Jacques André Fouilhoux (September 27, 1879 – June 20, 1945) was a French-born architect active in the United States from 1904 to 1945.The New York Times. (July 21, 1945). "Fall Kills Fouilhoux, Architect; Designed Fair Trylon, Perisphere". The New York Times, p. 1. Accessed August 18, 2020. He is most well known for his work on Tribune Tower in Chicago; Rockefeller Center; early skyscrapers such as the Daily News Building and 30 Rockefeller Plaza; and the 1939 New York World's Fair, for which he designed the central Trylon and Perisphere.Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks. (1986). "Tribune Tower: 435 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois". [Preliminary Staff Summary of Information]. Accessed April 23, 2020Cohen, Barbara, Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast. (1989). Trylon and Perisphere. New York: Harry N. Abrams. Accessed August 18, 2020.The New York Times. (November 25, 1939). "Designers Chosen for Tower at Fair". The New York Times, p. 16. Accessed August 18, 2020. Many of his early works are also listed in the National Historic Register, including 705 Davis Street Apartments and Wickersham Apartments in Portland, Oregon.National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Seven Hundred Five Davis Street Apartments. National Park Service. 1980. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Wickersham Apartments. National Park Service. 1983. Accessed August 18, 2020. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Fouilhoux has received less attention than partners such as John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, but was "known as an astute engineer and a painstaking supervisor and his work gained the respect of his collaborators."Savage, Charles C. (June 19, 1984). "Rockefeller Apartments". New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Accessed April 23, 2020.Krinsky, Carol Herselle. (1978). Rockefeller Center. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 47. Accessed August 18, 2020.Wind, Herbert Warren. (November 27, 1954). "Architect," The New Yorker, p. 56.
Early life and education Jacques André Fouilhoux, better known as J.A. Fouilhoux throughout his career in the United States, was born to a Catholic family in Paris, France, on September 27, 1879. He attended the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris, and went on to earn B.A., B.S. and B.Ph. degrees from the University of Paris (Sorbonne). He was then accepted into the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, where he studied architecture as well as civil and mechanical engineering. Following his graduation, he moved to the United States in 1904 and began his architectural career as a draftsman for Albert Kahn in Detroit.Ferry, W. Hawkins. (1970). The Legacy of Albert Kahn. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, pp. 10–11. Accessed August 18, 2020 In 1908, he and Jean Butler Clark of Baltimore married in New York.New York Building Congress, Inc. (1945). "J. André Fouilhoux." Building Congress News, July 1945 (Commemorative Edition). Accessed April 23, 2020.
Career Early works In 1909, Fouilhoux relocated to Portland, and began a partnership with Morris H. Whitehouse that would last until World War I. Fouilhoux was prolific during the eight years he worked in Portland, and constructed a dozen notable buildings, including educational institutions (e.g., Jefferson High School, the University Club) and residential buildings.Oregon Digital. (2009). Jefferson, Thomas, School (Portland, Oregon). University of Oregon Libraries. Accessed April 23, 2020. His earliest works were constructed in late-19th and early-20th century revival styles—French Renaissance, Collegiate Gothic, Tudor, Jacobethan, Colonial, and English Arts and Crafts.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Corbett, Elliott R., House. National Park Service. 1996. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Corbett, H. L. and Gretchen Hoyt, House. National Park Service. 1991. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Mann, Anna Lewis, Old People's Home. National Park Service. 1992. Accessed August 18, 2020.National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Waverly Country Club Clubhouse. National Park Service. 2013. Accessed March 29, 2020. While this design approach befit the zeitgeist, critics and historic preservationists describe a unique perspective in his architectural style. This is especially evident in Jefferson High School (1909), which subtly revealed and navigated tensions between the Classical Revival movement and more modern Arts and Crafts style.
Fouilhoux's architecture, particularly the balance between referential embellishment and modern sensibility, had an enduring effect on Oregon.American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter. (1968). A Guide to Portland architecture. Portland, OR: Portland, Oregon chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Accessed August 18, 2020.Powell, M. (July 13, 2016). "$1,300,000 Homes in St. Louis, Arkansas and Oregon". The New York Times. Accessed April 23, 2020. Many of his buildings there are still standing and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Several continue to be highly sought-after residences that have defined luxurious neighborhoods, such as Wickersham Apartments (1910) and 705 Davis Street Apartments (1913).Eastman, Janet. (August 22, 2018). "Portland's most beautiful apartment buildings". Oregonlive. Accessed April 23, 2020.
With the outbreak of World War I, Fouilhoux put his burgeoning career on pause and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as an officer in France in the 129th Field Artillery Regiment with future president Harry S. Truman and was discharged with the rank of major.American Standards Association. (1945). Industrial Standardization (Vol. 16).
Tribune Tower and Daily News Building
In 1920, Fouilhoux returned to the U.S. and for the rest of his life would be based in New York The New York Times. (November 7, 1931). "Anita C. Fouilhoux, Debutante, Honored". The New York Times, p. 21. Accessed August 18, 2020.The New York Times. (November 3, 1938). "J. Andre Fouilhoux Leases In Park Ave.". The New York Times, p. 43. Accessed August 18, 2020. He began making substantial contributions to modernist design approaches that would create a new architectural specter: the skyscraper.Korom, Joseph J. (2008). The American Skyscraper, 1850-1940: A Celebration of Height. Boston: Branden Books. Accessed August 18, 2020. In the post-war architectural boom, Fouilhoux's work espoused and memorialized American democratic values, particularly freedom of the press.
In 1922, Fouilhoux, Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells devised a design submission to the international competition for the Tribune Tower in Chicago along with over 260 other entries. With Fouilhoux working as an associate to partners Hood and Howells, their submission won the competition. The building melded medieval gothic architectural design elements with the Art Deco sensibility of a modern office building.Fila, Bob & Blair Kamin. (2000). Tribune Tower: American Landmark. Chicago: Tribune Company. Accessed April 23, 2020.Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). "Tribune Tower: Building, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Accessed April 23, 2020. A lightness in the building's gothic details enables the vibrancy of the design to not be beholden to its silhouette, as with other skyscrapers. Hood and Howell's design and the praise from the competition jurors encapsulated the architectural moment of the time—nostalgic, but on the brink of modern. Old elements were used in new ways, including at least 150 artifacts from historic sites that decorated the walls alongside quotes from historical figures. These inscriptions and sculptural details span decades and continents, memorializing the past in order to imagine the future that the Tribune Company aimed for.
Upon opening in 1925, the building was described by critics as idiosyncratic but designed for practical use, with historical perspective, humor, and a vision of the future. Fouilhoux and other contributors were immortalized as fable characters in Aesop's screen in a large carved stone display above the main entrance. In a nod to the nickname assigned to Frenchmen during World War I, Fouilhoux is represented by a frog.
In 1930, Howells, Hood and Fouilhoux designed another journalism building—the Daily News Building in New York. Though the owners of the News Building and Tribune Tower had family ties, the buildings did not share the neo-gothic design influence that distinguishes the latter; with the towering skyscraper design of the News Building, Fouilhoux entered into the "modernist vanguard." The News Building does, however, share Tribune Tower's use of art deco elements and quotes and symbols of democratic values and the American Protestant work ethic. The building was well received by critics, architects and New Yorkers, with a 1932 exhibition at MoMA describing it as the "most effective skyscraper in New York."Smith, G. E. Kidder and Paul Goldberger. (1996). Source Book of American Architecture: 500 Notable Buildings from the 10th Century to the Present. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Accessed August 18, 2020.
Rockefeller Center
In 1931, Fouilhoux joined a consortium of preeminent architectural firms coordinated by Raymond Hood that would be involved in the construction of Rockefeller Center.Richards, William. (July 25, 2018). "Is Rockefeller Center the true center of New York?" . The American Institute of Architects. Accessed April 23, 2020 Todd, Robertson and Todd Engineering Corp., as advisers to John D. Rockefeller and his family, "selected architects who would be primarily interested in good planning, utility, cost, income, low operating expenses and progress ... men who were not committed to the architectural past nor too much interested in wild modernism."National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Rockefeller Center. National Park Service. 1987. Accessed April 23, 2020. Three different firms—listed as Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray; Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux; and Reinhard & Hofmeister—formed the collective Associated Architects for Rockefeller Center. Fouilhoux had the greatest influence on the central fixture of the complex, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, known colloquially as "30 Rock". The RCA combined Art Deco design elements with Beaux-Arts inspiration and the increasingly widespread International Style.Goldberger, Paul. (July 14, 1976). "Rockefeller Center Design: A Triumph for 30's and 70's". The New York Times. Accessed April 23, 2020. From its inception, Rockefeller Center has captured the urban imagination of commercial media. In the 1980s, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times reflected on its status: "It was always respected. Now, however, it seems more to be idolized, copied by young architects as they sketch new towers and chosen by urban planners as the model that large-scale urban complexes should strive to follow."Goldberger, Paul. (June 17, 1982). "Rockefeller Center at 50: A Model Of Urban Design; An Appraisal". The New York Times. Accessed April 23, 2020.