Ben Weese

Who is Ben Weese?

Benjamin Horace Weese is an American architect hailing from Chicago, and a member of the architects group, the Chicago Seven. Weese is the younger brother of fellow Chicago architect Harry Weese.

He received his B.Arch. and his M.Arch. from Harvard University and a certificate from the École des Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France. He returned to Chicago in 1957 into his older brother's firm, Harry Weese Associates, which specialized in urban renewal and subsidized housing projects. In the late 1970s he was a member of the Chicago Seven, a group which emerged in opposition to the doctrinal application of modernism, as represented particularly in Chicago by the followers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

In 1977, Weese opened his own firm, Weese Seegers Hickey Weese, with his wife. This turned out to be an award-winning firm, later becoming Weese Langley Weese, and was best known for non-profit and educational projects with an emphasis on historical appreciation and preservation.