Bertrand Goldberg, the Entrepreneur
Abridged Chronology
| 1913 | born, Chicago, IL |
| 1930- 1932 |
attends Harvard College, Cambridge, MA |
| 1932- 1933 |
attends Bauhaus (Berlin), works in Mies' office |
| 1934- 1937 |
works in Chicago architectural offices of George and Fred Keck, Paul Schweiker, and Howard Fisher |
| 1937 | opens his own office, starts single family residences - Abrams, Mullins, Ancell. |
| 1938 | North Pole Ice Cream Store, Clark Maple Gasoline Station, Jacobs residence |
| 1939- 1943 |
Standard Houses in Maryland and Illinois with Gilmer Black |
| 1946 | Marries Nancy Florsheim. Prefab bathrooms. Establishes Standard Fabrication Co. |
| 1950- 1953 |
Consulting architect to Pressed Steel Car Co. for Unicel and Unishelter |
| 1952 | Snyder House, NY |
| 1954 | Kansas City Apartment Project Award, Progressive Architecture |
| 1954- 1955 |
Drexel Gardens, IL |
| 1956- 1967 |
Michael Todd's Cinestage Theatre, IL |
| 1960 | Marina City construction starts |
| 1963 | Astor Tower completed. Maxim's de Paris opens. Brenneman School, IL. ABC Tower proposal, NY. |
| 1964 | Marina City Office Building completed |
| 1965- 1976 |
Health Science Center, Stonybrook, NY |
| 1966 | Master plan, Affiliated Hospital Center, MA. |
| 1967 | Hilliard Center, public housing, IL. Elgin Hospital, IL. West Palm Beach Auditorium, FL. Marina City Theater completed. |
| 1969 | San Diego Theater proposal, CA |
| 1969- 1974 |
St. Joseph Hospital, WA |
| 1970 | Trinidad Master Plan, Venezuela |
| 1974 | Prentice Women's Hospital, IL, and Dana Cancer Center, MA |
| 1979 | Night World proposal, FL |
| 1982 | Good Samaritan Hospital, AZ |
| 1982- 1987 |
Providence Hospital, AL |
| 1983 | Brigham and Women's Hospital, MA |
| 1984 | Floating Worlds's Fair, Chicago, IL |
| 1986 | River City, IL |
| 1992 | Wright College, IL |
| 1997 | deceased, Chicago, IL |
Promotional materials for (clockwise from top) Unishelter prefabricated housing, Standard Houses Corporation, and Unicel plywood freight car
Bertrand Goldberg was a creative entrepreneur and established a number of business relationships that operated alongside his architectural practice. Typically in the form of partnerships or corporations, these ventures were formed for unique purposes, such as promoting a specific activity or project, with little continuation beyond the completed project. Among the most significant was Standard Houses Corporation. Formed in 1939 with fellow architect Gilmer Black, Standard Houses designed, built, and developed prefabricated homes from 1939 until 1942. Goldberg also organized Standard Fabrication, Incorporated, to design, manufacture, and market prefabricated bathrooms in 1946.
From 1949 to 1953 Goldberg served as design consultant for the Pressed Steel Car Company and developed the Unicel plywood boxcar and an innovative housing project called Unishelter. Also in the early 1950’s Goldberg worked with Arthur Rubloff to market privately built public housing, leading to building Drexel Home and Gardens project. He proposed a marina and development project in Florida, and was integral in the development of Astor Tower and Marina City, serving as architect and more. In the 1980’s he was a partner in the development of River City.
Interior view of Maxim’s de Paris, a restaurant owned and operated by Bertrand’s wife Nancy Goldberg. Located inside Astor Tower, Maxim’s was designed as a recreation of the famous Parisian restaurant.
As Goldberg’s office grew in the 1960’s , mechanical/electrical engineering, computerized engineering and CAD work, and reproduction services were established as separate corporations titled Environmental Engineering Corp., Computer Services, Inc., and Copy Corp. In general, these were underwritten by BGA until closed c. 1990.
On a personal basis Goldberg was involved with his wife Nancy in Maxim’s de Paris, a prestigous haute-cuisine restaurant which she owned and ran in Chicago from 1963 until 1982.