Eliot Noyes - Early Life

Early Life

Eliot Noyes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after his birth, Noyes moved to Colorado where he resided until age seven. At this point, Noyes and his family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Noyes’ father taught English at Harvard and his mother was an accomplished pianist. He was not always set on architecture. As a teen, he seriously contemplated becoming a painter; however by age 19 he had his mind set on architecture. He first enrolled at Harvard University in 1932 to obtain a bachelor’s degree in the Classics, and then later in 1938 he received his architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design. Noyes’ experience at Harvard was unlike the other four members of Harvard Five. When he arrived at Harvard, the school was still under the influence of the Beaux-Arts architecture movement – hardly the modernist influence that the other four received. However, after meeting Le Corbusier in the school library, his architectural outlook changed entirely. He was so inspired by Le Corbusier’s work that Noyes researched the Bauhaus and even had thoughts of transferring to Dessau. Reality of the situation prevented the bold move, though, and he chose (unhappily) to stay at Harvard for the time being. His opportunity soon came in his junior year at Harvard after traveling to Iran for an archaeological expedition. Upon returning to the school, Noyes found that Harvard had undergone a complete revolution. Gropius and Breuer had already arrived there, and with them came a new modernist spirit at the school.

While at Harvard, Noyes was also a member of the Harvard soaring club and flew the club's new Schweizer Aircraft-built SGU1-7 glider.