Max Abramovitz


Max Abramovitz was an American architect. He was best known for his work with the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz.

Life

Abramovitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrant parents. He graduated in 1929 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture. While a Junior at Illinois, Abramovitz was a member of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. He later received an M.S. from Columbia University's architecture school in 1931. He also was the recipient of a two-year fellowship at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris before returning to the US and becoming partners with Wallace Harrison from 1941 to 1976. In 1961, he was an invited resident of the American Academy in Rome.
Abramovitz died in September 2004 in Pound Ridge, New York, at the age of 96. His drawings and archives are held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. Abramovitz also received an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Illinois in 1970.

Work

Brandeis University

Abramovitz was a friend and student of Brandeis University president Abram L. Sachar, who recruited him to work on his new campus. For 30 years Abramovitz oversaw university planning, was a University Fellow and served on its Board of Overseers and the Creative Arts Commission. Abramovitz designed the "vast majority of buildings on the Brandeis campus" during the mid-1950s, including: