Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.[1]
He moved to the United States in 1923, despite speaking no English, and finished his education—as an exchange student on a scholarship—at Cornell University with a second degree in civil engineering.[1][2][3] Instead of returning to Italy, he worked briefly as a mining engineer in Idaho earning $5 per day, but he then joined the architectural office of A. E. Doyle in Portland,[2] living in Goose Hollow.[4] He remained in the U.S., as friends in Italy had cautioned him to not return home because of the rise to power of Benito Mussolini and the Fascist government.[2]
Careeredit
At Doyle's office, Belluschi rose rapidly, soon becoming chief designer. After Doyle died in 1928, the firm took him into partnership in 1933. By 1943, Belluschi had assumed control of the firm by buying out all the other partners and was practicing under his own name.
In 1951, Belluschi became Dean of the architecture and planning school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he held until 1965.[1] When he accepted the position of dean and moved to Massachusetts, he transferred his office in Portland to the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The move reduced his annual income from $150,000 to a salary of $15,000, but was prompted by health concerns attributable to the long hours of managing his office while still designing buildings.[2]
Belluschi emerged as a leader in the development of American Modern architecture, with the design of several buildings reflecting the influence of the International Style and his awareness of the technological opportunities of new materials. Most important was the Equitable Building (1944–47) in Portland, Oregon: a concrete frame office block clad in aluminum, and considered the first office building with a completely sealed air-conditioned environment.
Belluschi's churches and residences differed from his commercial works. Although of Modern design, they fit within the development of the Pacific Northwest regional Modern idiom as they frequently used regional materials (particularly wood) and were often integrated with their suburban or rural sites.
After leaving MIT in 1965, he continued to work. Belluschi would design and consult on both buildings and issues surrounding urban planning. Pietro Belluschi was married first to Helen Hemmila on December 1, 1934, the mother of his two sons, Peter and Anthony. His son Anthony Belluschi is an architect.[9][10] After his wife's death in 1962, he married in 1965 to Marjorie Bruckner (1920–2009). Pietro Belluschi died in Portland on February 14, 1994.[2]
Selected worksedit
Belluschi's designs include:
Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company Building, southern addition, Portland,[11] 1926
^Prince, Tracy J. (2011). Portland's Goose Hollow. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-7385-7472-1.
^"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
^Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 540.
^National Medal of Arts: Medalists. Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine National Endowment for the Arts, accessed September 22, 2007.
^ abClausen, Meredith L., Pietro Belluschi: Modern American Architect, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London 1994, ISBN 0-262-03220-1
^Libby, Brian (6 July 2021). "Nearly 80 Years Later, An Architect Rescues a Japanese-Inspired Masterwork Designed by His Father". Dwell. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
^Eastman, Janet (2018-09-27). "Modernist architect Pietro Belluschi's modest farmhouse for sale (photos)". The Oregonian, OregonLive. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
^ abcd"Architects Associated with Oregon State Hospital". Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^Adams, Bree (2009-10-09). "Northrup: History in the re-making". thelinfieldreview.com. The Linfield Review. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
^ abGregg, Robert D. 1970. Chronicles of Willamette, volume II: Those eventful years of the President Smith era. Salem, Or: Willamette University.
^"Peter Kerr House by Pietro Belluschi at GreatBuildings". GreatBuildings. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. ISBN 0-9603408-1-5.
^"Central Lutheran Church: Building History". Archived from the original on July 30, 2007. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^"Tucker-Maxon School excels". The Southeast Examiner of Portland Oregon. Apr 1, 2013. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^"Salem (Oregon) Online History - YWCA". www.salemhistory.net. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^Marion County Circuit Court:The Marion County Courthouse: A Historical Perspective Archived 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
^"Archives West: Pietro Belluschi Collection, 1927-1983". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^A Guide To Baltimore Architecture, Third Edition, Dorsey & Dilts, 1997 ISBN 0-87033-477-8, pg. 333-334
^ abc"Raising Baltimore's Skyline" Gunts, Edward. The Sun [Baltimore, Md] 27 Dec 1987: T11.
^"University of Oregon News release: "UO Gallery Shows Drawings by Pietro Belluschi". Archived from the original on May 29, 2004. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^A Guide To Baltimore Architecture, Third Edition, Dorsey & Dilts, 1997 ISBN 0-87033-477-8, pg. 347
^"The Unitarian Universalist Church". Archived from the original on April 10, 2011. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^"Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (Roseburg, Oregon)". Building Oregon. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^"Finally Looking Like A Church", Gunts, Edward. The Sun [Baltimore, Md] 02 Jan 1997: 2B.
^"Welcome to Campus Ministry! | University of Portland". www.up.edu. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
^Clausen, Meredith L. Spiritual Space: The Religious Architecture of Pietro Belluschi, University of Washington Press; First Edition, August 1992.
^George Fox University: Centennial Clock Tower Archived 2008-09-26 at the Wayback Machine,
^"George Fox Athletics". George Fox Athletics. Retrieved Jan 10, 2020.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pietro Belluschi.
Oregon Encyclopedia biography
1983 interview from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
Photographs of Pietro Belluschi's works from the Phyllis and Robert Massar Photograph Collection of Pacific Northwest Architecture - University of Washington Digital Collections