Ralph Rapson

Ralph Rapson studied at University of Michigan and Cranbrook Academy of Art. The recorded working language is English. Works named in the authority record are Guthrie Theater. Work by Ralph Rapson is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art and Art Institute of Chicago.

• Name — Ralph Rapson • Born — 13 September 1914 • Birthplace — Alma, Michigan, United States • Died — 29 March 2008 • Place of death — Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States • Education — University of Michigan • Practice — Ralph Rapson and Associates • Significant Buildings — Guthrie Theater (demolished), Riverside Plaza (Cedar Square West), University of Minnesota Rarig Center, churches, residences and U.S. embassies • Significant Projects — Knoll furniture, Case Study House

Rapson was born in Alma, Michigan with a deformed right arm that was amputated at birth; he learned to draw expertly with his left hand. He earned architecture degrees at the University of Michigan, and at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he studied under Eliel Saarinen. “Cranbrook was a very exciting, dynamic place where I met and worked with guys like Charlie Eames, Harry Bertoia, and Harry Weese,” Rapson said. As a young architect, Rapson worked for the Saarinen architectural office from 1940 to 1941. He moved to Chicago in 1941, where he worked with George Fred Keck and others.

Some of Rapson's most important projects include: • 1945: Case Study House No. 4, or "Greenbelt House" (part of the Case Study House program) • Esther McCoy famously wrote: "Rapson’s rendering of the house showed a helicopter hovering over the flat roof, as if the owner was coming home to the suburbs from his day at the office. His wife is waving to him. Where is she? Hanging out diapers in the drying yard. Rapson’s money was on the wrong machine." • The "Greenbelt House" was constructed in 1989 for an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. • In recent years Rapson's firm developed a line of prefabricated modern houses called the Rapson Greenbelt, which grew out of a submission for the Dwell Home Design Invitational and are now available through a company called Wieler. • 1945: "Rapson Rapid Rocker" for Knoll Furniture • 1954: United States Embassy, Diplomatstaden, Stockholm, Sweden • 1954: United States Embassy, Copenhagen, Denmark • 1957: St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Edina, Minnesota • 1959: Prince of Peace Lutheran Church for the Deaf, St. Paul, Minnesota (demolished 2007) • 1962-73: Cedar Square West (now Riverside Plaza) housing complex, Minneapolis, Minnesota (a federally funded New-Town-in-Town) • 1963: Pillsbury House in Wayzata, Minnesota (demolished 1997) • 1963: Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota (demolished 2006) • 1964: State Capital Credit Union, Minneapolis, Minnesota (converted to Southeast Library in 1967) • 1969: St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, St. Paul Park, Minnesota • 1972: Rarig Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Rapson died quietly in his home in Minneapolis on March 29, 2008. He was working in his office the previous day. Six hundred people attended his memorial service at the new Guthrie Theater. He was described as a "rock star" in the field. Thomas Fisher, Dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Design at the time (and Dean of the School of Architecture until the College's establishment), said: “His passing ends an era in American architecture as well as in the history of the school, and he will be very much missed by the thousands of people he influenced.” Linda Mack remembered him as "A gentleman of the old school [who] maintained his career, his dignity, his charm and his kindliness to the end. He left more than an architectural legacy." According to Kay Lockhart, "Ralph loved being an architect, and he told me once, he 'felt sorry for anyone who wasn't an architect.' He infused us all with that same spirit." His was survived by his wife Mary and two sons, Richard "Rip" and Thomas "Toby", and a daughter, Ren, from a previous marriage.

The canonical record carries the following identifying particulars.