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User:JPRiley/Breger

< User:JPRiley
William N. Breger
Born(1920-08-01)August 1, 1920
New York City
DiedFebruary 23, 2015(2015-02-23) (aged 94)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
PracticeBreger & Salzman; William N. Breger, Associates
The TriBeCa Synagogue in New York City, designed by Breger and completed in 1967.

William N. Breger FAIA (1920–2015) was an American architect in practice in New York City from 1947 to 2000.

Life and career

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William Norman Breger was born August 1, 1920 in New York City. He attended New York University (NYU), and graduated in 1942, before joining the planning department of the the United States Army. After a year he entered the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Walter Gropius and graduated with a B.Arch in 1945. While in Boston he worked for Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott and for Gropius. After his graduation he returned to New York City, where he joined the architecture faculty of Pratt Institute.

In 1947 he returned to New York to practice.[1]

As a member of a group which also included architects Caleb Hornbostel and George S. Lewis, landscape architect Christopher Tunnard and sculptor Ralph J. Menconi, Breger entered the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial competition in 1947. Their design for a 425' high pair of sculptural twin towers in a landscaped park won the third prize of $100,000. He practiced independently until 1949, when he formed a partnership with Stanley Salzman and returned to NYU, graduating with an M.A. in 1955, the same year the firm of Breger & Salzman was dissolved. After two additional years of independent practice he organized William N. Breger, Associates in 1957. As a member of this firm Breger designed his best known work, the TriBeCa Synagogue, completed in 1967. Breger designed the synagogue in such a way that speakers did not require sound aplification, which was (is?) prohibited by Orthodox congregations on the sabbath. As a member of the synagogue, Breger exerted control over the design of the building until his death, and forced the removal of several later alterations.[2] Also in the 1960s Breger and two associates, James H. Terjesen and Warren Winter, won an international competition to design Allegheny Square in the Allegheny Center urban renewal project in Pittsburgh. The new Allegheny Square was completed in 1969 but was replaced in 2012 following decades of neglect.

Beyond these projects, Breger's specialty was in the design of nursing homes. He designed a wide range of elderly care facilities and in 1985 was coauthor of Nursing Home Development, which summarized his approach to the design of these facilities. In the 1980s Breger reorganized the firm as Breger Terjesen Associates with the addition of James H. Terjesen, an associate since 1964. He retired from practice in 2000 when Terjesen incorporated the present Terjesen Associates.

Teaches at Pratt Institute and New York School of Interior Design

Personal life

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Breger was married to Krystyna Piotrowska, and lived in New York City. He died there February 33, 2015 at the age of 94.[3]

Architectural works

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f ""Breger, William Norman" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Associates, 1956): 61.
  2. ^ David W. Dunlap, "TriBeCa Synagogue's Memorable Building and Its Stubborn Architect" in New York Times, March 12, 2015, A27.
  3. ^ "Breger–William N." in New York Times, March 6, 2015, B15.
  4. ^ Murray Illson, "Big Nursing Home to Rice onn 96th St." in New York Times, November 20, 1963, 40.
  5. ^ Anne-Gerard Flynn "Bedford-Stuyvesant Nursing Facility Brings a Touch of Home to Its Elderly Black and Hispanic Residents" in New York Times, September 18, 1977, BK77.
  6. ^ "Awards Announced" in New York Times, September 21, 1980, BR16.
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