of

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

. Little studied with

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. At the Bauhaus he designed the Was ...

and

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

. He graduated from

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

in 1937 and continued there completing his masters 1939. Little came to Cleveland in 1947. He taught at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

’s school of architecture. His firm, Little & Associates, merged with Dalton·Dalton Associates in 1969. He was married to Ann Halle Little, a member of the locally prominent Halle department store family. Little and his wife had two sons, Robert and Revere. Revere was a noteworthy folk singer.

Work

Halle Brothers Shaker Square department store Halle Brothers building at Shaker Square is a former department store building constructed in 1948 for the Halle Brothers Co. in the Shaker Square section of Cleveland, Ohio. Designed by architect Robert A. Little, it is listed on the National ...

(1948), located between the Shaker Square Cinemas and the

rapid transit station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...

, was his first commission. The building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and won the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce Award for Commercial Building as well as the Architects’ Society of Ohio Medal for Commercial Building. * Albert Pick Music Library at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

* Timken residence in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

* Little invented and patented a pre-computer design tool called Solux "that allowed him to trace the path of the sun over a cardboard model mechanically, instead of having to use laborious mathematical calculations," used for lighting calculations. * Steel home prototype, on roof of Kauffman's Department Store in Pittsburgh. * All-electric home prototype for

Westinghouse Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

. * Pepper Ridge development in

Pepper Pike, Ohio Pepper Pike is a city in eastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,796 as of the 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is a part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. History In 1763, sixteen pioneers settled the area ...

, including a converted barn studio for Cleveland sculptor William McVey (a design that received the Progressive Architecture award). * Community Health Foundation facility in

University Circle University Circle is a district in the neighborhood of University on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Hall (home to the Cleveland Orchestra), the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland ...

(later occupied by Kaiser Permanente and then as the Community Dialysis Center) * Jane Addams High School *

Case Institute of Technology Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

dorms along Cedar Hill * Buildings for

Hawken School Hawken School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school in Northeast Ohio. Hawken currently has two main campuses, the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst and the Upper School in Chester Township, plus a third, an ur ...

’s upper school campus in Gates Mills * Cleveland Municipal School District’s spherical Supplementary Education Center (and planetarium) on Lakeside Avenue * Revco corporate headquarters,

Twinsburg Twinsburg is a suburban city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, located midway between Akron, Ohio, Akron and Cleveland. The population was 19,248 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Akron metropolitan area. History The first person to s ...

, Ohio (became part of CVS) *

United States Air Force Museum The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. * Cleveland's Metro General Hospital's twin towers (now MetroHealth Medical Center) * Master plan for the revitalization of area around St. Vincent Charity Hospital including the hospital's new buildings. (The plan won Progressive Architecture's urban design award). * Jetport plan for Lake Erie landfill Robert Little
Cleveland Arts Prize

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Robert Architects from Cleveland 1919 births 2005 deaths Architects from Boston Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Case Western Reserve University faculty