Stephen F. Voorhees

The headquarters of Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, designed by Voorhees, Walker, Foley & Smith and completed in 1941.

Stephen Francis Voorhees FAIA (February 15, 1878 – January 23, 1965) was an American architect in practice in New York City from 1910 until 1959. From 1935 to 1937 he was president of the American Institute of Architects.

Life and career Voorhees was born February 15, 1878, in Rocky Hill, New Jersey. He was educated in the Trenton public schools and at Princeton University, graduating in 1900 with a degree in civil engineering. In 1902 he joined the firm of Eidlitz & McKenzie, architects and engineers, in New York City. As a designer, he was responsible for the Justice Court Building in Glen Gove, completed in 1909. In 1910 Eidlitz retired and Voorhees and another employee, Paul Gmelin, joined McKenzie in partnership to form the firm of McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin. When McKenzie died in 1926, Ralph Thomas Walker joined the partnership and the firm became Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker. The practice was later reorganized several times, and was renamed Voorhees, Walker, Foley & Smith in 1939 and Voorhees, Walker, Smith & Smith in 1955. In 1959 Voorhees retired from practice, and the firm was renamed Voorhees, Walker, Smith, Smith & Haines. Though no longer an active member of the firm, Voorhees was retained as a consultant. His last important work was the Engineering Quadrange at Princeton, completed in 1962.

Voorhees was a trustee of Princeton University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Stevens Institute of Technology. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees from Princeton in 1937 and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1939, and a Doctor of Fine Arts from New York University in 1939.

Voorhees had a life-long interest in photography and filmmaking, and in 1926 was a founder of the Amateur Cinema League.