{{Short description|Ottoman-born American architect}} {{Infobox person | name = Manoug Exerjian | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = 1888 | birth_place = Constantinople, Ottoman Empire<br />(now Istanbul, Türkiye) | death_date = November 5, 1974 (aged 86) | death_place = North Shore University Hospital<br>Manhasset, New York, United States | other_names = | education = Royal School of Architecture | occupation = Architect | known_for = Architecture | spouse = Arax | children = 2 }} '''Manoug Exerjian''' (August 20, 1892<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Manoug_Exerjian&birth=1892&birth_x=0-0-0&count=50&name_x=1|title=Ancestry.com|last=Ssdi, WWii draft card|website=Ancestry.com }}</ref> or 1888 – November 5, 1974) was an Armenian American architect.
== Biography == A native of Constantinople, he graduated from the Royal School of Architecture in Istanbul in 1914, before immigrating to the United States later that year.<ref name=":0" /> He opened an architectural practice in Great Neck, New York a few years later, in 1923.<ref name=":0" /> designed the original campus of Manhasset (North Shore University) Hospital on Northern Boulevard (NY 25A) in Manhasset, New York.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=November 6, 1974|title=Manoug Exerjian|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|120001816}}}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=June 22, 1947 |title=MANHASSET TO GET A HOSPITAL CENTER; 4-Story Structure to Include Offices and Laboratories -- Near-By Stores Planned |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/06/22/archives/manhasset-to-get-a-hospital-center-4story-structure-to-include.html |access-date=2025-10-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref>
He came to prominence after winning first prize, $750, in a competition for best design of a Broadway (Manhattan) block front. Specifically, the contest featured hypothetical drawings of the east side of Times Square, between 44th Street and 45th Street. Exerjian resided at 147 East 33rd Street (Manhattan) when his plan was victorious in December 1933.<ref>{{cite news |title=Real Estate Transaction 1-No Title' |work=The New York Times |date=December 24, 1933 |page=RE1 |id={{ProQuest|100797943}}}}</ref>
=== Career as designer === Exerjian owned and designed four houses located at Cannon Place, near 288th Street, the Bronx, in 1927.<ref name="NYT-1927-11-19">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/11/19/archives/bronx-house-leased-with-option.html |title=Bronx House Leased With Option |work=The New York Times |date=November 19, 1927 |page=31 |access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> He owned several plots of land on lower Lexington Avenue (Manhattan), which were purchased from him in February 1929.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/02/05/archives/bishop-estate-sells-sixth-avenue-plot-investors-buy-on-lexington-av.html |title=Bishop Estate Sells Sixth Avenue Plot |work=The New York Times |date=February 5, 1929 |page=57 |access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref>
In March 1934 Exerjian advised that $25,000,000 in allocated United States Federal Government funds be used to make alterations in existing dwellings on the Lower East Side. He stressed that the same sum of money, when used to build several blocks of new housing, would perpetuate the existence of slums much longer. This would occur because private capital would not be capable of competing profitably with tax exempt housing.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fatal Fires Show Old Slum Hazards |work=The New York Times |last=Cooper |first=L.E. |date=March 4, 1934 |page=RE1 |id={{ProQuest|100959027}}}}</ref>
Exergian designed a group of three apartment houses on Queens Boulevard between 66th Avenue and 67th Drive, in Forest Hills, New York. Designed in the six story garden style, in 1937, the three apartment units covered a block measuring 600 feet. 212 apartments and 14 stores were planned for the area.<ref>{{cite news |title=Plan Queens Apartments |work=The New York Times |date=December 12, 1937 |page=228 |id={{ProQuest|101972962}}}}</ref>
As president of Houses For Modern Living, Inc., Exerjian built and sold 24 lots, three blocks from the Eighth Avenue subway, in November 1940. The development was on the south side of Austin Street, east of Yellowstone Boulevard, in Forest Hills. Prior to this, he built and sold several private homes in the area.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/04/archives/builder-to-erect-houses-in-queens-richard-golden-buys-24-lots-from.html |title=Builder To Erect Houses In Queens |work=The New York Times |date=November 4, 1940 |page=35 |access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref>
=== Death === Exerjian died in November 1974, at the age of 86, at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York.<ref name=":0" />
== Personal life == Exerjian was married to his wife, Arax. They had two daughters and five grandchildren.
At the time of his death, he resided at 18 Bonnie Heights Road – a home he designed – located within the nearby village of Flower Hill.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bonnie Heights Rd |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bonnie+Heights+Rd,+Flower+Hill,+NY+11030/@40.8092447,-73.6838869,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c288ea41435fdd:0x7f1ba68fa9a2e1a!8m2!3d40.8092447!4d-73.6816982 |access-date=2020-11-09 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1954-06-01 |title=OIL CONCERN BUYS TRACT IN QUEENS; Peerless Enlarges Holdings in Long Island City -- Houses in Other Deals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/01/archives/oil-concern-buys-tract-in-queens-peerless-enlarges-holdings-in-long.html |access-date=2024-03-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Works== *1927: Four houses located at Cannon Place, near 288th Street, the Bronx<ref name="NYT-1927-11-19" /> *1934: Crypt of Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church (New York City) *1937: Three six-story apartment houses on Queens Boulevard between 66th Avenue and 67th Drive, in Forest Hills, New York *1952-1953: Renovation and refacing of Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church (New York City) Exerjian also designed the original North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
== See also ==
* Frank Genese * William Haugaard * Henry Johanson
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Exerjian, Manoug}} Category:19th-century births Category:1974 deaths Category:Architects from Istanbul Category:20th-century American architects Category:Ethnic Armenian architects Category:Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire Category:American ecclesiastical architects Category:Companies based in Manhattan Category:Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States Category:American people of Armenian descent Category:People from Manhasset, New York Category:People from Great Neck, New York Category:People from Flower Hill, New York Category:Architects from New York City