Leonard Jacobson

Who was Leonard Jacobson?

Leonard Jacobson FAIA was an American museum architect. He worked with I. M. Pei on some of the major museum projects in the 20th century.

Jacobson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on 7 March 1921. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942. He served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942–45 during World War II. In 1947, he gained a Master of Architecture degree, also at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1953, Jacobson started working with I.M. Pei, joining him at I. M. Pei & Partners, founded in 1955. He was a Partner in I. M. Pei & Partners from 1980–92. Jacobson was central to the following building projects in the US, mainly involving museums:

East Building of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

West Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine

Wiesner building, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

At the end of his career in the 1980s and early 1990s, Jacobson was heavily involved with the modernization of the Louvre in Paris, France. Jacobson was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.