Edward (Ed)
Loewenstein
(1913–1970)
Born in Chicago, Loewenstein graduated from Deerfield Shields High School then graduated from MIT with a BA in Architecture in 1935. He worked as a draftsman for Ralph E. Stoetzel and Newhouse Bernham in Chicago before opening an office in Highland Park IL in 1938. He served in the US Army for five years starting in 1941. In 1946, he moved to Greensboro with wife Francis Stern Loewenstein. His wife's stepfather, the very wealthy Julius Cone, provided access to a large social network of contacts upon which Loewenstein built an architectural practice. In 1953, he joined with Robert A. Atkinson Jr. to form Loewenstein-Atkinson.
Loewenstein was the first White architect in North Carolina to hire Black architects, including William Streat in 1950, W. Edward (Blue) Jenkins, Major Sanders, Williex Merritt, and Clinton Gravely. According to his daughter, Jane Levy, "my father just respected everyone. When confronted by white architects who had a problem with Black co-workers, he told them they were welcome to leave." Loewenstein was an active member of Governor Terry Sanford's North Carolina Commission on Civil Rights. Here's the firm around 1962, including Blue Jenkins and Williex Merritt.
The firm was featured in the New York Times, Architectural Record, Good Housekeeping, and Southern Architect among many other publications. As of 2021, houses designed by several of Loewenstein's protégés located in the South Benrow Road area of Greensboro are being considered for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Spectrum News covered the effort in this December 2020 video.
Walter T. (Tom) Wilson was 27 when he was made partner in 1967 and the firm became Loewenstein Atkinson and Wilson. At its peak the firm employed more than 30 with branches in Greensboro, Martinsville VA, Danville VA, Raleigh, and Burlington. The firm designed around 1600 buildings. Their offices were in a Georgian-style house at 1030 East Wendover Avenue, the former mansion of Julius Cone where Wilson stored all of the firm's blueprints. As of 2009, the firm was called Wilson Lysiak. Loewenstein's many well-known commercial projects included the Greensboro YWCA, the Hayes Taylor YMCA, synagogues including the Temple Sinai in Newport News VA (below left), Beth David Synagogue, and the Greensboro Public Library, now the Elon University Law School. The world's expert on Loewenstein's work is Patrick Lee Lucas of the University of Kentucky, formerly with UNC-Greensboro. Loewenstein died of a sudden heart attack in 1970. He said that "dedicated architects die unhappy. They never get to unleash creative juices because of pressure to please clients." 2014 Article in Our State Magazine.
Sources include: Patrick Lee Lucas; Greensboro News and Record; daughter Jane Loewenstein Levy; former employee James Brandt; MDMHC Consultants; 2009 Fayetteville Modern Architecture Survey Report; North Carolina Architects and Builders Database; Carol W. Martin/Greensboro Historical Museum Collection.