Résumé

Draftsman, Hoffman and Henon Company, Architects, Philadelphia, PA, 07/1921-09/1921. The Hoffman-Henon Company was known for its over 100 theater designs, almost half of which were located in the Philadelphia area.

Draftsman, Hewitt and Ash, Architects, Philadelphia, PA, 06/1922-09/1922.

Senior Draftsman, City of Philadelphia, City Architect's Department, Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition, Philadelphia, PA, 1924-1927. Kahn worked as Chief of Design for this exposition during 1925-1926.

Draftsman, Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, Architects, Philadelphia, PA, c. 1929.

Designer, Paul Cret, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, 1930-1932.

Founder / Director, Architectural Research Group (ARG), Philadelphia, PA, 1932-c.1935. In the ARG, Kahn collaborated with Dominique Berninger, with whom he had worked at Zantzinger, Borie and Medary.

Design group head of housing studies, Philadelphia City Planning Commission and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Philadelphia, PA, 1934-1935.

Assistant Principal Architect, Kastner and Partner, Architects, Philadelphia, PA, 1935-1937.

Consulting Architect, Philadelphia Housing Authority, Philadelphia, PA, 1937.

Consulting Architect, United States Housing Authority, Philadelphia, PA, 1939.

Associate of George Howe, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, 1941-1942.

Associate of Howe and Oscar Stonorov, Architects, Philadelphia, PA, 1942-1943.

Associate of Oscar Stonorov, Architect, Philadelphia, PA, 1943-1948.

Consulting Architect, City of Philadelphia Planning Commission, Philadephia, PA, 1946-1952 and 1961-1962.

Consulting Architect, Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, Philadephia, PA, 1951-1954.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA, 1923-1924.

Chief Critic in Architectural Design and Professor of Architecture, Yale University, School of Architecture, New Haven, CT, 1948-1957.

Albert Farwell Bemis Professor of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 1956.

Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA, 1957-1966.

Class of 1913 Visiting Lecturer, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1961-1967.

Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA, 1966-1971.

Emeritus Professor, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA, 1971-1974.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Philadelphia Chapter.

Member, City of Philadelphia Art Commission, 1968.

Professional Awards

Recipient, AIA, New York Chapter, Medal of Achievement, New York, NY, 1952.

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1953.

Recipient, National Institute of Arts and Letters, Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, New York, NY, 05/1960.

Recipient, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, grant for the study of city planning, 02/1961.

Recipient, Philadelphia Art Alliance Medal for Achievement in Architecture, Philadephia, PA, 03/1962.

Recipient, Philadelphia Arts Festival Award, Philadephia, PA, 06/1962.

Member, National Institute of Arts and Letters (NIAL), New York, NY, 1964. This honorary organization was limited to 150 male members.

Recipient, Gold Medal of Achievement, Directors Club of Philadelphia, 1964.

Recipient, Politecnico di Milano, Honorary Doctorate, Milan, Italy, 1964;

Recipient, North Carolina State University (NCSU), School of Design, Honorary Doctorate in the Humanities, Raleigh, NC, 1964.

Recipient, Franklin Institute, Frank P. Brown Medal, Philadelphia, PA, 1964.

Recipient, Yale University, Honorary Doctorate of Arts, New Haven, CT, 06/1965.

Recipient, Danish Architectural Association, Medal of Honor, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1965.

Recipient, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Annual Award, Philadelphia, PA, 1966.

Honorary Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, 1966.

Recipient, LaSalle College, Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Philadelphia, PA, 1967.

Honorary Member, College of Architects, Peru, 1967.

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 1968.

Recipient, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD, 1968.

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Philadelphia Chapter, Centennial Gold Medal, Philadelphia, PA, 1969.

Recipient, University of Connecticut, International Silver Medal, Storrs, CT, 1969.

Recipient, Bard College, Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 1970.

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), New York Chapter, Gold Medal of Honor, New York, NY, 1970.

Fellow, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1970.

Recipient, Philadelphia Award (aka the "Edward Bok Award,", Philadelphia, PA, 1970.

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Gold Medal, Washington, DC, 1971.

Recipient, American Academy of Achievement, Golden Plate Award, Washington, DC, 1971.

Recipient, University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1971.

Fellow, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 1971.

Recipient, Tulane University, Honorary Doctorate of Laws, New Orleans, LA, 1972.

Recipient, Brandeis University, Creative Arts Medal in Architecture, Waltham, MA, 1972.

Recipient, Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Gold Medal, London, UK, 1972.

Member, Royal Institute of Architects, Ireland, 1972.

Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, 1973.

Recipient, National Institute of Arts and Letters / American Academy of Arts and Letters, Gold Medal for Architecture, New York, NY, 05/1973. The 50-member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters was chosen from the larger National Institute of Arts and Letters. (See Grace Lichtenstein, Arts and Letters Awards Given; Women Promised Bigger Share," New York Times, 05/18/1973, p. 30.)

Recipient, Columbia University, Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, New York, NY, 06/1974.

Recipient, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Furness Prize, Philadelphia, PA, (awarded posthumously), 1977.

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Twenty-Five-Year Award for the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, Washington, DC, (awarded posthumously), 1979.

Recipient, Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the National Assembly Building, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, (awarded posthumously), 1989.

Archives

Archival collections of documents by or about Louis I. Kahn can be found at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design Architectural Archives, Louis I. Kahn Collection (030), Architect, 1909-1974; Yale University Library's Louis I. Kahn Collection, MS 1345; University of Buffalo Library's William S. Huff Collection on Louis I. Kahn, MS-0139-0001; and 130 drawings at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.

High School / College

Graduate, Central High School, Philadelphia, PA. c. 1920

Coursework, Graphic Sketch Club, Fleisher Memorial Art School, Philadelphia, PA. 1916-1920.

Coursework, Public Industrial Art School, Philadelphia, PA, 1916-1920.

Coursework, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1912-1920.

B.Arch., University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA, 1920-1924. Of his schooling the Kimball Art Museum.org summarized: "From an early age, Kahn displayed a gift for drawing, but his parents were too poor to buy art materials, so he improvised and sketched with burnt twigs and matches. He favored the quality of the charcoal line so much that even after he had become a celebrated architect he continued at times to draw with burnt matches. His obvious intelligence and early talent for art prompted his teachers to enroll him in competitions for gifted students throughout his public schooling. Despite winning a full art scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, a required course in architectural history during his final year in high school led him to study architecture. Kahn received Beaux-Arts training at the University of Pennsylvania, where one of his teachers was the French-born and French-educated Paul Philippe Cret, who practiced a brand of classical modernism noteworthy for its dignity and restraint. An inspiring teacher, Cret instilled in his students a reverence for the form-giving potential of Beaux-Arts principles and the harmonious power of proportion. Kahn became a devoted disciple, later working on one of Cret’s most famous buildings, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C." (See Kimball Art Museum.org, "Louis I. Kahn Biography," accessed 04/29/2025.)

Scholastic Awards

Recipient, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Prize, Philadelphia, PA, 1920.

Recipient, Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, two Second Medals, 1924.

Recipient, University of Pennsylvania, Arthur Spayd Brooke Memorial Prize, Philadelphia, PA, 1924.

Relocation

Born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky on 02/20/1901 on Ösel (Swedish spelling), an island off the coast of Estonia (then a part of the Russian Empire), Louis Isadore Kahn came to the USA on 06/25/1906 aboard the Red Star Liner, S.S. Noordland, sailing from Liverpool to Philadelphia. The ship's manifest noted that he, his mother and two siblings had last resided in "Arensbusch, Russia." The register misspelled "Arensburg," the German name for the town of Kuressaare, a municipality located on Saaremaa island off the coast of Estonia. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number: 4492386; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series: T840; Roll: 52, accessed 04/29/2025.)

His parents Leopold and Bertha likely spelled their surname "Schmuilowsky" while in Latvia/Estonia and simplified it to "Schmulovsky" once they arrived in the US. Louis, listed as "Isidor," sailed with his mother and two siblings under the surname recorded as "Kahan." The name "Kahan" on the Noordland's manifest would suggest that Louis's parents used both "Schmulowsky" as well as "Kahn" during his earliest years. When his father became an American citizen on 05/04/1915, however, a notation on the rear of the naturalization form indicated that he had legally changed his surname from "Schmulovsky" to "Kahn." (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 04/29/2025.) The website of the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX, one of the architect's greatest designs, said of his last name: "In 1915, upon becoming naturalized citizens, his parents 'Americanized' the family’s names, taking the surname Kahn, which had been chosen by a relative who had immigrated earlier." (See Kimball Art Museum.org, "Louis I. Kahn Biography," accessed 04/29/2025.)

Louis lived with his family until at least 1930, when he was 29, although his parents changed addresses periodically. After that time, he lived with his mother-in-law Annie Israeli and her household for at least fifteen years, until he had passed age 50. Living with his family may have satisfied the architect but could also have resulted from his modest early income working as an architect for the WPA and City of Philadelphia. Living with various close relatives for so long, may have impelled Kahn to rebel against confinement and convention, and to seek intimacy outside of the home.

In 1910, the Schmulovsky/Kahn family resided in an apartment at 820 Marshall Street in Philadelphia, in the Poplar neighborhood, an area where many Jewish-Americans first settled in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In 1910, Morris Schmulovsky/Kahn (born 10/25/1882 in Pärnu, Estonia, Russia) also lived in Louis's household. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1390; Page: 11b; Enumeration District: 0187; FHL microfilm: 1375403, accessed 04/29/2025.) Morris, who worked as a tailor in 1910, entered the US about one year after Leopold on 07/06/1905. There was likely a year that Leopold and Morris resided together and worked to save money to pay for the transatlantic passage of the former's wife Bertha and his three children. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Five years later, the Schmulovsky/Kahns had moved to 701 Poplar Street also in the Poplar neighborhood. His father changed the family's surname legally to "Kahn" on or about 05/04/1915. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 04/29/2025.) The 04/1910 US Census indicated that the family called itself "Kahn" at that time, so it may have been used intermittently before it was changed permanently and legally in 1915. The naturalization of his father in 1915 also granted him citizenship at the same time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, accessed 04/29/2025.)

The Kahns made their home at 2019 Franklin Street in the North Philadelphia East neighborhood in 1920. The household included two lodgers, Peter N. Bobroff (born c. 1882 in Russia), a machinist, and his wife, Gena F. Bobroff (born c. 1880 in Russia). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1617; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 473, accessed 04/29/2025.)

A decade later in 1930, Louis continued to reside with his parents, sister and her husband Joseph Friedman and brother, his wife Rosella and son Marshall at 2318 North 20th Street in Philadelphia. Oscar paid about $20 in rent. By this time, Leopold and Bertha owned their own house, valued at about $5,000, exactly on par with neigboring dwellings. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 0684; FHL microfilm: 2341846, accessed 04/29/2025.)

The architect separated from his parents and siblings prior to 1935, when his parents relocated to a rented house at 1123 1/2 East 78th Street in Los Angeles, CA. They continued to live at this address in 1940. Leopold and Bertha's neighborhood was called "San Antonio" on the 1940 US Census form, likely for the Rancho San Antonio, a 29,513-acre farm granted to the Lugo family by Mexico's Spanish government in 1810. This part of the huge Lugo rancho was later known as the "Florence-Graham" neighborood of Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: San Antonio, Los Angeles, California; Roll: m-t0627-00249; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 19-631, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Before 1940, Louis moved into the rowhouse built in 1915 owned by his widowed mother-in-law Annie Singberg Israeli at 5243 Chester Avenue in Philadelphia. Many people dwelled at this address in 1940. They included Esther Israeli, Louis's wife, his daughter Sue Anne Kahn, his sister-in-law, Regina Israeli Fine (born c. 1915 in PA), her husband Harold N. Fine (born c. 1915 in NJ) and a lodger, Katherine McMichael (born c. 1876 in PA). This three-floor rowhouse had an estimated value of $4,000, in line with others nearby according to the 1940 US Census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: m-t0627-03756; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 51-2212, accessed 04/29/2025.) (In 2025, it had six bedrooms, one bath and 2,623 square feet of floor space.)

Louis continued to reside at 5243 Chester Avenue in Philadelphia, PA on 02/16/1942 and into 1950. The household remained the same for at least ten years. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Pennsylvania, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1254, accessed 04/24/2025 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 3895; Page: 71; Enumeration District: 51-2970, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Kahn died on 03/17/1974 of a heart attack in the men's restroom at the new Penn Station in New York City. He had returned from a journey to Ahmedabad, India, where he designed the Indian Institute of Management. The architect and his wife were buried at the Montefiore Cemetery, Abington Township, PA.

Parents

His father was Leib or Leopold Schmuilowsky (aka Schmulovsky and/or Kahn, born 05/24/1875 in Wolmar, Latvia, Russia-d. 02/07/1963 in Los Angeles County, CA), who arrived in the US on 06/29/1904, aboard the Red Star liner S.S. Westernland. Leopold landed in Philadelphia, and began his transatlantic journey in Liverpool. He last lived in Pärnu (also written "Pernau" or "Pernow") Estonia, Russia, before emigrating. In 1910, at the time of his naturalization in Philadelphia, he worked as a "waistmaker," a seamster of women's blouses. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 04/29/2025.) He continued to work as a shirtmaker as per the 1920 US Census and was listed as an "operator" in a waist factory in the 1930 US Census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 0684; FHL microfilm: 2341846, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Louis's mother Beila Rebeca (Riva) "Bertha" Mendelowitsch / Mendelsohn, most commonly referred to in the US as "Bertha," (born 12/06/1872 in Riga, Latvia-d. 08/20/1958 in Los Angeles County, CA) married Leopold c. 1900, and arrived in the US in 1906 with children Louis, Sarah, and Oscar. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1390; Page: 11b; Enumeration District: 0187; FHL microfilm: 1375403, accessed 04/29/2025.)

The 1940 US Census recorded that Leopold had completed high school, while Bertha's education ended at the 8th grade.(See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: San Antonio, Los Angeles, California; Roll: m-t0627-00249; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 19-631, accessed 04/29/2025.)

The architect was the eldest of three siblings: Sarah Schmulovsky Friedman (born 06/14/1902) and Oscar Schmulovsky (born 06/15/1904). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Spouse

Kahn wed Esther Virginia Israeli (born 08/09/1905 in Philadelphia, PA-d. 02/1996), in 1930. Esther's parents were Samuel M. Israeli (born 12/06/1873 in Russia-d. 02/06/1936 in PA), an attorney, and Anne Sinberg (born 1877 in Russia-d. 12/23/1966 in Philadelphia, PA). They wed in PA in 1902. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriage Index, 1885-1951 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Anne and Samuel had three daughters, Esther (the eldest), Olivia Israeli Abelson (born 03/21/1911 in Philadelphia, PA-d. 08/18/2003 in Cambridge, MA) and Regina Catherine Israeli (born 03/11/1914 in Philadelphia, PA-d. 09/30/1994 in Philadelphia, PA).

Kahn also pursued long-term relationships with two of his co-workers, architect Anne Griswold Tyng (born 07/14/1920 in Lushan, Jiangxi, China-d. 12/27/2011 in Greenbrae, CA) and landscape architect Harriet Pattison (born 10/29/1928 in Chicago, IL-d. 10/03/2023 in Newtown Square, PA). Eugene Carlson, writing for Cascade PBS.org, said of his relations with Tyng and Pattison: "It’s impossible to consider Kahn and ignore his bizarre domestic life, an aspect barely mentioned in the BAM show. Kahn was married for 44 years to Esther Israeli. Subsequently, he had romantic relationships with two women, his professional colleague Anne Tyng, and Harriet Pattison, a landscape architect who played a major role in the Kimbell's site design. Pattison also collaborated with Kahn on Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park at the tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City's East River. Each of these three woman had a child with Kahn at widely spaced intervals. The relationships were barely acknowledged by the adults and the three children didn’t know the other two existed until after Kahn’s death." (See Eugene Carlson, Cascade PBS.org, "The off-kilter life of a great American architect," published 03/02/2016, accessed 04/29/2025.)

Children

He and Esther had a daughter, Sue Ann Kahn (born c. 1940 in Philadelphia, PA). She attended the Friends Select School, graduating c. 1957 and later Temple University.

Kahn also had two other children with Tyng and Pattison. With the former, he had Alexandra Tyng (born 1954 in Rome, Italy), who became a painter. Nathaniel Kahn (born 1962 in Philadelphia, PA), a filmmaker and producer, was the son of the architect and Pattison.

Biographical Notes

Kahn made a European grand tour during 1928 and 1929. He returned to the US aboard the S.S. American Shipper, sailing between London, England and New York, NY, between 04/12/1929 and 04/23/1929. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, accessed 04/29/2025.)

His World War II draft registration card listed Kahn as Caucasian with a light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He stood 5-feet, 6-and-1/2-inches tall and weighed 150 pounds at age 40. This document also listed the following "obvious physical characteristics:" "A burn scar on each cheek and on the inside of each wrist." (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Pennsylvania, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1254, accessed 04/24/2025.)

• Kingisepp, Saaremaa Estonia (Architect's Birth)
  Kingisepp, Saaremaa Estonia

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• Manhattan, New York, NY (Architect's Death)
  Manhattan, New York, NY

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  Kahn died of a heart attack at Pennsylvania Station, New York, NY;

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