Famed architect I.M. Pei dies at 102
One of the world’s most revered architects and one of the most heralded designers in Columbus, I.M. Pei, has died at 102, according to national news reports.
Internationally, the glass pyramid at the Louvre was among his many famous designs. Locally, the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library Building marking its 50th anniversary at 536 Fifth St. downtown is considered a gem by design experts.
He earned the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor, in 1983.
Bartholomew County Public Library officials recently had launched their year-long Cleo Turns 50 celebration last month. Part of that series of events will spotlight Pei’s work to bring the city a much-needed larger and innovative facility in keeping with the community’s rising Modernist architectural star years ago.
“He lived a life of architectural innovation,” said Jason Hatton, library director, who has been researching the local efforts to build the structure in 1969.
Pei was born in Guangzhou, China, and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Landmark Columbus Executive Director Richard McCoy noted that J. Irwin and Xenia Miller of Columbus tapped Pei for the local work in 1963, well before he was known nationally for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., or other efforts.
“He gave the city of Columbus something it never had before … in the form of a town square,” McCoy said, referring to the library plaza. “It was an amazing contribution to Columbus.”
