Charles Luckman
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architect
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...
, famous as the "Boy Wonder of American Business" when he was named president of the Pepsodent
Pepsodent
Pepsodent is a brand of toothpaste with a minty flavour derived from Sassafras. The brand is owned by Unilever, but in 2003 the rights to the brand in the United States and Canada were bought by Church and Dwight....
toothpaste
Toothpaste
Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush as an accessory to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it serves as an abrasive that aids in removing the dental plaque and food from the teeth, assists in suppressing...
company in 1939 at the age of thirty. Through acquisition, he later became president of Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
.
During the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Luckman served on the President's Committee on Civil Rights
President's Committee on Civil Rights
The President's Committee on Civil Rights was established by Executive Order 9808, which Harry Truman, who was then President of the United States, issued on December 5, 1946. The committee was instructed to investigate the status of civil rights in the country and propose measures to strengthen...
, and in 1947, President Truman asked him to help feed starving Europe. For this work, he was honored with Britain's Order of St. John
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, France's Legion of Honor, and Italy's Star of Solidarity.
Luckman had always wanted to be an architect. As a nine-year-old paper boy outside the Muehlebach Hotel
Muehlebach Hotel
The Muehlebach Hotel is a historic hotel building in Downtown Kansas City that was visited by every President from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan. It is currently operated as one of three wings of the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.-History:...
in Kansas City, he asked a customer about the pretty lights and was told they were called "chandeliers." Then he asked, "Who does... Who decides on things like that?" "An architect," came the reply. "He designs the hotel and says to put the chandeliers there." Luckman wrote in his memoir, "Right then and there I decided to become an architect."
He trained at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
where he was a member of the Professional Engineering Fraternity Theta Tau
Theta Tau
ΘΤ Fraternity was founded in 1904 by four engineering students at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As defined by the fraternity, the purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of...
, and the Social Fraternity Chi Psi
Chi Psi
Chi Psi Fraternity is a fraternity and secret society consisting of 29 active chapters at American colleges and universities. It was founded on Thursday May 20, 1841, by 10 students at Union College with the idea of emphasizing the fraternal and social principles of a brotherhood...
but went into sales after graduating during the depths of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. After almost twenty years of great success in business, he helped plan Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
' New York skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
, Lever House
Lever House
Lever House, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and located at 390 Park Avenue in New York City, is the quintessential and seminal glass-box skyscraper built in the International style according to the design principles of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Completed in 1952, it was...
, one of the first sealed glass towers that began the curtain wall trend. The complex, designed by Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft was an architect educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1988, Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the Pritzker Prize and eventually won it.-Career:...
of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, was innovative in several other ways, as well, including a rare public plaza at ground level.
Reminded of his architectural roots, Luckman resigned the presidency of Lever Brothers, moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and began practicing architecture with fellow University of Illinois graduate William Pereira
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
c1950 as Pereira & Luckman
Pereira & Luckman
Pereira & Luckman was a Los Angeles, California architectural firm. The firm designed the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport and employed Paul Williams ....
. Their partnership led to works such as CBS Television City
CBS Television City
CBS Television City is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of North Fairfax Avenue...
, but the two went separate ways in 1959. Luckman's firm went on to design the Prudential Tower
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, the new Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
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...
, Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium is a stadium located in the Halawa CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Currently Aloha Stadium is home to the University of Hawaii Warriors football team...
in Honolulu, Aon Center
Aon Center (Los Angeles)
Aon Center is a 62-story, Modernist office skyscraper located at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, California. Designed by Charles Luckman, and completed in 1973, the rectangular black building with white trim is remarkably slender for a skyscraper in a seismically active area. It is...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in Houston, Texas, USA...
in Houston.
Luckman's autobiography is Twice in a Lifetime: From Soap to Skyscrapers (New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1988) 0-393-02584-5.
"Learn to listen to your clients. It's a shocking thought, but your client was smart enough to make enough money to hire you and to afford to build a building. Listen. You just may possibly learn."
Portfolio
- Robertson GymnasiumRobertson GymnasiumRobertson Gymnasium is a 2,600 to 4,000-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California.-History:Robertson Gymnasium was built in 1958 and completed in 1959...
, Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, 1959 - Lyndon B. Johnson Space CenterLyndon B. Johnson Space CenterThe Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in Houston, Texas, USA...
(formerly the Manned Spacecraft Center), Houston, 1962–1963 - 9200 Sunset (formerly the Luckman Plaza), West HollywoodWest Hollywood, CaliforniaWest Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
, 1964 - Prudential TowerPrudential TowerThe Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
, BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, 1960–1964 - Kennedy Space CenterKennedy Space CenterThe John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
(formerly the Launch Operations Center and Launch Operations Directorate), Merrit IslandMerritt Island, FloridaMerritt Island is a census-designated place in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located on the east coast of the state on the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2000 census, the population was 36,090. It is part of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, 1964–1965 - Federal Pavilion (demolished in 1977), New York CityNew York CityNew 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...
, 1964 - The ForumThe Forum (Inglewood, California)The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
, InglewoodInglewood, CaliforniaInglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
, 1967 - Madison Square GardenMadison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, New York City, 1968 - Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, 1969 - McDonald Investment CenterMcDonald Investment CenterMcDonald Investment Center, also known as Key Center and formerly known as the Central National Bank Building, is a commercial high-rise building in Cleveland, Ohio. The building rises 308 feet in Downtown Cleveland. It contains 23 floors, and was completed in 1969. The Penton Media Building...
(also known as the Key Center, formerly the Central National Bank Building), Cleveland, 1969 - Wells Fargo PlazaWells Fargo Plaza (Phoenix)The Wells Fargo Plaza is a high-rise skyscraper located on 100 West Washington Street in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It opened as the First National Bank Plaza on October 25, 1971. It is 372 feet tall. It is designed in the Brutalist style, an architectural style spawned from the...
(formerly the First National Bank Plaza and First Interstate Bank Building), PhoenixPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, 1971 - Wells Fargo PlazaWells Fargo Plaza (El Paso)The Wells Fargo Plaza is a high-rise skyscraper located on 221 North Kansas Street in Downtown El Paso, Texas, United States. It opened as the First National Bank Plaza on October 25, 1971, and was later renamed the State National Plaza. It is 296 feet tall...
(formerly the Norwest Plaza and State National Bank Building), El PasoEl Paso, TexasEl Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, 1971 - Wells Fargo CenterWells Fargo Center (Portland, Oregon)Wells Fargo Center is an office building located in Portland, Oregon, United States. The tower rises 546 feet with 40 floors of office space and three levels of parking below the surface...
(formerly the First Interstate Tower and First National Bank Tower), Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, 1969–1972 - Los Angeles Convention CenterLos Angeles Convention CenterThe Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in the southwest portion of downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and Anime Expo, and is best known to video games fans as host to E3...
(partially demolished), Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 1972 - Macy's Plaza (formerly The Broadway Plaza), Los Angeles, 1973
- Aon CenterAon Center (Los Angeles)Aon Center is a 62-story, Modernist office skyscraper located at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, California. Designed by Charles Luckman, and completed in 1973, the rectangular black building with white trim is remarkably slender for a skyscraper in a seismically active area. It is...
(also known as 707 Wilshire, formerly the First Interstate Tower and United California Bank Building), Los Angeles, 1972–1973 - Hyatt RegencyHyatt Regency DearbornThe Hyatt Regency Dearborn is a major hotel and conference center located in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan at 600 Town Center Drive, near the intersection of Michigan State Highway 39 and U.S. Route 12. The building was constructed in 1976 and is regularly remodeled and...
DearbornDearborn, Michigan-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
, 1976 - Hyatt Regency PhoenixHyatt Regency PhoenixThe Hyatt Regency Phoenix is a convention hotel in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is 317 feet tall and has 24 floors. It was completed in 1976. The top floor has a revolving restaurant. It was designed by Charles Luckman and Associates to complement the Phoenix Civic Plaza and Phoenix...
, 1976