Innovative Architect Frank Gehry Passes Away at 96, Leaving a Legacy of Iconic Designs
Renowned architect Frank Gehry, celebrated for his groundbreaking and imaginative architectural designs, has passed away at the age of 96 at his home in Santa Monica following a brief battle with a respiratory illness. Gehry is survived by his wife, three children, and a remarkable portfolio of architectural masterpieces including Spain’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, which revitalized the field of architecture and established Gehry as a luminary in his field. He went on to create numerous architectural landmarks such as the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and New York’s 8 Spruce Street, each showcasing his distinctive style.
Gehry, born Frank O. Goldberg on February 28, 1929, in Toronto, was raised in a working-class Jewish family. His early exposure to metal work at his grandfather’s hardware store sparked a lifelong passion for the material. Additionally, Gehry’s affinity for fish motifs, seen in projects like his 1983 fish lamps for the Formica Corporation and the “Fish Dance” sculpture in Kobe, Japan, was inspired by his grandmother’s habit of bringing live fish home.
In 1947, Gehry moved to Los Angeles following high school graduation, partly due to his father’s health condition which required a warmer climate. During this period, he pursued art and architecture studies at L.A. City College and later at the University of Southern California. It was while delivering furniture during a day job that he met his first wife, Anita Snyder. They married in 1952, and it was Snyder who suggested the change of his surname to Gehry in 1954 to better navigate the prevalent antisemitism of the time.
After graduating from USC in 1954, Gehry served two years in the U.S. Army before joining Gruen Associates, a renowned firm behind the American shopping mall concept. He briefly attended Harvard University for urban planning but returned to Los Angeles in 1957, completing his first private project for a family friend of his wife. In 1961, he briefly worked under French architect Andre Remondet before permanently settling back in Los Angeles in 1962 to establish his own firm.
Initially adhering to Modernist architectural principles, Gehry’s creative evolution was greatly influenced by Los Angeles’s vibrant artistic community, leading him to embrace more experimental designs. His 1970s trapezoidal, wood-frame studio for artist Ron Davis marked a significant departure from conventional architecture.
By this time, Gehry had divorced Snyder and, in 1975, married Berta Aguilera, with whom he transformed a Santa Monica home into an early example of his innovative style. This renovation, completed in 1978, garnered widespread attention and established him as a visionary architect.
Gehry’s first major civic commission came in 1988 with the design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which earned him the distinction of being the first Los Angeles-based architect to receive the Pritzker Prize in 1989. Before the hall was constructed, Gehry unveiled the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. This project became an international phenomenon, attracting millions of visitors and inspiring cities worldwide to commission Gehry for similar transformative projects, eventually leading to the completion of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.
Gehry’s firm, known for his personal involvement in every project, has produced numerous iconic structures, including Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture and Las Vegas’s Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, revealing his whimsical touch that defied architectural minimalism.
The architecture world will feel the absence of Gehry’s creative genius. As of now, Gehry Partners has not commented on the future of his ongoing projects, such as a new Louis Vuitton flagship store and a concert hall for the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles.
