Ferdinand Gottlieb

Ferdinand Gottlieb (October 5, 1919 in Berlin, Germany – October 27, 2007, in Dobbs Ferry, New York) was a New York-based architect. He headed his own firm, Ferdinand Gottlieb Associates based in Dobbs Ferry (1961-). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E1DE173AF93AA15753C1A9619C8B63]

He is best known for his interior design of the original Rizzoli International Bookstore on Fifth Avenue in New York City (1964), and for his landmark Saul Victor House in the Riverdale section of New York City (1967), noted in the American Institute of Architects' "AIA Guide to New York City" [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812931076/] as a "formal modernist design in now-grayed redwood siding." ["AIA Guide to New York City", p. 610] He is credited with designing the New York, now Horace Mann School for Nursery Years (1965), the headquarters for the now defunct salvage and construction firm Merritt-Chapman & Scott in NY (1966) and several other large commercial projects in the New York area along with numerous private residences. The Times quotes from him in 1989, decrying most builders' and designers' alienation from the "grammar" of good design, even when building million dollar mansions:"Unfortunately, a lot of these mansions are done by people who haven't studied traditional architecture very carefully. They use mass-produced windows, incorrect brick and plastic moldings ordered out of a catalogue from South Carolina. It isn't a true piece of traditional architecture, but it gives the impression of wealth." [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1D8173CF936A35751C0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=4]

After escaping from Nazi Germany in 1934, he lived in British Mandate of Palestine before emigrating to New York in 1937. He subsequently served in the United States Army Air Corps intelligence in WW II, receiving two Bronze Star medals. [http://www.riverjournalonline.com/article.php?focus=1195183891&jda=] After the war, he attended Columbia University School of Architecture, graduating 1953, and marrying Bernice Friedman the same year, with whom he raised three children. He taught classes at the New York Real Estate Institute at NYU starting in 1967. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30B1FF7385E137A93C0A8178DD85F438685F9&scp=5&sq=Ferdinand+Gottlieb&st=p]

References

1. "AIA Guide to New York City", by Norval White and Elliott Willensky (4th ed.), p. 610.2. "American Architects Directory" 3rd ed. (New York, 1970), sv Gottleb, Ferdinand.3. Obituary, "River Journal", online edition, Nov. 16, 2007 [http://www.riverjournalonline.com/article.php?focus=1195183891&jda=] 4. Obituary, "New York Times", online edition, Oct. 29, 2007 [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E1DE173AF93AA15753C1A9619C8B63] 5. F. Gottlieb, "Letter to the Editor," "New York Times" April 13, 1982 [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6DE123CF930A25757C0A964958260&scp=13&sq=ferdinand+gottlieb&st=nyt]