Loebl Schlossman & Hackl


Loebl Schlossman & Hackl is an American architecture firm based in Chicago, Illinois.
Founded in 1925 and known by various names through the years, the firm is responsible for the design of several major Chicago landmarks including the 1975 Water Tower Place and the 1990 Two Prudential Plaza.

History

The firm's first major project was the Temple Sholom at 3480 N. Lake Shore Drive. Armour Institute students Jerrold Loebl and Norman J. Schlossman largely developed the design while in school. With a third architect John DeMuth, the young team was named as associate architects for the project, behind leads Coolidge and Hodgdon.
In the war years Loebl and Schlossman concentrated on war-related public housing projects on government contracts. This included some 500 units in Seymour, Indiana and Rosiclaire, Illinois. Further projects for the Chicago Housing Authority included the West Chesterfield Homes in 1944, Wentworth Gardens in 1946, and the 800 units in mid-rise, six-story, and nine-story residential towers on the 16 acres of the south-side Dearborn Homes in 1950.
The firm expanded with the addition of Richard M. Bennett, who had been chairman of the Yale Architecture Department, in 1947. Bennett took the lead in the site plan and the architectural components of the suburban planned community of Park Forest, Illinois, which occupied the firm for years. The town's innovative 1949 Park Forest Plaza shopping center developed into another sideline for the firm: a genre of rambling, cleverly landscaped, village-like outdoor malls. These include Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, Illinois in 1956, and the 1962 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook.
Designer Edward D. Dart joined in 1965 and triggered another wave of ambitious projects. Bennett left in 1974 to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; Dart's career hadn't peaked when he died of an aneurysm in July 1975.
The firm continues in business as of 2017. It has operated as:
All structures are in Chicago unless otherwise noted: