Frank Gehry, the most celebrated architect of his time, dies at 96

Frank Gehry, Visionary Architect Who Transformed Modern Design, Dies at 96

Frank Gehry, whose imaginative and unconventional architectural designs reshaped skylines worldwide and redefined what buildings could be, died Friday at his Santa Monica home following a brief respiratory illness. He was 96, according to Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.

Gehry’s distinctive, sculptural approach to architecture produced some of the world’s most recognizable and celebrated buildings, including the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, which sparked an economic renaissance in the formerly industrial city when it opened in 1997. His other masterpieces include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, with its gleaming, undulating stainless steel exterior, and Berlin’s DZ Bank Building, featuring an unconventional glass and stone facade.

His influence extended beyond traditional architectural circles into the tech world when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally insisted that Gehry design the company’s expanded Northern California headquarters.

Throughout his career, Gehry accumulated virtually every major honor in his field. He received the Pritzker Prize – architecture’s highest accolade – in 1989 for work described as “refreshingly original and totally American.” His other awards include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and Canada’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.

Gehry’s path to architectural renown was anything but straightforward. After earning his architecture degree from USC in 1954 and serving in the Army, he studied urban planning at Harvard. His early career was marked by struggle – designing public housing projects and shopping centers while occasionally driving a delivery truck to supplement his income.

A pivotal moment came when Gehry was commissioned to design a shopping mall near the Santa Monica Pier. Playing it safe, he proposed a conventional enclosed design similar to other American malls of the 1980s. The project’s developer later visited Gehry’s home and was astonished to discover the architect had transformed a modest 1920s bungalow into an avant-garde creation featuring chain-link fencing, exposed wood, and corrugated metal.

When questioned why he hadn’t proposed something similarly innovative for the mall, Gehry responded pragmatically: “Because I have to make a living.” That encounter prompted a shift in mindset that would define the rest of his career, as he committed to following his unique creative vision regardless of conventional expectations.

As his reputation grew, so did Gehry Partners LLP, the architectural firm he founded in 1962, eventually expanding to more than 130 employees. Despite this growth, Gehry maintained hands-on involvement with every project.

His later works continued to push boundaries. The InterActiveCorp headquarters in New York’s Chelsea district, completed in 2007, took the form of a shimmering beehive. The 76-story New York By Gehry building, once among the world’s tallest residential structures, dramatically altered lower Manhattan’s skyline upon its 2011 completion.

That same year, Gehry returned to USC as a professor of architecture, later teaching at prestigious institutions including Yale and Columbia University.

Not everyone embraced Gehry’s unconventional approach. Critics sometimes dismissed his designs as resembling disorganized scrap-wood structures or, in the case of Disney Hall, “cardboard boxes left out in the rain.” Princeton art critic Hal Foster characterized many of his later projects as “oppressive” tourist attractions rather than functional spaces. Even the Eisenhower family objected to his bold design for the presidential memorial, preferring something more traditional than Gehry’s vision featuring multiple statues and billowing metal tapestries.

Gehry typically remained unfazed by criticism, occasionally even leaning into it with humor. In a 2005 episode of “The Simpsons,” he appeared as himself, designing a concert hall after crumpling Marge Simpson’s letter and declaring, “Frank Gehry, you’ve done it again!” – poking fun at perceptions of his design process.

Born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto on February 28, 1929, he moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1947 and later became a U.S. citizen. He changed his name as an adult at his first wife’s suggestion that antisemitism might be impeding his career advancement.

Despite his towering status in architecture, Gehry maintained a surprising humility. “I’m totally flabbergasted that I got to where I’ve gotten,” he told the Associated Press in 2001. “Now it seems inevitable, but at the time it seemed very problematic.” He also consistently rejected the label of “artist,” insisting, “I still think I’m doing buildings, and it’s different.”

One of his final major projects, the Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, remains under construction after numerous delays. The massive 30,000-square-foot structure, which will be the world’s largest Guggenheim, is expected to open in 2026, ensuring Gehry’s architectural vision continues to influence future generations.

Gehry is survived by his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; sons Alejandro and Samuel; and the enduring global portfolio of buildings that transformed not just skylines but our fundamental understanding of what architecture can achieve. His daughter Leslie Gehry Brenner preceded him in death in 2008, having succumbed to cancer.