Paul Thiry

Paul Thiry (1904–1993) was an American architect most active in Washington state, known as one of the first to bring architectural modernism to the Pacific Northwest. Thiry designed "some of the best period buildings around the state of Washington during the 1950, 60s and 70s."

Life Thiry was born in Nome, Alaska, of French parents. He was a 1928 graduate of the architecture school at the University of Washington and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in France. He also traveled to and worked in Japan.

Thiry designed his own house upon his return Aerial view of the Climate Pledge Arena, built originally as the Washington State Pavilion for the Century 21 Exposition. Thiry came to national attention in 1937 with a cement-based stuccoed residence for a manager at Portland Cement, Frank J. Barrett. The innovative house was published in The Modern House in America in 1940: the garage and house formed two rectangles, with a "smooth, undecorated exterior", its doors and windows flush with the surface. Steel window frames were painted blue-green, and glass-brick was used around the entry and along the walls of the partly sunken living room. responsible for the overall plan and coordinating the work of contributors like John Graham Jr. (for the Space Needle), Minoru Yamasaki, and the landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. Thiry's own designs for the fair included the Washington State Pavilion, which later became the KeyArena and is today the Climate Pledge Arena.

Thiry has been compared to other modernists in the Northwest such as Pietro Belluschi (1899–1994) and John Yeon (1910–1994). He is credited with being "instrumental" to introducing International Style architecture in Seattle. at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

The Flanagan chapel is "a creatively designed 16-sided structure" with an 85-rank Casavant Frères organ and seating for 600 people. According to the Lewis and Clark website the building "serves as a meeting place for lectures, musical performances, and religious services. The entry is a bridge flanked by Northwest Coast Indian-style statues depicting the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) created by the artist Lelooska, Don Morse Smith.

Projects Apartment building, 2717 Franklin Avenue E, Seattle, WA (1929) Northeast Branch Library, 6801 35th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA (1954) Supervising architect for Seattle's Century 21 Exposition, along with his own design for the Washington State Pavilion, now the Climate Pledge Arena (1961) St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, Seattle, WA (1964) Delta Upsilon chapter house, Washington Chapter, Seattle, Washington (1967). Watzek Library (1968) and the Agnes Flanagan Chapel (1969) at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon Concrete sanctuary addition to the North Slope section, Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, Washington (1970) Consulting architect for the Libby Dam project, Libby, Montana (1975)