Jim Polshek (b. 1930)

 

Polshek Partnership Architects (changed in 2010 to Enread Architects LLP)
Jim Polshek was born in Akron, OH in 1930 and graduated in 1955 from Yale University with a Master of Architecture degree.  Polshek was dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation from 1972 to 1987.  He worked for I.M. Pei prior to starting his own firm, James Steward Polshek Architect, in 1963, and is currently retired and maintains the title of Design Counsel to Enread Architects. 

Polshek received the Gold Medal award from the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1986.  In 2002, he was honored with the Municipal Art Society’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  In 2005, Polshek was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  He has received honorary degrees from Pratt Institute, the New School University Parsons School of Design, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. 

The Polshek Partnership is now known as Enread Architects LLP, named in 2010 for the firm’s nine partners.  The 150-person firm offers architecture, master planning, historic preservation, and interior design services.  The majority of the firm’s work is for cultural, educational, governmental and scientific not-for-profit institutions.

Notable projects include:  Yale University Art Gallery; National Museum of American Jewish History; Museum of the City of New York; American Museum of Natural History, Rose Center for Earth and Space, NY; New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Institute of Performing Arts, NY; Cornell University, Computing and Information Science Building, NY; Cornell University, Weill Medical College, Biomedical Research Building, NY; Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Crypt Arts Center and North Transept Renovation, NY; and the Standard Hotel, NY, among many others.