Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
In its striking curtain wall of glass and modernist steel columns, Gordon Bunshaft’s International-style design for the Lever House — cocreated with Natalie de Blois — garnered widespread acclaim. The Pritzker Prize-winner was a legendary American architect, and his influence can be found today in city skylines all over the world.
Bunshaft studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before undertaking fellowships in Europe and North Africa. In 1937, he joined New York City architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill where he worked until his retirement in 1979.
Bunshaft shared the same interest in modernist furniture as Florence Knoll, an architect and furniture designer who had a subtle but profound influence on the course of mid-century American modernism and who helped make Knoll Inc. a leading firm in its field. Bunshaft recommended that Knoll be placed in charge of interiors when, while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he designed the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company’s headquarters in the mid-1950s.
Bunshaft’s projects drew heavily on the pioneering architectural work of Le Corbusier as well as Mies van der Rohe, an iconic furniture designer and fellow proponent of modernist architecture.
Celebrated architectural marvels created by Bunshaft include the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library for Yale University and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Research Building for the University of Texas. Completed in 1974, Bunshaft designed the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and finished the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1983. The National Commercial Bank was his last project.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Gordon Bunshaft case pieces and other furniture.
1960s American Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Steel
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Fabric, Wood
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Leather, Teak
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Fabric, Foam, Wood
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Bamboo, Rattan
1960s Italian Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Velvet, Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Fabric, Wool, Upholstery
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Leather, Wood
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Oak
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Leather, Wood
1960s North American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Fabric, Wood, Down
Mid-20th Century American Scandinavian Modern Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Linen, Teak
1960s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gordon Bunshaft Sofas
Upholstery, Wood