Historical Figures Codexery

Frank Gehry

Canadian and American architect known for postmodern designs and use of unconventional forms and materials, including titanium and stainless steel.

Frank Gehry

City of Toronto / Jose San Juan · via Wikipedia: Frank Gehry · Attribution

Frank Gehry was born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto, Canada, on February 28, 1929.[1][2] During the 1970s, Gehry gained widespread recognition for a design approach that combined ordinary materials with intricate, dynamic forms.[3] According to the 2010 World Architecture Survey, Gehry's buildings rank among the most significant in contemporary architecture.[3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Ephraim Owen Goldberg
Born
28 February 1929
Birthplace
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died
5 December 2025
Place of death
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Citizenship
Canada, United States
Education
University of Southern California (B.Arch)
Children
4

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Gehry's family moved to Los Angeles in 1947, and he studied at Los Angeles City College while driving a delivery truck.[4] He studied city planning at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design but dropped out to start the furniture company Easy Edges.[5][6] In 1997, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened and vaulted Gehry to international acclaim.[3] Gehry received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989.[7]

In 1954, Gehry completed his architecture degree at the University of Southern California, where William Pereira was among his instructors.[6] Because his then-wife Anita worried about antisemitism, Gehry legally changed his surname from Goldberg to Gehry in 1954.[8] A Los Angeles practice was founded by Gehry in 1962; by 1967 it was operating as Frank Gehry and Associates.[9] The renovation Gehry performed on his own Santa Monica home, which he bought in 1977, wraps a metal exterior around the original 1920 structure, leaving many of the initial details exposed.[10]

At his Santa Monica residence on December 5, 2025, Gehry passed away at age 96 due to a respiratory condition.[11]

What the cited sources add

The Basque Country Administration commissioned Gehry to design a building for its new museum that would attract visitors from around the globe.[12] Gehry's Santa Monica home was designed in the Deconstructivist style and breaks the established modernist belief that form should follow function.[13] Gehry used advanced computer technology to help bring his ideas to life.[13] Gehry's first skyscraper Beekman Tower, also known as 8 Spruce Street, in New York launched in 2011.[13]

Gehry also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2016.[13] Gehry's earlier experience building concert halls paid off in a facility that thrilled musicians with its acoustically brilliant interior.[2] In 2006, the architect and his work were the subject of a feature-length documentary film by director Sydney Pollack.[2]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Great modern buildings: Frank Gehry biography", The Guardian, October 8, 2007; Goldberger, "Frank Gehry's first playground of the imagination", Toronto Star, September 28, 2015; Filler, "Makers of Modern Architecture", New York Review Books, 2007, p. 170; "Contemporary Architects", St. James Press, 1994, p. 341–343; Chollet, "The Essential Frank O. Gehry", The Wonderland Press, 2001, p. 112; Finding Your Roots, February 2, 2016, PBS; Green, Peter S., "In the News: Warsaw Jewish Museum In Poland", The New York Times, June 30, 2005; Gorin, A en.wikipedia.org
  2. "Biography and Video Interview of Frank Gehry at Academy of Achievement", www.achievement.org. facts only, no text reused. achievement.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tyrnauer, "Architecture in the Age of Gehry", Vanity Fair, June 30, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Frank Gehry", USModernist Archives (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gehry Talks Inspiration for Acclaimed Buildings", The Harvard Crimson; Ray, "As architect Frank Gehry turns 90 years old we look back at his prolific career", ICON Magazine, February 27, 2020; Templer, Karen, "Frank Gehry", Salon, October 5, 1999 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography and Video Interview of Frank Gehry at Academy of Achievement", www.achievement.org; Hess, Alan, "Erasing Pereira", Orange Coast Magazine, June 30, 2014; Engel, Eliot L., "Congratulating the Alpha Epsilon Pi International Fraternity", Capitol Words, August 2, 2013; Schoenberg, Jeremy (January 18, 2011) "Architect Frank Gehry Named Judge Widney Professor"; USC News; Templer, Karen, "Frank Gehry", Salon, October 5, 1999; "Frank O. Gehry (1929 - 2025) - SCI-Arc", www.sciarc.edu; As architect Frank Gehry turns 90 years old we look bac en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Jury Citation: Frank Gehry: 1989 Laureate", pritzkerprize.com, 1989 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reinhart, "Frank Gehry clears the air on fishy inspiration", The Globe and Mail, July 28, 2010; Verge, "Frank Talk", July 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldberger (2015), pp.110–111<br />Lazo, Caroline Evensen (2006) Frank Gehry. Twenty-First Century Books<br /> Hawthorne, Christopher (October 8, 2014) "In Pari; Templer, Karen, "Frank Gehry", Salon, October 5, 1999; "Gehry Partners, LLP :: Home", www.foga.com; Molloy, "AD Classic: Norton House / Frank Gehry", ArchDaily.com, February 28, 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Head, "Frank Gehry: The Houses", Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2009; "Gehry House – Frank Gehry", GreatBuildings (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Frank Gehry" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ouroussoff, "An Exuberant Disrupter of Architectural Forms, Frank O. Gehry, 1929–2025", The New York Times, December 6, 2025, p. A1, A12-A13 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Templer, Karen, "Frank Gehry", Salon, October 5, 1999. facts only, no text reused. salon.com
  13. Ray, "As architect Frank Gehry turns 90 years old we look back at his prolific career", ICON Magazine, February 27, 2020. facts only, no text reused. iconeye.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Frank Gehry (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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