Henry N. Cobb

Henry Nichols Cobb (April 8, 1926 – March 2, 2020) was an American architect and founding partner with I.M. Pei and Eason H. Leonard of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, an international architectural firm based in New York City.

Early life Henry N. Cobb was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Elsie Quincy (Nichols) and Charles Kane Cobb, an investment counselor. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Career Cobb was an architect. Additionally, he was the chairman of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University from 1980 to 1985. He received honorary degrees from Bowdoin College and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

As a student at Harvard University in 1947, Cobb traveled to Poland with a group of American architects to learn about post-war reconstruction efforts in the country. During his time there, Cobb took over 100 photographs of the post-war aftermath in Polish cities, including Warsaw, Katowice, Piekary Śląskie, Szczecin, and Wrocław. A unique aspect of his photographs specifically was that they were taken in color, a rare feature at the time. These are now included in the book "Barwy Ruin: Warszawa i Polska w odbudowie na zdjęciach Henry'ego N. Cobba" by Maria Sołtys and Krzysztof Jaszczyński.

In 1983, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician, and became a full Academician in 1990. Cobb won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's 2013 Lynn S. Beedle Award, and was awarded the Architectural League of New York's President's Medal in 2015.

Personal life and death Cobb lived in New York City and North Haven, Maine. He died on March 2, 2020, in Manhattan at the age of 93. Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, One Dalton Street, Boston (2019)

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