Bunshaft, Gordon

Bunshaft, Gordon, 1909–90, American architect, b. Buffalo, N.Y. As chief designer for the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Bunshaft was responsible for Lever House, New York City's first glass curtain-wall skyscraper (1952), which has been widely imitated. Among his other works are the Manufacturers Trust Company building on Fifth Ave. at 43d St. in Manhattan, New York City; a complex of buildings near Hartford for the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; and the Banque Lambert, Brussels (1965).

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Bunshaft, Gordon (1909–90) architect; born in Buffalo, N.Y. He studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined Skidmore and Owings in 1937. His public and corporate buildings are characterized by inventive design; especially influential were his skyscraper towers set back in plazas (Lever House (1952), New York City); suburban offices in landscaped parks (Connecticut General Life Insurance Building (1957), Bloomfield, Conn.); and sloping facades (9 West 57th Street Building (1974), New York).