Edward Lowenstein

American architect

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Edward Lowenstein

Born|

Edward Lowenstein

(1913-05-10)May 10, 1913[1]

Chicago, Illinois, US

Died| June 12, 1970(1970-06-12) (aged 57)[1]

Greensboro, North Carolina

Occupation| Architect
Practice| Loewenstein-Atkinson

Edward Lowenstein (1913-1970) was an American architect, widely known for his work across North Carolina, and especially his modernist home designs in the Greensboro area -- as well as his ardent support of civil rights: teaching architecture at the State's women's college, now University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and routinely hiring and promoting black colleagues.[2]

Lowenstein's architectural work was featured in the New York Times, Architectural Record, and Good Housekeeping.[3] In 2005, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at UNCG featured a retrospective of his work, titled The Lowenstein Legacy.[4] In 2007, UNCG featured another retrospective, Close to Home: Edward Lowenstein and Modernism in Greensboro.[5]

## Background and career

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Lowenstein was born in Chicago, the son of James B. and Aline G. Lowenstein (nee Goldsmith).[6] He attended Deerfield-Shields High School[7] and graduated from MIT[2] in 1935[8] with a BA in Architecture, later working as a draftsman for local firms before opening his own office in Highland Park, Illinois in 1938.[7] Lowenstein subsequently served in the US Army Artillery Corp and the Army Corps of Engineers from 1941-1946,[6] later moving to Greensboro with wife Francis Loewenstein (nee Stern, 1913-1993),[7][9] stepdaughter of textile giant Julius Cone, who assisted Lowenstein with his large social network.[7] In 1953, he joined with Robert A. Atkinson Jr. to form the firm Loewenstein-Atkinson, becoming Lowenstein, Atkinson and Wilson in 1967.

Of the firms more than 1,600 commissions between 1946 and 1970, more than 500 were residential, and of those about 50 were Modernist designs.[9]

Loewenstein was the first white architect in North Carolina to hire african-american architects,[7] including William Streat in 1950, W. Edward (Blue) Jenkins, Major Sanders, Williex Merritt, and Clinton Gravely.[7] Loewenstein was an active member of Governor Terry Sanford's North Carolina Commission on Civil Rights,[7] and he taught architecture at the North Carolina College for Women (now UNC-Greensboro)[8] -- in 1958, initiating a program where the female students designed a home, which was subsequently constructed, won a Duke Power Gold Medallion award for energy efficiency and was featured in McCall’s magazine.[9]

With the design of his own home in Greensboro, the carport incorporated steel beams to accommodate a boat hoist, and the living room fireplace avoided a view-blocking vertical chimney by ventilating the fireplace via an underground duct to a chimney in the yard.[9] Pursuing life-long self-directed education, Lowenstein carried around large tape recorders to learn Spanish and Italian -- twice traveling to Italy to study Andrea Palladio.[4] He served with the Cerebral Palsy Association, the Evergreens Retirement Home, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA, on the board of the Greensboro Preservation Society.

Lowenstein suffered a minor heart attack in 1968, and suffered a fatal heart attack in 1970, while cleaning his home's gutters.[4] He and his wife, Francis, had two daughters, Jane (later, Levy) and Laura (later Freedlander).[10] In 1982, Lowenstein's wife, Francis, gave a $100,000 gift to the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro.[11]

## Work

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* Greensboro Public Library (1964)
* Dudley High School Gym[8]
* Lowenstein-Levy residence, Granville Road, Greensboro
* 910 Sunset Drive, Greensboro
* 1903 Colonial Avenue, Greensboro

## Further reading

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* Modernism at Home: Edward Loewenstein’s Mid-Century Architectural Innovation in the Civil Rights Era by Patrick Lee Lewis

## References

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1. ^ a b "Edward Loewenstein". Findagrave.
2. ^ a b "Edward Loewenstein: Making way for minority architects". www.curbed.com. 18 August 2017.
3. ^ "Loewenstein, Edward (1913-1970)". NC State University.
4. ^ a b c "Ahead of his Timebec".
5. ^ Jim Schlosser (November 8, 2007). "UNCG Plans Tribute to Revered Architect". News and Record.
6. ^ a b "Architect Loewenstein Dies of Heart Attack at 57". News and Record. July 13, 1970.
7. ^ a b c d e f g "NCMH Ed Loewenstein". NC Modernist.
8. ^ a b c "Heart and Soul Behind Edward Loewenstein's Home". Our State Magazine. October 23, 2014.
9. ^ a b c d Laurie Weaver. "Heart and Soul Behind Edward Loewenstein's Home". Our State.
10. ^ "Lowenstein Funeral is Scheduled for Tomorrow". Greensboro Record. July 13, 1970.
11. ^ "Gallery Gets $100,000 Gift". News and Record. November 28, 1982.

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