{{Short description|American architect (1904–1984)}} {{Infobox architect |name = Morris Ketchum Jr. |image = |image_size = |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|5|5}} |birth_place = New York City |death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|11|22|1904|5|5}} |death_place = Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania |practice = Morris Ketchum Jr.; Ketchum, Giná & Sharp; Ketchum & Sharp; Morris Ketchum Jr. & Associates |significant_buildings= |significant_projects = |significant_design = |awards = }} [[File:JEAHQ.jpeg|thumb|The former Universal Marion Building of Downtown Center in Jacksonville, Florida, designed by Ketchum & Sharp and completed in 1963.]] [[File:Hunter College High School (48059229647).jpg|thumb|The Hunter College High School in New York City, designed by Morris Ketchum Jr. & Associates and completed in 1971.]] '''Morris Ketchum Jr.''' {{post-nominals|list=FAIA}} (May 5, 1904 – November 22, 1984) was an American architect in practice in New York City from 1938 to 1980. He was president of the American Institute of Architects for the year 1965–66.
==Life and career== Morris Ketchum Jr. was born May 5, 1904, in New York City. He was educated at Columbia University and at Fontainebleau, graduating in 1928. After his return to the United States he worked for York & Sawyer, Francis Keally and Mayers Murray & Phillip before becoming an associate in the office of Edward Durell Stone in 1936. In 1938 he established his own practice.<ref name="Ketchum62">"Ketchum, Morris Jr." in ''American Architects Directory'' (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 376.</ref> He was associated on some early retail projects with Victor Gruen, who was not then a licensed architect. Due to the success of these projects Ketchum offered to form a partnership with Gruen, but quickly rescinded the offer after his wife objected to him being associated with a recent immigrant.<ref>Victor Gruen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oil0DwAAQBAJ Shopping Town: Designing the City in Suburban America]'', trans. Anette Baldauf (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017)</ref> Nonetheless, the success of these early projects caused both architects to have influential careers in retail design.<ref name="Vosbeck"/>
Ketchum worked as a sole principal until 1944, when he formed a partnership with architects Francis X. Giná and J. Stanley Sharp in the firm of Ketchum, Giná & Sharp.<ref name="Ketchum62"/> Also in that year Ketchum hired Natalie de Blois, who had just graduated from Columbia. After only eight months he fired her after she discouraged a male employee's romantic advances, though he found a job for her in the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.<ref>KF, "Natalie Griffin de Blois" in ''The Women Who Changed Architecture'', ed. Jan Cigliano Hartman (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2022)): 90–91.</ref> Major works of the partnership include Shopper's World in Framingham, Massachusetts, opened in 1951 as one of the first suburban shopping malls in the United States. Though initially known chiefly for retail design, during the 1950s Ketchum expanded his practice into other project types. Giná and Sharp left to form their own practices, in 1958 and 1961, respectively, and in 1962 Ketchum reorganized the firm as Morris Ketchum Jr. & Associates with Herbert W. Riemer as his principal associate.<ref name="Ketchum70"/><ref name="Reimer70">"Reimer, Herbert W." in ''American Architects Directory'' (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 764.</ref> Ketchum retired from practice in 1980.<ref name="Obit">Walter H. Waggoner, "Morris Ketchum Jr., 80, Dies; Retired New York Architect" in ''New York Times'', November 27, 1982, B7.</ref>
Ketchum joined the American Institute of Architects in 1942, and was elected a Fellow in 1953. He was chair of the jury on honor awards in 1960 and was chancellor of the College of Fellows in 1961 and 1962. He also served as New York regional director from 1961 to 1964 and as first vice president for the year 1964–65 before being elected president for the year 1965–66.<ref name="Vosbeck">R. Randall Vosbeck, ''A Legacy of Leadership: The Presidents of the American Institute of Architects, 1857–2007'' (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 2008)</ref> From 1958 to 1960 he led the Architectural League of New York and from 1973 to 1979 was vice chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.<ref name="Obit"/>
Ketchum was the author of ''Shops and Stores'', published in 1948 and reissued in 1957, and ''Blazing a Trail'', a record of his career, published in 1982.<ref name="Obit"/>
In addition to de Blois, notable architects who worked in the Ketchum office include Jules Gregory, Arthur Cotton Moore, John C. Portman Jr.<ref>Sara Johnson, "[https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/atlanta-architect-john-portman-dies-at-93_o Atlanta Architect John Portman Dies at 93]," Architect Magazine, December 31, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2023.</ref> and William Rupp.
==Personal life== In 1934 Ketchum was married to Isabella T. Stiger at Hewlett, New York.<ref>"Isabella T. Stiger Becomes a Bride" in ''New York Times'', April 29, 1934, N4.</ref> He died November 22, 1984, at home in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.<ref name="Obit"/><ref name="Vosbeck"/>
==Architectural works== * Davison's, 864 Broad St, Augusta, Georgia (1947, altered)<ref name="Ketchum70"/> * Shopper's World, 1 Worcester Rd, Framingham, Massachusetts (1950–51, demolished 1994)<ref>Marie Ellery, "Center Was 5 Years in Planning Stage" in ''Boston Globe'', September 30, 1951, A25A.</ref> * Kawneer office building, 2547 8th St, Berkeley, California (1953)<ref name="Ketchum62"/> * Julia A. Traphagen Elementary School, 153 Summit Ave, Waldwick, New Jersey (1956)<ref name="Ketchum62"/> * Universal-Marion Building,{{efn|name=Jacksonville|Planned as a combined retail and office development for a May Company subsidiary. Now the headquarters of JEA.}} Church St W, Jacksonville, Florida (1960–63)<ref name="Ketchum62"/><ref>Ennis Davis, "[https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-universal-marion-jea-building-is-worth-saving/ The Universal Marion (JEA) building is worth saving]," The Jaxson, May 18, 2020. Accessed January 17, 2023.</ref> * United States Embassy (former), 2 Ave Mohamed El Fassi, Rabat, Morocco (1961)<ref name="Ketchum62"/> * Dining Hall, Queens College, City University of New York, Queens (1962)<ref name="Obit"/> * Horace E. Green Public School 45, 84 Schaefer St, Brooklyn (1965)<ref name="Ketchum70">"Ketchum, Morris Jr." in ''American Architects Directory'' (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 485–486.</ref> * NYCHA Kingsborough Extension, 1737 Bergen St, Brooklyn (1965)<ref name="Reimer70"/> * Dining hall and dormitory complex, State University of New York at Morrisville, Morrisville, New York (1967)<ref name="Ketchum70"/> * Hunter College High School, 71 E 94th St, Manhattan (1969–71)<ref>Carter B. Horsley, "New School Complements an Old Armory Wall" in ''New York Times'', July 18, 1971, R1.</ref> * World of Darkness, Bronx Zoo, the Bronx (1969)<ref name="Ketchum70"/> * NYCHA Hernandez Houses, 189 Allen St, Manhattan (1971)<ref name="AN-2024-04-29">Daniel Jonas Roche, "[https://www.archpaper.com/2024/04/nycha-mdg-essence-wavecrest-management-lower-east-side-buildings/ NYCHA selects MDG, Essence, and Wavecrest Management to renovate multiple Lower East Side buildings under PACT/RAD]," ''The Architect's Newspaper'', April 29, 2024. Accessed May 3, 2026.</ref> * NYCHA Meltzer Tower, 94 East 1st St, Manhattan (1971)<ref name="AN-2024-04-29" /> * World of Birds, Bronx Zoo, the Bronx (1972)<ref name="Obit"/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketchum, Morris Jr.}} Category:Architects from New York City Category:20th-century American architects Category:Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Category:Presidents of the American Institute of Architects Category:Columbia University alumni Category:1904 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Chancellors of the AIA College of Fellows