(b Odessa, Russia, 25 Nov 1902). American architect of Russian birth. He emigrated to New York with his parents in 1903. He received his architectural training at Columbia University, New York, graduating in 1927. Although the curriculum there was based on orthodox classicism, Lapidus came under the influence of Wallace K. Harrison (1895–1981); he also was inspired by buildings he saw published from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris (1925), and especially by Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion. His early experience was in the office of Warren & Whetmore where he worked on the classical ornamentation of the New York Central Office Tower. From 1927 until 1945 Lapidus specialized in the design of shop fronts and shop interiors, as illustrated in his early Parisian Bootery (1928), New York, which was Art Deco. He continued to develop this angular Art Deco mode in store design in his Herbert’s Home of Blue White Diamonds (1930), New York, and offices for Swank Jewellers (1931), New York. Another motif with which he began to experiment was that of patterns of light, particularly hidden indirect lighting in interiors, pools of focused light, and signs, especially as they were seen at night; this is seen in his Doubleday Doran Book Shop (1934), New York, and the Schwobilt Clothing Store (1936), Tampa, FL. Gradually his work became more free-flowing and less restricted to straight lines, more in accordance with how he saw people meander through his store interiors; this later style is evident in his Ansonia Shoe Store (1944) and the A. S. Beck Shoe Store (1949), both in New York.

• Lapidus, Morris
  • Hotel, §2: 1900 and after