Eliel Saarinen

1873–1950 · Finnish-American · 8 buildings on the wall

Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950) was a Finnish-American architect whose early work defined Finnish National Romanticism and whose later teaching shaped American design. From 1896 to 1905 he worked in Helsinki with Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren. His entry for the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition won second place and, though never built, helped shape Art Deco skyscrapers. He then moved to the United States, designed the campus of the Cranbrook Educational Community in Michigan, and became president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932. He was the father of the architect Eero Saarinen.

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Helsinki Central Station (1919), designed in 1904 and clad in granite, is known for its clock tower and Emil Wikström's "Lantern Bearers" statues, and marks the peak of his National Romantic style. Lahti Town Hall (1912) and Joensuu Town Hall (1914) come from the same Finnish years. In the United States he designed the Des Moines Art Center (1948), and Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis (1949), designed with Eero, was his last completed building and is now a National Historic Landmark. Eliel Saarinen's buildings are studied for the move from national romanticism to modern design.

See the 8 buildings ↓