Résumé

Draftsman, Kirk, Wallace and McKinley Architects, Seattle, WA, c. 1962.

Associate, Hugh Hardy and Associates, Architects, New York, NY, 1965-1968.

Partner, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates (HHPA), New York, NY, 1968-2004. Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer, Partners, established a Los Angeles, CA, office with Stephen Johnson in 1986. This branch of HHPA supervised the design and construction of the Robert O. Anderson Building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This was demolished in 2020. Prof. Jeffrey Ochsner has said of the firm's work: "HHPA initially designed houses and schools, but gradually took on larger projects and became known for their innovative public buildings including museums and performing arts centers, as well as numerous renovations and adaptive reuse projects. The firm never developed a “house style,” but addressed each project on its own terms within the framework of contemporary architecture. HHPA was a nationally significant firm that received over 100 national design awards in its 37 years of existence, including the Arnold W. Brunner Prize of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1974 and the national AIA Firm Award in 1981." (See Jeffrey Ochsner, UW College of Built Environments.edu, "In Memory of Norman Pfeiffer, FAIA," published 08/2023, accessed 09/20/2023.)

Founder, Pfeiffer Partners, New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA, 2004- .

Teaching

Lecturer, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 1968-1969.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1969- .

Pfeiffer was NCARB certified before 1970.

Member, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Architectural Commission, Seattle, WA, 1989- . Jeffrey Ochsner said of this service: "Pfeiffer served for more than two decades on the University of Washington Architectural Commission beginning in 1989." (See Jeffrey Ochsner, UW College of Built Environments.edu, "In Memory of Norman Pfeiffer, FAIA," published 08/2023, accessed 09/20/2023.)

Professional Awards

Recipient, AIA, New York Chapter, Medal of Honor, 1978.

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1981. At age 41, Pfeiffer was the youngest AIA member to receive this award. Hugh Hardy and Malcolm Holzman also received fellowship at this time.

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award, 1981.

College

B.Arch., University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1964.

M.Arch., Columbia University, New York, NY, 1965.

College Awards

Pfeiffer graduated cum laude from the University of Washington, Department of Architecture.

Relocation

Born in Seattle, WA, Pfeiffer attended the University of Washington, studying architecture and playing on the UW's baseball team. His wife reported to the Los Angeles Times.com in his obituary: "Born in 1940 in Seattle, Pfeiffer was inspired as a young man by his grandfather, a master woodworker, and the fact that his parents’ homes were both hand-built by family members. Brimming with energy, Pfeiffer divided his time between his two lifelong passions, architecture and baseball, throughout early adulthood. While obtaining a bachelor of architecture degree at the University of Washington, he played shortstop and second base for the school’s team as well as a traveling team known as the Cheney Studs. 'He used to carry his drawing board on the team bus to keep up with his architecture assignments,' Zohn recounts." (See Shane Reiner-Roth, Los Angeles Times.com, "Norman Pfeiffer, prolific architect of SoCal institutions and L.A. Central Library expansion, dies at 82," published 08/29/2023, accessed 09/01/2023.)

To attend Columbia University to earn a Master of Architecture degree, Pfeiffer relocated to New York, NY, in late 1964. New York remained his primary home form many years. In 1970, Pfeiffer lived at 260 West End Avenue, New York, on the city's Upper West Side.

Hardy Holzman and Pfeiffer opened its Los Angeles office in 1986. He moved West to live in Southern CA in the early 2000s, residing in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, CA, c. 2002.

The architect passed away at his Pacific Palisade residence on 08/23/2023. (See Shane Reiner-Roth, Los Angeles Times.com, "Norman Pfeiffer, prolific architect of SoCal institutions and L.A. Central Library expansion, dies at 82," published 08/29/2023, accessed 09/01/2023.)

Parents

His father was Henry F. Pfeiffer (d. 1987) and his mother, Sylvia Medby Pfeiffer Buhr (1914-2002), who was born 01/27/1914 in Oslo, Norway, to Norman Medby and Amalie Dahl Medby. Henry and Sylvia married on 08/27/1939 in Seattle, WA.

She and Henry had four children: Norman, Paul F. Pfeiffer, who resided in New York City in 2002, Rae Pfeiffer McSpadden, who lived in Malibu at the time of her mother's death, and Marylin Pfeiffer, who died before 2002.

After the death of his father, Sylvia married Ernest Buhr (d. 2001) on 11/04/1990 in Bremerton, WA. (See "Sylvia Buhr," Kitsap Sun, accessed 05/16/2014.)

Spouse

Norman Pfeiffer married Jeanne Polacek on 06/14/1963 in Seattle, WA.

He later wed Patricia Zohn.

Children

Norman Pfeiffer fathered four children. He and Jeanne had two children: Alexander Pfeiffer and Medby Pfeiffer.

With his second wife Paula, he had Nicholas Pfeiffer and Patrick Pfeiffer.

Alexander Pfeiffer earned a M.Arch. degree from the University of Washington in 2001. (See Jeffrey Ochsner, UW College of Built Environments.edu, "In Memory of Norman Pfeiffer, FAIA," published 08/2023, accessed 09/20/2023.)

• Seattle, WA (Architect's Birth)
  Seattle, WA

  ---

  OpenStreetMap (new tab)

  Google Map (new tab)

  

  ---