Levi was born on December 8, 1874, on West
51st Street in
Midtown Manhattan. His father, Albert Augustus Levi, was an investment banker originally from Germany and was one of the trustees of the
Society for Ethical Culture upon its founding in 1877. The elder Levi was also a brother-in-law of the Seligman brothers who founded
J. & W. Seligman & Co. Levi helped found the San Francisco branch of the family business, J. Seligman & Co. Two of his aunts married into the Seligman family and his uncles-in-law included prominent investment bankers
Isaac Seligman and
Joseph Seligman. He joined the practice of
Francis H. Kimball upon finishing his studies and designed the
J. & W. Seligman & Company Building with Kimball. He subsequently co-founded the architecture practice Taylor & Levi with
Alfredo S. G. Taylor and designed commercial buildings and residences. He was a partner in the firm from 1907 to 1962. In 1929, he helped design a plan for
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He founded the Architects Emergency Committee in 1930 whose purpose was to provide work for architects throughout the
Great Depression. In 1937, he co-designed the U.S. Pavilion at the
Paris International Exhibition of 1937 and the Romanian House at the
New York World’s Fair in 1939. He also served as a president of the
Architectural League of New York and was a long-time associate with the
American Institute of Architecture. For his work in restoring the
Chartres Cathedral, Levi was made a
Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1951 by the
French government. He was called a
Renaissance man in his
New York Times obituary. == Personal life ==