Famed architect Pelli, 92
Cesar Pelli, who designed soaring skyscrapers across the planet including the city’s World Financial Center and the glittering Carnegie Hall Tower, died Friday at his home in New Haven, Conn. He was 92.
Though Pelli’s wonders spanned continents, he is perhaps best known for planning the World Financial Center, now called Brookfield Place, a jewel on the Hudson that houses the sun-filled Winter Garden atrium. The building underwent renovation following the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the neighboring World Trade Center.
He also designed an addition to the Museum of Modern Art, the “Bloomberg Tower” at 731 Lexington Ave. — a glossy glass castle in Midtown East that houses Bloomberg L.P. — and the Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse in downtown Brooklyn.
Pelli was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, in 1926, and he moved to the U.S. in 1952.
“I want to send my condolences to the family and friends of the talented Cesar Pelli,” tweeted Mauricio Macri, the president of Argentina. “The works he leaves throughout the world as a legacy are a pride for all Argentines.”
Pelli told Time magazine in 2001 that his life changed in 1977, when he became the dean of Yale’s architecture school and was charged with the MOMA project.
“I came east without a [design] job, without connections, without a client, nothing. My intention was to be a teacher — and maybe do kitchen additions. A month after I started as dean, I got a call about MOMA,” Pelli said. “I never did kitchen additions.”
Instead, he went on to build some of the world’s most impressive buildings, shimmering skyscrapers that reach hopefully toward the clouds.
Pelli’s works include the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the tallest structure in the world when its two towers rose in the ’90s, and the Salesforce Tower, a skyscraper that rises above all other buildings in San Francisco, which he planned in the last decade.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also offered condolences via Twitter, describing Pelli as “the great architect” responsible for the twin towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Pelli was humble when it came to his largely revered designs.
“I don’t feel I’m building masterpieces,” he told Time. “If a building is a masterpiece, that happens after the fact.”