Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz (1885–1910) The firm traces its origins to 1885, when
Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz worked on the design of the Metropolitan Telephone Building on Cortlandt Street between
Broadway and
Church Street in
Manhattan. Eidlitz was the son of noted architect and a founder of the
American Institute of Architects Leopold Eidlitz and nephew of
Marc Eidlitz, a major New York builder. The commission began the firm's long association with what was to become the
New York Telephone Company and, later,
Verizon.
Works as C.L.W. Eidlitz: • 1885 –
Alexander Graham Bell commissions first Manhattan telephone building
Eidlitz & McKenzie (1900–1910) Eidlitz formed a partnership with structural engineer
Andrew C. McKenzie, establishing the firm of Eidlitz & McKenzie, to pioneer a new building design. With Andrew McKenzie, he formed one of the first architecture firms that put architects and engineers on equal footing. Eidlitz and McKenzie worked primarily on telephone buildings, a new building type in the period. In 1905, the firm designed
The New York Times Building on the site then renamed
Times Square in its honor. The task was complicated by the simultaneous construction of
a subway at the building's foundation.
Works as Eidlitz & McKenzie: • 1900–1909 – The New York Times Tower, No.
1 Times Square • 1896–1897 – Society House of The American Society of Civil Engineers,
220 West 57th Street McKenzie, Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker (1910–1926) In 1910,
Eidlitz withdrew from the firm.
Stephen F. Voorhees and
Paul Gmelin, already with the firm became partners and Eidlitz and McKenzie was reorganized and renamed as McKenzie, Voorhees and Gmelin. This became a tradition of the firm: partners choosing their successors from within the firm in order to establish a smooth transfer of ownership. Over the next fifteen years, the firm added notable designs for clients in the telephone, banking and R&D industries, including labs for
Western Electric (1922), the
South Brooklyn Savings Bank (1924) and the
Brooklyn Municipal Building (1924).
Works as McKenzie, Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker: • 1910–1919 –
New York Telephone Building • 1922–1924 –
National Bible Institute School and Dormitory, 340 West 55th Street
Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker (1926–1940) Upon McKenzie's death,
Ralph T. Walker became a partner, and the firm name was changed to
Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker. For the next decade, the design and construction of a series of skyscrapers began at the firm with the hiring of
Ralph T. Walker. Notable structures included the
Barclay-Vesey Building, completed in 1926; the Western Union Building at
60 Hudson Street, completed in 1930 and now a central technical facility;
Salvation Army Headquarters, completed in 1930; the 50-story Irving Trust Headquarters Building at
1 Wall Street, completed in 1931; and
32 Avenue of the Americas, completed in 1932. During the
Great Depression Walker and Voorhees worked on the 1933
Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago and the
1939 New York World's Fair. The firm's
Petroleum Industries Pavilion (1939) was critically well received.
Works as Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker: • 1922–1926 –
Barclay–Vesey Building • 1922–1924 – 340 West 55th Street, originally the
National Bible Institute School and Dormitory • 1929 –
New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building,
Newark, New Jersey • 1929 –
Times Square Building, Rochester, New York • 1929–1930 –
Salvation Army Headquarters, 120–130 West 14th Street • 1930 –
60 Hudson Street • 1961 –
Eleutherian Mills Historical Library (since 1984 the
Hagley Library).
Smith, Smith Lundberg & Waehler (1964–1968) In 1964, after
Robert Lundberg and
Frank J. Waehler became partners, a newly christened Smith, Smith Lundberg & Waehler was formed. With the celebration of its seventy-fifth anniversary in the early 1960s the firm began to expand its operations internationally. At the same time, the office continued to design extensive testing and research facilities for both private and government clients within the United States. One notable example of this work was the
Goddard Space Flight Center, a multi-building project for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was completed in 1965 to implement President
John F. Kennedy's commitment to put a man on the moon. With the retirements of
Benjamin Lane Smith in 1966 and
Perry Coke Smith in 1968, the Smith names were dropped from the firm of Haines, Lundberg Waehler.
Works as Smith, Smith Lundberg & Waehler: • 1961 –
Stony Brook University Campus ==History of Haines, Lundberg & Waehler (1968–present)==