Ezra Stoller

Who was Ezra Stoller?

Ezra Stoller was an American architectural photographer.

Stoller was born in Chicago. His interest in photography began while he was an architecture student at New York University, when he began making lantern slides and photographs of architectural models, drawings and sculpture. After his graduation in 1939, he concentrated on photography.

His work featured landmarks of modern architecture, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, Alvar Aalto's Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Stoller is often cited in aiding the spread of the Modern Movement.

In 1961, he was the first recipient of a Gold Medal for Photography from the American Institute of Architects. Stoller's photographs are featured in the books Modern Architecture: Photographs by Ezra Stoller and Ezra Stoller, Photographer. In his later years, Stoller founded Esto Photographics, a commercial photography firm currently directed by his daughter Erica Stoller.

Stoller's son Evan Stoller is an architect and designer of a line of architecturally influenced modern furniture called Stoller Works.

He died in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on 29 October 2004, from complications of a stroke.