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Eliel Saarinen | |
|---|---|
 Eliel Saarinen in early 1900s | |
| Born | Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen August 20, 1873 |
| Died | July 1, 1950(1950-07-01) (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse | Loja Saarinen |
| Children | |
| Awards | AIA Gold Medal |
| Buildings | |
| Projects |
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| Design |
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Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (/ˈsɑːrɪnən/,Finnish:[ˈelielˈsɑːrinen]; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish and Americanarchitect, designer, and urban planner. Saarinen worked in a diverse range of styles in his native Finland and, after emigrating in 1923, the United States. He was the father of architectEero Saarinen and designerPipsan Saarinen Swanson.[1][2] Through his rejected 1922 design of theChicago Tribune building he indirectly played a significant role in the influence and development ofArt Deco architecture.[3]
Saarinen was born inRantasalmi on 20 August 1873 toLutheran clergyman Juho Saarinen and his wife, Selma,née Broms. Saarinen was educated in Helsinki at theHelsinki University of Technology. From 1896 to 1905 he worked as a partner withHerman Gesellius andArmas Lindgren at the firmGesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen. His first major work with the firm, the Finnish pavilion at theParis 1900World Fair, exhibited an extraordinary convergence of stylistic influences: Finnish wooden architecture, the BritishGothic Revival, and theJugendstil. Saarinen's early manner was later christened the FinnishNational Romanticism and culminated in theHelsinki Central railway station (designed 1904, constructed 1910–14).[1]
From 1910 to 1915 he worked on the extensive city-planning project of Munksnäs-Haga and later published a book on the subject. In January 1911 he became a consultant in city planning forTallinn,Governorate of Estonia and was invited toBudapest to advise in city development. In 1912, a brochure written by Saarinen about the planning problems of Budapest was published. He was runner up behindWalter Burley Griffin in an international competition to design the new Australian capital city ofCanberra in 1912, but the following year he received the first place award in an international competition for his plan of the city ofReval, now known as Tallinn. From 1917 to 1918 Saarinen worked on the city-plan for greaterHelsinki. He also designed a series of postage stamps issued 1917 and theFinnish markka banknotes introduced in 1922.[1]
After the divorce from his first wife, Mathilde (who then married Herman Gesellius), on March 6, 1904, Saarinen married his second wife,Louise (Loja) Gesellius, a sculptor inHelsinki, and the younger sister ofHerman Gesellius. They had a daughterEva-Lisa (Pipsan) on March 31, 1905, and a sonEero on August 20, 1910.[1]
Eliel Saarinen moved to the United States in 1923 afterhis competition entry for theTribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois, won second place. While it was not built, the streamlined design inspired the architecture of many other skyscrapers.[4] Saarinen first settled inEvanston, Illinois, where he worked on his scheme for the development of the Chicago lake front. In 1924 he became a visiting professor at theUniversity of Michigan.[1]
In 1925George Gough Booth asked him to design the campus ofCranbrook Educational Community, intended to be an American equivalent to theBauhaus. Saarinen taught there and became president of theCranbrook Academy of Art in 1932. Among his student-collaborators wereRay Eames (then Ray Kaiser) andCharles Eames; Saarinen influenced their subsequent furniture design.[1]
During 1929–34, Saarinen contributed product designs for theWilcox Silver Plate Co. /International Silver Company inMeriden, Connecticut.[5] His iconic tea urn (c. 1934) was first exhibited in 1934–35 at theMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[6] Over the years, the tea urn has been widely exhibited, including inSt. Louis Modern (2015–16) at the St Louis Art Museum,[7]Cranbrook Goes to the Movies: Films and Their Objects, 1925–1975 at the Cranbrook Art Museum (2014–15),[8] and in 2005–07, in the touring exhibitionModernism in American Silver: 20th-Century Design, organized by the Dallas Museum of Art, which also traveled to theSmithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.[9] In 1951–52, the tea urn was featured in theEliel Saarinen Memorial Exhibition which traveled to multiple venues across the United States. In addition to Cranbrook, the Dallas Museum and the St Louis Museum, TheBritish Museum in London and theMetropolitan Museum of Art also hold tea urn-related Eliel Saarinen designs.[10]
His son,Eero (1910–1961), became one of the most important American architects of the mid-20th century as one of the leaders of theInternational andNeo-futurist styles. Saarinen's studentEdmund N. Bacon achieved national prominence as Executive Director of thePhiladelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970.
Eliel received theAIA Gold Medal in 1947.
| Work | Location | Finished | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finnish Pavilion at theExposition Universelle (designed with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren) | Paris | 1900 | .jpg) |
| Hvitträsk | Kirkkonummi | 1902 |  |
| National Museum of Finland | Helsinki | 1904 |  |
| Luther Factory Workers' Canteen and People's House (designed with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren) | Tallinn | 1905 |  |
| Helsinki Central railway station | Helsinki | 1909 |  |
| Lahti Town Hall | Lahti | 1911 |  |
| Former Credit Bank Headquarters ("Saarinen House") | Tallinn | 1912 |  |
| Villa Winter | Sortavala | 1912 |  |
| Vyborg railway station | Vyborg | 1913 |  |
| Joensuu Town Hall | Joensuu | 1914 |  |
| Saint Paul's Church | Tartu | 1917 |  |
| Marble Palace | Helsinki | 1918 |  |
| Munkkiniemi Pension house | Helsinki | 1920 |  |
| Cranbrook Educational Community | Bloomfield Hills | 1924–1942 |  |
| Koussevitzky Music Shed | Lenox | 1938 |  |
| Kleinhans Music Hall | Buffalo | 1940 |  |
| Crow Island School | Winnetka | 1940–41 |  |
| First Christian Church | Columbus, IN | 1942 |  |
| Des Moines Art Center | Des Moines | 1948 |  |
| Christ Church Lutheran | Minneapolis | 1949 |  |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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