Edgar Tafel

The Church House Tafel designed for the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan was built between 1958 and 1960 and received a design award from the Fifth Avenue Association. Edgar A. Tafel (March 12, 1912 – January 18, 2011) was an American architect, best known as a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Early life and education Tafel was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants, and moved to New Jersey with his dressmaking parents. He was educated at the Ferrer Center and Colony, the Walden School in Manhattan, and New York University. among others. Tafel was considered the "unofficial guardian of the Frank Lloyd Wright School", despite the rift that had developed between Tafel and his late mentor when Tafel, after a 9-year residency, left Taliesin to pursue his own work and family. Tafel worked on several of Wright's most famous projects including Fallingwater, Wingspread, and the Johnson Wax Headquarters.

Career Architecture

Tafel served in a photographic analysis unit during World War II. After the war, he opened his own architectural office in New York City. and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission called it "a fine example of contemporary design ... used intelligently, to bring a much needed contemporary building into harmony with a neighborhood." The building received a design award from the Fifth Avenue Association.

Tafel's other designs included the Protestant Chapel at Kennedy International Airport, which is no longer extant, and St. John's in the Village Episcopal Church in Greenwich Village, in Racine, Wisconsin, the North Wing expansion to the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania and the private home of Florence and Isaac Budovitch in Wilmington, Delaware (1955). He was also the master designer for community colleges in Johnstown and Hudson, New York. to endow the Edgar A. Tafel Professorship in Architecture and the Tafel Architecture Lecture Series.

Death and legacy Tafel died at the age of 98 in New York City on January 18, 2011. He was the last member of the original Taliesin Fellows to die. Tafel had been married twice, ending respectively in divorce and the death of his second wife in 1951. He had no children. His collection includes information on Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as drawings and other items related to Tafel's own architectural practice.

Awards and honors Doctor of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa from SUNY Geneseo, 2001 Edgar Tafel Distinguished Chair in the School of Architecture at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign