Henry N. Cobb

Henry Nichols Cobb (April 8, 1926 – March 2, 2020) was an American architect and founding partner with I.M. Pei and Eason H. Leonard of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, an international architectural firm based in New York City.

Early life[]

Henry N. Cobb was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Elsie Quincy (Nichols) and Charles Kane Cobb, an investment counselor.^[1] He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Career[]

Cobb was an architect. Additionally, he was the chairman of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University from 1980 to 1985.^[2] He received honorary degrees from Bowdoin College and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In 1983, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician, and became a full Academician in 1990. Cobb won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's 2013 Lynn S. Beedle Award,^[3] and was awarded the Architectural League of New York's President’s Medal in 2015.^[4]

Personal life and death[]

Cobb lived in New York City and North Haven, Maine.^{[citation needed]} He died on March 2, 2020, in Manhattan at the age of 93.^[5][1]

Notable buildings[]

Place Ville Marie in Montreal (1962)

John Hancock Tower, Boston (1976)

U.S. Bank Tower (center), Los Angeles (1990)

Notable buildings for which Cobb was principally responsible include:

• Place Ville Marie in Montreal (1962)
• Campus of the State University of New York Fredonia (1968)
• Harbor Towers, Boston (1971)
• John Hancock Tower, Boston (1976)
• Wilson Commons at the University of Rochester (1976)
• World Trade Center, Baltimore (1977)
• One Dallas Centre, Dallas (1979)
• Johnson and Johnson Plaza, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1983)
• ARCO Tower, Dallas (1983)
• Charles Shipman Payson Building, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine (1983)
• Pitney Bowes World Headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut (1985)
• Library Tower, Los Angeles (1989), now U.S. Bank Tower
• Credit Suisse First Boston headquarters at Canary Wharf, London (1992)
• UCLA Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (1995)
• American Association for the Advancement of Science headquarters, Washington, D.C. (1996)
• John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse and Harborpark, Boston (1998)
• College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (1999)
• World Trade Center Barcelona, Barcelona (1999)
• National Constitution Center, Philadelphia (2003)
• Hyatt Center, Chicago (2005)
• Palazzo Lombardia, Milano (2005)
• International Monetary Fund Headquarters 2, Washington, D.C. (2005)
• Center for Government and International Studies at Harvard University (2005)
• 1 Memorial Drive, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (2008)
• Torre Espacio, Madrid, Spain (2008)
• 200 West Street, New York (2009)
• Palazzo Lombardia, Milan (2010)
• 7 Bryant Park, New York (2016) ^[6]
• Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, One Dalton Street, Boston (2019)

Gallery[]

• 

  200 Clarendon, formerly John Hancock Tower, Boston, MA (1976)

• 

  Johnson & Johnson Headquarters, New Brunswick, NJ (1983)

• 

  Torre Espacio, Madrid, Spain (2008)

Bibliography[]

• Henry N. Cobb: Words & Works 1948-2018: Scenes from a Life in Architecture (2018). Monacelli Press. ISBN 9781580935142.

References[]

External links[]

• Cobb biography on website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
• Thomas Farragher: Special Report on the Boston Globe; "The Hancock at 30" includes Henry Cobb audio slideshow (paywalled)