Career
In 1919 Walker took a position with McKenzie, Voorhees and Gmelin, a New York firm that was the successor firm to the one begun by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz. Walker was to remain there for the remainder of his career.
In his first few years with the firm, Walker used his Beaux-Arts training to provide support for the firm's ongoing commissions for projects like the Brooklyn Municipal Building (completed 1924) and the Brooklyn Edison Company Building (completed 1923).
With his design for the Barclay-Vesey Telephone Building (1922–1926), Walker became a lead designer and took McKenzie, Voorhees and Gmelin in a new direction. The Barclay-Vesey Building, now known as the Verizon Building at 140 West Street in New York City, is credited as being the first skyscraper to use the New York 1916 Zoning Resolution as a design asset. Inspired in part by Hugh Ferriss's theoretical drawings exhibited in 1922, Walker created a massive asymmetrical tower set back from its base. The design led the way for a generation of skyscrapers built using the set-back principle. It has also been described as the first art deco skyscraper because of its inventive ornament surrounding doorways and windows. As a result of the success of the design, Walker made partner in the firm and its name was changed to Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker in 1926.
After the completion of the Barclay-Vesey Telephone Building, Walker designed several other buildings using its combination of asymmetrical setbacks and towers with art deco ornament, including the Salvation Army Headquarters (1929–30) on West 14th Street, the Irving Trust Bank at 1 Wall Street (1928–31), and several other telephone buildings throughout New York City and the state, including those in Syracuse and Rochester as well as the New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building.
During the 1930s as art deco waned, Walker was deeply involved with the planning of the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago and in the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Walker was an active member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and became its president in 1949. During his two-year presidency he was instrumental in establishing the AIA's College of Fellows which gained approval in 1952. In 1957, on the occasion of the AIA's 100th anniversary, the AIA recognized Walker's extraordinary service to the profession by creating a special award for him, the AIA Centennial Medal of Honor (Gold Medal). The New York Times headline reporting the award dubbed Walker the "Architect of the Century." To commemorate the event, Walker also wrote and published an autobiography.
Walker retired from Voorhees, Walker, Foley, Smith & Smith in 1959 but remained active within the profession.
Read more about this topic: Ralph Thomas Walker
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