Harwell Hamilton Harris

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Harwell Hamilton Harris (1903, Redlands, California - November 18, 1990, Raleigh, North Carolina) was a modernist American architect, noted for his work in Southern California that assimilated European and American influences.^[1]

He began his studies at Pomona College but left after a year to study sculpture at the Otis Art Institute, now Otis College of Art and Design. In 1928, he began apprenticing under architect Richard Neutra with whom he was associated until 1932. (Fellow apprentices included Gregory Ain and Raphael Soriano.)

Adopting Neutra's modernist sensiblity, Harris merged the vernacular of California with a sensitivity to site and materials characteristic of the American Arts & Crafts movement. In his residential work of the 1930s and 1940s, primarily in California, Harris created a tension and a continuum between exterior and interior with continuous rooflines. Learning from Frank Lloyd Wright, he designed interior spaces that are often based on the cruciform plan. His work is characterized by a careful use of materials and clean, fluid spaces.

From 1952 until 1955, Harris served as the Dean for the School of Architecture of the University of Texas. The group of modernist architects he attracted to the faculty there came to be known as The Texas Rangers. In 1955, he left the university and established a private practice in Dallas, which he maintained until 1962 when he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina where he re-established his practice and began teaching at North Carolina State University. He retired from teaching in 1973 but continued to practice architecture from his home studio in Raleigh until shortly before his death there on November 18, 1990.

[edit] Notes

^ Fraser, C. Gerald (November 20, 1990), “Harwell Harris, 87, An Architect Known For House Designs”, New York Times., <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DE123BF933A15752C1A966958260>

[edit] Other sources

McCoy, Esther (1984). The Second Generation. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 0879051191.
Germany, Lisa (1991). Harwell Hamilton Harris. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292730438.