Bertrand Goldberg (1913­1997)

Dates of Interview:

February 12, 14, 19; March 4, 5, 26; April 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 1992 Location of Interview: Goldberg's home in Interviewer: Betty J. Blum Length of Transcript: 320 pages View Online

Biographical Summary Bertrand Goldberg was born in 1913 in Chicago, , and received his training in architecture from 1930 through 1936 at several institutions, including the Cambridge School of Landscape Architecture (now incorporated into Harvard University); the Bauhaus in Berlin, Germany; Armour Institute of Technology (now Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago; and also through a tutorial with engineer Frank Nydam. He worked in the offices of George Fred Keck (1935) and (1935-36) before organizing his own firm in 1937. During World War II, Goldberg was active under the Lanham Act designing housing and mobile penicillin laboratories for the U.S. government. Goldberg's distinctive designs often required innovative technology, as seen in such noted Chicago buildings as Marina City, the Raymond Hilliard Homes, and River City. He was the recipient of numerous awards and his work was the subject of many exhibitions in the United States and Europe. Goldberg was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1966, and was awarded the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 1985. Goldberg died in Chicago in 1997. Interview Highlights Goldberg speaks about study at the Cambridge School of Landscape Architecture; study with Mies van der Rohe and colleagues at the Bauhaus in Berlin; experiences in pre-war Germany; working for George Fred Keck; working for Paul Schweikher; Mies in Chicago; Mies's visit to Taliesin to see ; designs for use during WW II; prefabrication; mast-hung structures; designing and building Marina City, the Raymond Hilliard Homes, and River City.

Standard Houses; Suitland, Maryland, 1941. Bertrand Goldberg Papers, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The .