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Serge Chermayeff

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Serge Chermayeff
Серж Чермаев
Born
Sergius Ivanovich Issakovitch

8 October 1900
Grozny, Terek Oblast, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire
Died8 May 1996(1996-05-08) (aged 95)
Wellfleet, Massachusetts, US
Citizenship
  • British (from 1928)
  • American (from 1946)
OccupationArchitect
Spouse
Barbara Maitland May
​
​
(m. 1928)​
Children

Sergius "Serge" Ivan Chermayeff (né Sergius Ivanovich Issakovitch; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British–American architect, industrial designer, educator and writer.[1] Chermayeff co-founded several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.

The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea

Early life

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Chermayeff was born Sergius Ivanovich Issakovitch (Russian: Сергей Иванович Иссакович) on 8 October 1900 in Grozny, Caucasus Viceroyalty (present-day Chechnya, Russia) to Ivan Akimovitch Issakovitch (died 1924), a banker and landowner, and Rose Issakovitch (née Sonnschein).[1] Chermayeff grew up in a wealthy Jewish family, potentially of Sephardic Jewish descent.[1][2][3][4][5] Initially educated by a governess alongside his elder sister, Chermayeff was sent to England in 1910 to be educated at Peterborough Lodge School and later at Harrow School.[1][2]

Chermayeff was awarded a place at Trinity College but did not attend.[2]

Continuing education and early career

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From 1922 to 1925, he received training at various schools in Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. During this period, he supported himself as a journalist for the Amalgamated Press (1918–23) before becoming chief designer (1924–27) at E. Williams, a decorating firm.[6] He changed his name to Serge Chermayeff in 1924 after the death of his father.[2]

In 1928, Chermayeff and the French designer Paul Follot were placed in charge of the decorative arts department of Waring & Gillow.[7]

Early career as an architect

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After practicing architecture for three years, he and the German architect Erich Mendelsohn briefly partnered in 1933 to form their own architectural firm. They created important works in the British modernist movement, notably the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, East Sussex, Cohen House, London, and Shrubs Wood (formerly Nimmo House) in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire. He was also responsible for Shann House in Rugby, Warwickshire, and Gilbey House, an office and factory complex in Camden for gin distillers Gilbey's. These are all now Listed Buildings, being designated Grade I (De La Warr), Grade II* (Cohen House, Shann House, and Shrubs Wood) and Grade II (Gilbey House) respectively.[8][9][10][11] Both Mendelsohn and Chermayeff were members of the MARS Group.

He also designed Bentley Wood, a Modernist house in a rural location in the Low Weald in Sussex, completed in 1938. Bentley Wood was Chermayeff's personal residence, designed for himself and his family, although he was forced to sell it only a few years later.[12] The house quickly reached a wide acclaim within architecture circles, with Charles Herbert Reilly calling it 'a regular 'Rolls-Royce of a house' in the Architects' Journal, and James Maude Richards featuring it in his 1940 book An Introduction to Modern Architecture.[13]

During the 1930s, Chermayeff designed bakelite radio cabinets for the Southend-on-Sea based company EKCO[14] and taught at European Mediterranean Academy in Cavaliere, France.[15]

Architect in the U.S.

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In 1940, Chermayeff emigrated to the United States where he joined Clarence W. W. Mayhew as associate architect, helping Mayhew design his own residence.[16] Chermayeff taught in 1940 and 1941 at the California School of Fine Arts before moving to Brooklyn College, where he served as chair of the department of design until 1946. From 1941 until his death, he maintained his principal residence on Cape Cod at Wellfleet, Massachusetts.[17][6][18] In 1946, he was recommended by Walter Gropius to become the president of the Institute of Design in Chicago; there, he was a close friend and mentor to graphic designer Robert Brownjohn. Beginning in 1949, he oversaw the Institute's merger with the Illinois Institute of Technology before ultimately stepping down in 1951. After teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a year, he served as a professor and chair of the architecture department at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1953–1962) and the Yale University School of Architecture (1962–1971). Following his retirement, he briefly taught at Harvard again in 1974.

Personal life

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On 22 March 1928, Chermayeff married Barbara Maitland May (1904–2000).[1] The couple had two sons, the graphic designer and artist Ivan Chermayeff and the architect Peter Chermayeff.[1][2][19] Chermayeff was the grandfather Sam Chermayeff, an architect and furniture designer[20], and Maro Chermayeff [fr], a documentary producer.

Chermayeff became a British citizen in 1928, and an American citizen in 1946.[1][21]

On 8 May 1996 Chermayeff died at his home in Wellfleet, aged 95.[1][15][2]

Books and awards

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He wrote several books, including Community and Privacy with Christopher Alexander in 1964 and The Shape of Community with Alexander Tzonis in 1971. Chermayeff's architectural drawings, project records, photographs, correspondence, teaching and writing papers, and research files are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

In 1980, Chermayeff was awarded the Sir Misha Black award and was added to the College of Medallists.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Powers, Alan (23 September 2004). "Chermayeff [formerly Issakovitch], Sergius Ivan [Serge] (1900–1996), designer and architect". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62624. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Powers, Alan (13 May 1996). "OBITUARY : Serge Chermayeff". The Independent. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Glancey, Jonathan (27 May 1996). "Strangers in the house". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "Mapping Modernism". Victoria and Albert Museum, Digital Media. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Altino Joao Magalhaes Rocha (February 2004). Architecture Theory 1960—1980. Emergence of a Computational Perspective (PDF) (Architecture: Design and Computation thesis). MIT. p. 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2013.
  6. 1 2 "PCAD – Serge Ivan Chermayeff". pcad.lib.washington.edu. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Nadelhoffer, Hans (18 October 2007). Cartier. Chronicle Books. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-8118-6099-4.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1352840)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  9. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1225772)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  10. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1263517)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  11. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1113236)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Hopkirk, Elizabeth (3 July 2020). "Chermayeff's Bentley Wood listed at second attempt". Building Design. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  13. ↑ "Bentley Wood, East Hoathly with Halland - 1468363". Historic England. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  14. ↑ "1920s & 30s Art Deco Artists and Designers – Antique Marks". antique-marks.com. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  15. 1 2 Saxon, Wolfgang (10 May 1996). "Serge Chermayeff, 95, Architect; Taught at Harvard and Yale (Published 1996)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  16. ↑ "ArchitectDB – structure record id 10242: Mayhew, Clarence W.W., House, Piedmont".[dead link]
  17. ↑ "Architect Serge Chermayeff, 95; taught at IIT, Yale and Harvard". New York Times News Service. 12 May 1996. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  18. ↑ Hess, Alan (2007). Forgotten Modern: California Houses 1940–1970. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 978-1-58685-858-2.
  19. ↑ "1979 AIGA Medalist: Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Rindon (1 March 2020). "It's Obvious, I Think: Choice Words with Architect Sam Chermayeff". Cultured. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  21. ↑ "No. 33373". The London Gazette. 6 April 1928. p. 2550.
  22. ↑ "The Sir Misha Black Medal | Misha Black Awards". mishablackawards.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2014.

Further reading

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