A CONCERN FOR DETAIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100010005-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 12, 1999
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: September 1, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW YORK I[MES
Sanitized
"Building should be one otj&L suai joys or society.
HE man in the gray flan- '~ , {he joined the office of
nel suit isn't always an ajlace K. Harrison a prime
a vertising man; f add a but- i#i.OYor in the city's closely in-
t -down collar shirt with a te$woven architectural-busi-
i'itS-social circles from the
b ck knit tie, and he's usu-
a y an architect, time of the building of Rocke-
Behind this, conservative, feller Center in the early
o dinary exterior he is apt to Nineteen-Thirties. ,
b engaged in some of the,," The firm of Harrison &
st dramatic and unordi- '' Abram ovitz, formed - in 1941,
nary work of ' has continued to garner civic-
Man our time the architectural plums like the
in the creation of those United Nations Headquarters
large, costly and choice 'parts of Lincoln
News aid occasionally Center. (Mr. Harrison is de-
`"beautiful strut- signing the new Opera House.
t res that make up the city During the war years, Mr.
s ene. Abram t bu it fields in
In the case of, a bram- Abma for Genes. Claire L.
o itZ r ` ect of hIThar- Che in Tigers,
e " toitality is rose om i t to
o ., w ~~ ena;
are appe than gray, and lieutenant eo onej, To,
ry Xrifleh in harmony with ceived the oh` o
e.new concert hall Recalled to~ore 50,
From the glowing, creamy he built more , nd
ige of the building's tra- came out a eolotiel ' n 52?
the turned?
f
rm
th
R
i
i
i
,
e
n
ejo
ng
rune facade to the warm
ti cif office
t~~j kalr of the fin- to the c
apaj
t rior, broug to a climax buildings, es and
the blue and gold audi- embassies.
rium, the city's new land- In New he has de-
ark reflects the architect's signed the d'lumbia Law
ssionate, personal preoccu- School Library, the C. 1. T.
ation with everny detail of Financial Building at Madison
design. Avenue and 60th Street, an
He sums it up in less participated In work on the
thetic language: "I think I CorningGlass Bull ng a
now every nut and bolt of Fifth Avenue and 56th Street
e damn thing." and the new Time-Life Build
His associates say, ,He. ing of the Rockefeller Cente
ally lived this one." A hard groups He is 'also supervising
orker, aggressive, energetic, architect to Brandeis Univer
ure of what he wants, Mr. sits and is responsible for
bramovitz devotes a seven- spectacular ' saucer-shape
ay week to the job. assefnbly hall nearing corn
He sets a pace and a ten- pletion at the University o
ion that he controls skill- Illinois.
ully, carrying his staff along As a designer, Mr. Abramo
t the same high voltage rate. vitz moves experimentally
ailed fast and fair, Ile is from one kind of solution t
dmired by his colleagues and another; he is not known fo
he trades, a tribute con- a specific "style" an iden
idered the architect's high- tifying hallmark' ("Glas
st, compliment. ""He gets walls are fine when they sui
long with people. "He's a the job ... qrilles are
uick thinker," "He knows poor substitute -for designin
hat he wants but he doesn't the wall right the first time." t
ake speeches." "He's no His work has not, unt
ctor." now, set trends or been lookj
`Pleasure for People' to by the profession for newon this score he is mildly d
Yet he is not. afraid to call fensive and a bit wary
architecture art, and believes criticism. ("I don't fit in
that New York deserves the patterns set by the pr -
architecture on the highest fessional periodicals.")
level. Leads a quiet Life
"Building has become a
business," he says. "It should Beyond his full-time affa r
be one of the visual joys of with architecture, his life s
sweeping gesture indicates Anne Marie Causey, a daug
th walls of his office. lined ter Katherine, 21; a son, Mic
and drawings of the Philhar- He and his wife live quiet y
York should have something on East 85th Street, in whi h
like Rome, or Venice, where a modern Abramowitz interi r
source of pleasure for people." 1870 Victorian details. Exce t
-Mr. Abramovitz's concern for the painting and scul.ptu e
for New 'York is due to bear that he collects, which fill t e
Center plan, which he heads. and start over again," e
But like many dedicated says. "I'm just a world g
New Yorkers, he is not a na- fool."
tive. Born in Chicago in 1908, There is a story told n
he earned his degree at the the office, of an associa e
University of Illinois in 1929, who asked if he planned o
and. came to New York in keep a scrapbook of the ma y
Sanitized t-?nr~di easC f 49R000100010005-8
ma t r's degree at Columbia "Hell, no," he replied.
and a two-year fellowship at don't have to. I've got t
SFp 2 4 1962
p ved For Release:
oncern or e al W-Ab3b