Louis Abramson

Louis Allen Abramson
Born	1887
Died	January 15, 1985 New York
Other names	Louis Abrahamson

Louis Allen Abramson (1887 – January 15, 1985, age 98) was an architect who practiced mostly in New York City, specializing in hospitals, nursing homes, and restaurants.^[1][2] He is best known for designing the Daughters of Jacob Geriatric Center at 1201 Findlay Ave in the Bronx.

Louis Allen Abramson (also known as Louis Abrahamson^[3]) was born in New York City in 1887. He and his wife Pearl had two daughters, Anita Clair and Judith.^[1]

Abramson did not have a traditional architecture education; he attended Cooper Union as a civil engineering student and then the Mechanics Institute but did not graduate from either.^[4] His introduction to architecture came when he took a job as an office boy and later a draftsman for John H. Duncan, a well-known New York City architect.^[4][5] After leaving Duncan's employ, Abramson moved to Seattle but did not stay there for many years before returning to New York where he took extension courses at Columbia University and was hired by Louis Gerard as a draftsman.^[4]

Early in his career, Abramson developed an appreciation of the work of MkKim, Mead & White, being especially fond of the University Club and Penn Station. Abramson also admired the work of Cass Gilbert, saying in an interview that he "admired [Cass's] modernity, if one may use that expression, his breakaway from the classical school".^[4]

In 1916, Abramson designed the Home of the Daughters of Jacob on 167th Street between Findlay and Teller Avenues in the Bronx. The building consists of eight wings arranged radially around a central core, was described as "novel in design, being in the form of a wheel".^[6] The property consists of 36 lots which were previously part of Gouverneur Morris's estate; at the time of purchase by the Daughters of Jacob, it was still occupied by Morris's house 1812 house which was torn down to make room for the new building.

The central core contained administrative offices and was topped by a tower, which at the time of its construction was the highest point in the Bronx. The eight wings were residences for more than 1000 elderly men and women, replacing the existing home run by the Daughters of Jacob at 301 East Broadway in Manhattan, which could only house 200 people.^[6] The plans for the new building included a synagogue with seating for 1000 people, a 600 seat dining room, as well as a hospital, library, and a turkish bath, with construction costs estimated to be $300,000 (equivalent to $8,400,000 in 2023).^[7]

By 1973, the building was deemed no longer useable for its original purpose due to new health codes. Abramson, then 84 years old, was part of the design team which modernized the building, connecting it by pedestrian bridges to new buildings on the opposite sides of Findlay and Teller Avenues. Abramson told the New York Times, "At the time it was designed, it was philosophically right in that institutions felt they fulfilled their obligations to the elderly by providing them with bed and board. It was a question of providing wards with no recognition of individual dignity or privacy.” ^[8]

In 1919, Abramson designed a four-story building for the Israel Hospital in Brooklyn, to be located on Tenth Avenue, occupying the entire 200 foot block between 48th and 49th streets.^[9] The building, with capacity for 200 patients^[10] was to provide expansion space for the New Utrecht Dispensary, which later became Maimonides Medical Center. By this time, Abramson had acquired a reputation for designing hospital buildings.^[9] Construction cost was originally estimated in May 1919 to be about $250,000 (equivalent to $4,400,000 in 2023). ^[11] This grew to $400,000 (equivalent to $7,000,000 in 2023) by September of that year.^[12]

The Brooklyn Jewish Center at 667 Eastern Parkway between New York and Brooklyn Avenues was built in 1922, designed by Abramson in collaboration with Margon & Glasser. Francis Morrone describes it as being a long building, suitable to the site:^[13]

The lower portion is fully rusticated, as are the end bays of the upper portion, creating exactly the kind of rhythm that is so necessary along a wide, long boulevard [...] As a building tailored to its location, it could hardly be improved.

Morrone compares the design to the nearby Catholic High School, which he says similarly fits into the Eastern Parkway environment.^[13] The building, which included a synagogue, gymnasium, catering facilities, classrooms and a swimming pool, was built on 11 lots.^[14]

Abramson designed the Astoria Center of Israel, a synagogue located at 27-35 Crescent Street in Astoria, Queens. The two-story building was built in 1925-1926 as a religious school and community center associated with the adjacent Congregation Mishkan Israel synagogue and continues to be used for its original purpose. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009; the registration form describe it as "a two-story building faced in Flemish-bond striated red brick with faux limestone cast-stone trim and a masonry foundation" and notes that the design "is typical of 1920s American synagogues, combining classical detailing with Judaic symbols".^[15]

Abramson designed two restaurants for Horn & Hardart in 1931; one on West 33rd Street in midtown Manhattan, the other on West 181st Street in Washington Heights. These were both automats done in a modern style to meet Horn & Hardart's preference. The first had "a terra-cotta faced, modernistic, two-story facade with the blocky modern reliefs, abstract grillework, stylized floral patterns, and dramatic indirect lighting so typical of the period." In a 1980 interview, Abramson said he didn't understand what the client was asking for, so he "simply designed what he liked".^[4] The second restaurant was described as "one of the most extravagant of all New York's Automats". The interior featured "extravagant colored glass ceilings" in which "the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings [...] rose towards each other, their spires meeting electrically over a central schematic diagram of the Manhattan street grid".^[4]

Starting in 1934, Ambramson designed six restaurants for the Longchamps chain in collaboration with artist Winold Reiss. Abramson worked on the exteriors with Reiss producing images related to New York City for the interiors.^[4] American Architect and Architecture magazine wrote of the collaboration:^[16]

For fhe past two years the happily collaborative talents of an architect and a painter have resulted in better appearance and better business for a well established chain of New York restaurants. Fairly standard in basic elements of form, each restaurant is decorated around a different theme. The most recent in this group uses as its central motif the historical contrasts of New York City. The faqade, mainly of plate glass and satin finished chromium, has its structural parts decorated with glass mosaics in blue, silver and off white.

A 1937 commission was for the Riviera nightclub in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The club was built atop the Palisades, with views of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, and Manhattan; the semi-circular building included unbroken expanses of glass to take advantage of these views. A year after the club opened, Abramson added a series of abstrac murals painted by Arshile Gorky. The roof of the building could be opened to allow views of the sky into the club on clear nights.^[4]

Abramson bought a property on Indian Hill Road in Yorktown, New York in 1945 for his personal use as a country retreat. The property came with an undistinguished cape cod style house, which he incrementally expanded to include stone walls, stairways, and porches which provided better views of the surrounding area. Abramson sold the property in 1984. In 2017, the house was listed as a Home of Historic Distinction by the Yorktown Landmarks Preservation Commission.^[17]

Abramson died on January 15, 1985 in Manhattan at the age of 98.^[1]

• Scarr, Cindy (November 30, 2021). "When Zaidy Was No Longer Young: The Story of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob -". Mishpacha. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
• Robins, Anthony W. "Art Deco Automats in 1930: An Interview with Louis Allen Abramson". Art Deco Society of New York. Retrieved November 12, 2024.