Charles Luckman

Charles Luckman (May 16, 1909 – January 26, 1999) was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, and The Forum. He was named the "Boy Wonder of American Business" by Time magazine when president of the Pepsodent toothpaste company in 1939. Through acquisition, he later became president of Lever Brothers. Luckman would later collaborate with William Pereira, in which the two would form their architectural firm, Pereira & Luckman, in 1950. Pereira & Luckman would later dissolve by 1958, parting ways for both himself and Pereira. Luckman would continue successfully with his own firm, Charles Luckman Associates. Luckman retired from the firm, although he would still be present.

Aside from his business and architectural work, Luckman did public work that dates back during World War II. He was appointed on the President's Committee on Civil Rights during the Truman administration, as well as being the chairman of the Citizens Food Committee and the Freedom Train; both of which helped out Europe. As a result of his work in Europe, Luckman was honored with the Order of St. John, Legion of Honor and Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity. Additionally, Luckman was an active supporter of public education.

Luckman died on January 26, 1999, at his home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 89.

Early years Charles Luckman was born on May 16, 1909, in Kansas City, Missouri, to an immigrant family, his father came from Germany and his mother from Yugoslavia.

At age nine, he began selling newspapers outside the Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City at Eleventh and Baltimore. Luckman recalls that, after the second or third week he was working at the newsstand, he asked a woman passing by about what the "pretty lights" hanging down the ceiling were called. She told the young Luckman that they were called chandeliers. He then asked a second question to the same woman on who decided to place them. She responds, "An architect. He designs the hotel and says to put the chandeliers there."

Luckman graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois in 1931 with a bachelor's degree in architecture. He later transferred to sales. Luckman achieved impressive gains in the sales of his company's soap on Chicago's South Side, which earned him a reputation as a superb salesman and set the stage for a remarkable rise in the business world. This came about when his boss from Colgate became account executive at Albert Lasker's Lord & Thomas advertising agency. He recommended Luckman for sales manager at Pepsodent. When he was 27, Time magazine called him the "boy wonder of American business" in 1937.

By 1938, he was vice-president and general manager of Pepsodent. The next major step in Luckman's career occurred in 1944, when Lever Brothers acquired Pepsodent for $10 million. The complex, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was innovative in several other ways, as well, including a rare public plaza at ground level. The Lever House is one of the first sealed glass towers that began the curtain wall trend.

Reminded of his architectural roots, Luckman resigned the presidency of Lever Brothers. He partnered with William Pereira, a fellow architecture student from the University of Illinois, at his firm in Los Angeles. Their partnership led to works such as CBS Television City and the master plans for Edwards Air Force Base and Los Angeles International Airport.

In 1950, CBS (which was relocating to Los Angeles from New York) purchased a property site at Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard to build a new facility for their entertainment productions. Pereira and Luckman were hired to design CBS's television studio and office in Los Angeles. Television City was built in 1952 as an International Style, four-story building consisting of gridded expanses of clear glass set along planar geometries.

In 1953, Pereira and Luckman were commissioned by UC Regents to create a master plan and campus expansion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He chose Pereira and Luckman due to the fact that both architects were designing Marineland of the Pacific, which was to be the world's largest aquatic park when it opened in 1954. Luckman, who had known Disney for years, recounts hearing Disney describe his concept of Disneyland during lunch in April 1952. He came back with a preliminary design for a seven-acre Disneyland but Disney rejected the concept for being "too small". Luckman said, "I called a halt. Building that Disneyland that big, or bigger, would not only require a larger site than the one on Riverside, it would also require money that Walt Disney did not have."

In 1958, Pereira and Luckman designed the Union Oil Center (now the Los Angeles Center Studios) for the Union Oil Company of California. The Miesian-style hexagonal tower includes a rectangular inner courtyard, two low tower wings, a large subterranean parking garage, and elevated pedestrian bridges connecting to an auditorium and cafeteria building. The tower has distinctive angled front and rear façades covered with a grid of thin aluminum louvers protecting the offices within from the sun. Upon its completion, the Union Oil Center became the highest building in downtown Los Angeles at the time.

In a disagreement over approaches to architectural and marketing practices, Pereira and Luckman split in 1958. Luckman, along with his former partner, Pereira, and Welton Becket of Los Angeles, were contracted to design the Theme Building. The Theme Building was a concept that Luckman had in mind since 1953. In the original conception, the Theme Building was to be a much larger structure that would have consisted primarily of a glass dome that was meant to be LAX's main ticketing area and terminals. However, the plan was scaled back dramatically before construction even began. The Theme Building would have also hosted a revolving restaurant, giving patrons a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. The mechanism soon proved to be too costly to maintain, and the restaurant became stationary. Then in 1947, President Truman appointed Luckman as chairman of the Citizens Food Committee, which assigned him to obligations such as feeding the starving in post-war Europe. In addition, Luckman was the director of Freedom Train, which was a program during the Truman administration that helped rebuild Europe after World War II. In recognition to his work, he was honored with Britain's Order of St. John, France's Legion of Honor, and Italy's Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity.

Luckman was also an active supporter of public education, which served him on the California State Board of Trustees from 1960 through 1982 and was twice chair of the board. Apart from his educational service, Luckman served as president of the Los Angeles Ballet, and as chair of the board of UCLA's Brain Research Institute.

Personal life Luckman met his wife, Harriet Luckman, during his second years at the University of Illinois. He met Harriet when a friend of his suggested going on a blind date with her. Charles and Harriet married in 1931 and had three sons: Charles Jr., James, and Stephen Luckman. In 1994, Luckman dedicated the Charles and Harriet Luckman Fine Arts Complex at California State University, Los Angeles through a donation of $2.1 million.

On January 26, 1999, Luckman died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 89.

Selected works

1951, Farmers & Stockmen's Bank, Phoenix, Arizona 1951, Robinson's department store, Beverly Hills, California (demolished) 1953, CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California 1954, National Bureau of Standards building, Boulder, Colorado 1954, Santa Rosa Hall – Dormitory, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 1954, Marineland of the Pacific, Rancho Palos Verdes, California 1956, Fallbrook Hospital, Fallbrook, California 1956, Prudential Tower, Boston, Massachusetts 1958, Bullock's Fashion Square, Santa Ana, California (partially demolished, now Westfield MainPlace) 1958, Disneyland Hotel, California (two-story complex demolished) 1958, Los Angeles International Airport 1958, Robinson's department store, Palm Springs, California 1961, Monsignor Farrell High School, Staten Island, New York 1961, Theme Building, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California 1962–1963, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (formerly the Manned Spacecraft Center), Houston, Texas 1964, 9200 Sunset (formerly the Luckman Plaza), West Hollywood, California 1964–1965, Kennedy Space Center (formerly the Launch Operations Center and Launch Operations Directorate), Merritt Island, Florida 1964, Federal Pavilion (demolished in 1977), New York City 1967, The Forum, Inglewood, California 1968, Madison Square Garden, New York City 1969–1972, Phoenix Symphony Hall, Phoenix, Arizona 1972–1973, Aon Center (also known as 707 Wilshire, formerly the First Interstate Tower and United California Bank Building), Los Angeles, California 1973, Broadway Plaza incl. The Broadway dept. store and Hyatt Regency Hotel, now The Bloc Los Angeles, 700 S Flower St., Downtown Los Angeles 1975, Aloha Stadium, Halawa, Hawaii 1981–1982, Conoco-Phillips Building, Anchorage, Alaska (with Harold Wirum & Associates)