Pietro Belluschi

Happy Birthday Pietro Belluschi!! Although born in Italy, in 1899, this architect started his career in Portland, Oregon. While still in Italy, Belluschi studied civil engineering in Rome and after moving to the US on an exchange program, continued his study at Cornell. He eventually took over the architectural firm he worked for and also was appointed dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Belluschi was a forerunner for modern architecture in America. The photo below shows the Pan Am Building (now the Met Life building) with New York’s Grand Central Station in the foreground. When built in 1963, it was the largest commercial office building in the world, 59 stories tall.