February 28: Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry (Goldberg), the world’s best-known architect today, was born in Toronto on this date in 1928. His grandparents owned a hardware store and encouraged him to explore building materials as his childhood toys. He moved to California at 19, spent several years as a trucker, graduated from architecture school in 1954, and then attended Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Gehry left the program, however, as a matter of conscience after learning that one professor was designing a palace for the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Gehry’s most famous structures include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago; and the “Dancing House” in Prague. His work has fetched numerous awards and honors, including the National Medal of Honor and honorary doctorates at 14 colleges and universities.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” —Frank Gehry