Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Encyclopedia
Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon was the architectural firm
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 best known for the 1931 Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...

, the tallest building in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and the world, at that time.

The firm was formed in 1929 by the Canadian Richmond Harold ("R.H.") Shreve
Richmond Shreve
Richmond Harold Shreve was a renowned Canadian architect....

, William F. Lamb
William F. Lamb
William Frederick Lamb was the principal designer of the Empire State Building.Lamb was born in Brooklyn and studied at William College, Columbia University's School of Architecture and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He joined the firm of Carrere & Hastings in 1911...

 from Brooklyn, and Arthur Loomis Harmon
Arthur Loomis Harmon
Arthur Loomis Harmon was an American architect. He is most famous as the design partner of the firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon....

 from Chicago. Shreve and Lamb had worked together for the firm Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...

 and formed their own practice in 1924. Shreve was the businessman and organizer; Lamb the designer. As Shreve and Lamb, then Shreve Lamb and Blake, after about 1920 they served as the successor firm to Carrère and Hastings and are credited with relatively minor New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 projects such as the Forbes Building and the completion of John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...

's Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway. However, the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...

 is by far the partnership's most significant design.

Harmon came into the partnership in 1929, after the Empire State Building was already underway. In their first meeting with the client John Jacob Raskob
John J. Raskob
John Jakob Raskob, KCSG was a financial executive and businessman for DuPont and General Motors, and the builder of the Empire State Building. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1928 to 1932 and a key supporter of Alfred E. Smith's candidacy for President of the United...

, Lamb asked Raskob about his vision for the building. Raskob stood a pencil on end and said, "How high can you make it so that it won't fall down?"

Notable buildings

All in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 unless otherwise indicated:
  • Reynolds Building
    Reynolds Building
    The Reynolds Building is a 314ft skyscraper in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was completed in 1929 and has 21 floors. When completed as the headquarters of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was the tallest building in the United States south of Baltimore, Maryland, and it won a national...

    , Winston-Salem
    Winston-Salem, North Carolina
    Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...

    , 1929
  • 521 Fifth Avenue (also known as the Lefcourt National Building), 1929
  • 740 Park Avenue
    740 Park Avenue
    740 Park Avenue is a luxury apartment building on Park Avenue in Manhattan, which has been the home to many wealthy and famous residents. The building also carries the address 71 East 71st Street.-History:...

     (with Rosario Candela
    Rosario Candela
    Rosario Candela was an Italian American architect who achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City, primarily during the boom years of the 1920s. He is credited with defining the city's characteristic terraced setbacks and signature penthouses. Over time, Candela's...

    ), 1930
  • 500 Fifth Avenue
    500 Fifth Avenue
    500 Fifth Avenue is a 60-floor , 697-foot art deco office tower in Manhattan, New York City, standing at West 42nd Street. It is adjacent to Bryant Park....

    , 1931
  • Empire State Building
    Empire State Building
    The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...

    , 1930-1931
  • 14 Wall Street
    14 Wall Street
    14 Wall Street, originally named the Bankers Trust Company Building, is a skyscraper on Wall Street in New York City, United States. It occupies the block along Nassau Street from Wall Street to Pine Street and is across from the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall...

     (formerly the Bankers Trust Company Building) addition, 1931-1932
  • Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse
    Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse
    The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building and United States Courthouse is a historic post office and courthouse located at Chattanooga, Tennessee in Hamilton County, Tennessee. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. It is listed on the National...

     (with R. H. Hunt
    R. H. Hunt
    Reuben Harrison Hunt , also known as R. H. Hunt, was an American architect who spent most of his life in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is considered to have been one of the city's most significant early architects....

    ), Chattanooga
    Chattanooga, Tennessee
    Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

    , Tennessee
    Tennessee
    Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

    , 1932
  • 99 John Deco Lofts (formerly The Great American Insurance Company Building), 1933
  • Acacia Building, Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

    , 1936
  • Hill Building
    Hill Building
    The Hill Building is a 17-story modernistic skyscaper located in Durham, North Carolina. Built in 1935-1937, the Hill Building was designed by New York City Architecture firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, best known for the design of the Empire State Building....

     (formerly the SunTrust Tower, CCB Building or Central Carolina Bank, and Durham Bank and Trust Building), Durham
    Durham, North Carolina
    Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

    , North Carolina, 1935-1937
  • Hunter College
    Hunter College
    Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...

    , 1940
  • Parkchester
    Parkchester, Bronx
    Parkchester is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the south central Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 9...

     buildings, 1939-1942
  • Best & Company Building (demolished), 1947
  • 1740 Broadway
    Mutual of New York Building
    1740 Broadway is a 26-story building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City which is owned by Vornado Realty Trust...

     (formerly the MONY Building or Mutual of New York Building), 1950
  • New York Supreme Court, Kings County
    New York Supreme Court
    The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in thestate court system of New York, United States. There is a supreme court in each of New York State's 62 counties, although some smaller counties share judges with neighboring counties...

    , 1957
  • Carman Hall
    Columbia University
    Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

    , 1960
  • United Engineering Center (demolished in 1997), 1961
  • 280 Park Avenue (formerly the Bankers Trust Building, with Emery Roth & Sons), 1961
  • 222 Broadway (formerly the Western Electric Building), 1961
  • Calyon Building (formerly the Crédit Lyonnais Building and J. C. Penney Building), 1964
  • Uniroyal Giant Tire
    Uniroyal Giant Tire
    The Uniroyal Giant Tire was constructed by the Uniroyal Tire Company, and is the largest non-production tire model ever built. The tire resides on the list of the world's largest roadside attractions....

    , Allen Park
    Allen Park, Michigan
    Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,210. The suburb of Detroit was recognized in Money Magazine's list of America's Best Small Cities. Allen Park is part of the collection of communities known as DownriverFord Motor...

    , Michigan
    Michigan
    Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

    , 1964
  • 245 Park Avenue
    245 Park Avenue
    245 Park Avenue is a 648ft tall skyscraper in New York City, New York. It was completed in 1967 and has 48 floors. Shreve, Lamb and Harmon designed the building, which is the 57th tallest building in New York City...

     (formerly the Bear Stearns Building, American Brands Building, and American Tobacco Company Building), 1967
  • 1250 Broadway (formerly the Cooper-Bregstein Building), 1967-1968
  • 475 Park Avenue South, 1969
  • Gouverneur Hospital
    Gouverneur Hospital
    Gouverneur Hospital is a public hospital in New York City. Its oldest existing building was built in 1897 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1982....

    , 1970
  • Textron Tower
    Textron Tower
    The Textron Tower, formerly the Old Stone Tower, is an International-style skyscraper in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is the world headquarters of Textron.At , it stands as the 5th-tallest building in the city and the state...

     (formerly the 40 Westminster Building and Old Stone Tower), Providence
    Providence, Rhode Island
    Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

    , Rhode Island
    Rhode Island
    The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

    , 1972
  • 55 Church Street, New Haven
    New Haven, Connecticut
    New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

    , Connecticut
    Connecticut
    Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

    , 1974
  • 130 Liberty Street
    Deutsche Bank Building
    The Deutsche Bank Building was a skyscraper at 130 Liberty Street in New York City, United States, adjacent to the World Trade Center . Opened in 1974 as Bankers Trust Plaza, the building was acquired by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower...

     (formerly the Deutsche Bank Building and One Bankers Trust Plaza, now demolished), 1974
  • 3 Park Avenue
    3 Park Avenue
    3 Park Avenue is an office building located on Park Avenue at 33rd Street in New York City, built in 1976 by Cohen Brothers Realty. The building was designed in the International Style by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, designers of the Empire State Building, and replaced Clinton & Russell's armory of...

    , 1975
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