Paul Marvin Rudolph grew up in Elkton KY. His father was an itinerant minister whose travels exposed his son to architecture in the American South. In 1940 Rudolph earned his bachelor’s degree in Architecture at Auburn University (then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute). After working briefly with E. B. Van Koeren in Birmingham and Ralph Twitchell in Sarasota, he entered the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1941 to study under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius.
In 1942, Paul Marvin Rudolph began naval officer training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. He served in the Navy for three years before returning to Harvard to earn his Master’s degree in 1947.
In 1948, Paul Marvin Rudolph won Harvard Graduate School of Design’s annual traveling fellowship. He traveled throughout Europe until the summer of 1949 when Ralph Twitchell offered him a full partnership. Rudolph moved to Sarasota, FL, for that job until 1951, when he founded his firm. In Florida, Rudolph became a leader of the Sarasota Style of architecture associated with architects Ralph Twitchell, Ralph Zimmerman, William Zimmerman, Philip Hiss, Jack West, Gene Leedy, Mark Hampton, Phil Hall, Roland Sellew, Tim Seibert, Victor Lundy, Bill Rupp, John and Ken Warriner, Tolyn Twitchell, Bert Brosmith, Frank Folsom Smith, Boyd Blackner, Louis Schneider, James Holiday, Joseph Farrell, and Carl Abbott.
The Sarasota Style emphasized architecture in harmony with its surroundings. To that end, its signature elements were clean, open floor plans, terrazzo floors, an abundance of natural light from extensive glazing, and flat roofs with wide overhangs to shade the glazing. Ralph Twitchell’s nephew, Jack Twitchell, built many of Rudolph’s houses.
Rudolph moved to the Yale School of Architecture as Dean in 1958, shortly after designing the Yale Art and Architecture Building, a structure considered his masterpiece below. He stayed at Yale for six years until moving to New York in 1966. He inspired a generation of architects. The public, however, did not warm to his large brutalist designs, finding the intense use of concrete and steel to be ugly and oppressive.
United Therapeutics announced they would save the original building above as part of a new lab campus, the main building of which is shown below
This page is the official Rudolph residential index for the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, founded in 2015 by Ernst Wagner. That is different from the Paul Rudolph Foundation, also founded by Ernst Wagner (in 2002) but as of 2015 led by former Paul Rudolph Foundation board member, architect George Balle. There was a split, and the two Rudolph foundations appear not to interact with or mention each other.
1940 – The T. P. Atkinson Residence, 628 East Samford, Auburn, AL. Commissioned 1939. Rudolph was only 22 when he designed and supervised the construction of this house for an Auburn University professor. Although not Modernist, the one-story brick building incorporated new technical innovations such as central heating, corner windows, and a copper standing seam roof. Sold to Steve Etheridge. Sold in 2013 to Kathy and Bernis Simmons.
1941 – The Ralph Twitchell Residence, 101 Big Pass Lane, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Featured in Architectural Forum, September 1947. As of 1969, the owners were Garrison and Marjorie Creighton. Sold in 2005 to architect Joe King. Damaged by fire, the house was dismantled and put into storage in 2007; the land was unbuilt as of 2013, as shown in the bottom photo. Top photo by Sarasota County History Center. Next photo by Joseph Steinmetz. Remaining photos by Chris Mottalini.
1946 – The Alexander S. (Al) and Leona B. Harkavy Residence, 4018 Roberts Point, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL. Featured in Architectural Forum, September 1947. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. B/W photos by Joseph Steinmetz from Architectural Forum. Harkavy died in 1956; his executor was Martin R. Harkavy. There was at least one addition. Sold in 1986 to John C. Greer. It was a rental for years. For sale in 2015 as a teardown.
1946 – aka the Weekend House, Rudolph’s graduate school project at Harvard. Unbuilt. The basic design was later used for Roberta Finney, which is also unbuilt below.
1947 – The Burt J. Denman Residence, 4822 Ocean Boulevard, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Commissioned 1946. Appeared in Progressive Architecture in August 1950. Photos courtesy Library of Congress. Destroyed and replaced with these condos, bottom photo.
1947 – The Roberta Healy Finney Guest House, aka Finney Guest Cottage, Siesta Key, Sarasota FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Unbuilt.
1948 – The Marion “Monks” Miller Residence, 2209 Casey Key Road, Sarasota, FL. Commissioned1947. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. B/W photos by Ezra Stoller/Esto. Won a 1949 Progressive Architecture Award. Paul Marvin Rudolph and Twitchell also designed a 1949 guest house. Miller married Mario Lucci, who lived there until 1971. Sold to a person who expanded it.
Author Stephen King lost the bidding in 1999 to buyers Walter and Marilyn Kreiseder, who sought someone to move the main house before new construction. The main house was destroyed, as a new 25,000 sf home went up in 2003, bottom photo. The guest house’s fate is unknown.
1948 – The Maynard E. (Russ) and Phyllis Boggs Russell Residence, 945 Whitakers Lane (formerly Palmetto Lane), Sarasota, FL. Commissioned 1947. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Featured in Architectural Record January 1950, House and Garden December 1949. The Russells moved out around 1968, and their son Jon moved in for about four years, according to Jon’s sister, Barbara Sue Russell Michel. It’s unclear what happened to the house after that. Destroyed in the 1990s with a new house built in 1994. Photos by Ezra Stoller/Esto.
1948 – The Joseph Janney Steinmetz Photography Studio, 1614 Laurel Street, Sarasota, FL. Commissioned 1947. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. It was significantly altered. Destroyed in the 2000’s. Photos by Sarasota County Historical Resources. Not a house.
1948 – The Lamolithic/J. E. Lambie Development,5528, 5540, 5544, 5546 Avenida Del Mare, four concrete houses in Sarasota, FL. These photos are from 5540. Designed with Ralph Twitchell.
1948 – The Roberta Healy Finney House, aka the Revere Quality House, 100 Ogden Lane, Siesta Key, Sarasota FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell, who moved in with the client. Finney died in 1966. Twitchell lived there until he died in 1978. The house stayed with the Twitchell family until 2003.
The house was a cooperative project between the architects, Architectural Forum, Revere Copper and Brass, and the builders Lamolithic Industries. There were originally going to be eight houses around the country. When this house opened, over 16,000 people visited the first year.
It was featured in House and Garden in August 1949, Architectural Forum in October 1948, and Architectural Review in November 1948. Sold in 2003 to Doug Olson, who got the house’s local historic designations. In 2005, Olson sold 50% to developer Howard Rooks. They commissioned a 2008 restoration and addition by architect Guy Peterson/OFA. Added to the National Register in 2008. Sold (at a great financial loss because of the 2008 recession) to Robert K. and Mich Lobnitz. B/W photos by Ezra Stoller/Esto.
1948 – The Albert T. and Lois Siegrist Residence, 520 Valencia Road, Venice, FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Chosen as a house of “quality and significance” by the N.Y. Museum of Modern Art for an exhibition in 1952. Featured in Progressive Architecture June 1949, Arts+Architecture April 1953. Sold around 1959 to Robert Leonard Corcoran and Vivian Corcoran. Sold and mostly destroyed by Italianate renovation in 1979, bottom photo (from 2010).
1949 – The Edward Deeds Residence, 5242 Avenida Del Mare, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL. Designed with Ralph Twitchell. Commissioned 1948. Featured in Architectural Forum April 1950. Renovations in 1969. Sold around 1983 to Marvin and Teresa Emery. B/W photos by Ezra Stoller/Esto.