Joseph Allen Stein

Joseph Stein, (April 10, 1912 – October 14, 2001) was an American architect. An a major figure in the establishment of a regional modern architecture in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1940s and 1950s during the early days of the environmental design movement, he is noted for designing several important buildings in India, most notably in Lodhi Estate in Central Delhi, nicknamed “Steinabad” after him, and where today the 'Joseph Stein Lane', is the only road in Delhi named after an architect.[1][2]

Contents

Biography

Joseph Allen Stein was born on April 10, 1912, in Omaha, Nebraska. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.[3] He worked for Eli Jacques Kahn in New York and with Richard Neutra in Los Angeles, before establishing his own practice in San Francisco.

In 1952 he moved to India, and became head of the department of architecture at the Bengal Engineering College in Calcutta. He worked in New Delhi from 1955 onwards, starting with another American architect, Benjamin Polk [4] and even after retirement in 1995, continued to design for the architecture firm he founded. Over the year, he brought in ‘California modernism’ to several buildings he designed in Delhi, including, the Ford Foundation headquarters and the India International Centre (IIC) (1962), United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Wide Fund for Nature, a conservatory within Lodhi Gardens, Gandhi-King Plaza, an open-air memorial in IIC, Triveni Kala Sangam at Mandi House, the American International School and the Australian high commission in Chanakyapuri. Several of his disciples went on to establish leading architectural firms and real estate development businesses; J. K. Jain (architect & real estate developer), Chairman at Dasnac Designarch; and Anuraag Chowfla and Meena Mani (architects), Principals at Mani & Chowfla, to name a few.[1]

In 1993, Building in the Garden, a study of his work, by Stephen White, dean of the School of Architecture at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island was published. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor, in 1992. He married the late Margaret Suydam in 1938. He died on October 14, 2001, at age 89 in Raleigh, North Carolina [5]. He is survived by their sons David and Ethan.

Selected projects

Notes

  1. ^ a b "An American in Delhi". Mint (newspaper). September 2, 2011. http://www.livemint.com/2011/09/02203153/An-American-in-Delhi.html?h=B. 
  2. ^ Lewis, Paul (October 14, 2001), "Joseph Stein, 89, Architect Noted for Work in India, Is Dead", New York Times., http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/nyregion/joseph-stein-89-architect-noted-for-work-in-india-is-dead.html 
  3. ^ Weinstein, Dave (April 7, 2007), "Architectural idealist: Modernist Joseph Allen Stein preferred to design public housing and finished his career in India", San Francisco Chronicle., http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/07/HOGHVP2AAP1.DTL 
  4. ^ A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India, by Jon T. Lang, Orient Blackswan, 2002. ISBN 8178240173. Page 45.
  5. ^ OBITUARY - A built legacy - Joseph Allen Stein, 1912-2001 Frontline, The Hindu, Volume 18 - Issue 23, Nov. 10 - 23, 2001.
  6. ^ "One Family Defense House Project, Designed by Gregory Ain", Architectural Forum 73, November 1940 
  7. ^ "Low-Cost House", Architectural Forum 73, October 1940 
  8. ^ among the first skyscrapers to be constructed in India.. The Telegraph, May 19, 2006.
  9. ^ Eicher: City Guide - Delhi, Eicher Goodearth Publication. 1998. ISBN 8190060120. Page 117.

Other sources

External links