Estate of Julian Clarence Levi

Julian Levi (1874-1971), born in New York City, was the son of Albert Augustus Levi. The elder Levi, originally from Germany, was a banker and one of the trustees of the Society for Ethical Culture upon its founding in 1877; he was apparently also a brother-in-law of the Seligman brothers (of the investment banking firm J. & W. Seligman & Co.). Julian Levi attended Columbia College, studied architecture as a postgraduate with William R. Ware, and graduated from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1904. During the first half of 1905, he worked under architect Herbert D. Hale; his association with Francis Hatch Kimball in 1905-07 on the Seligman Building appears to have been his first major commission. From 1907 to 1962 he was a partner in the firm of Taylor & Levi; after Alfredo S.G. Taylor’s death in 1947, Levi was the owner of the firm, from which he retired in 1954. Among their work was the Osborne Apartments addition (1907), 205 West 57th St.; Ehrich Brothers (Kesner’s) Store addition (1911-15), 695 Sixth Ave.; and the Eclair Moving Picture Studio (credited as one of the nation’s first), Ft. Lee, N.J.; as well as numerous commercial and residential commissions in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Levi was active in various exhibitions, expositions, committees, and organizations. In 1921 he organized exhibits on American architecture that traveled in Europe, and developed a program for the construction of open-air schools in France. He was the founder in 1930 and chairman of the Architects Emergency Committee, which found or created work for architects throughout the Depression. He was one of the co-designers of the U.S. Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition in 1937 and of the Roumanian House at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Levi, called a “Renaissance man” in his New York Times obituary, was also a painter and philanthropist.

Works associated with this person or group

  • Pouch (Indonesia), 1900–1972

    Pouch with closely worked patterning featuring three dark brown and ivory geometric patterned bands including several motifs resembling a plant form. A repeated open-worked motif and two narrow bands. Open-worked…

  • Towel, 19th–mid- 20th century

    Long narrow natural-colored towel with textured bands at both ends. Bands have three clusters of three carnations embroidered in red, pink, blue, ivory, purple, and green silk with metal-wrapped yarn.

  • Sarong, late 19th–early 20th century

    Long narrow panel with rectangular field with diagonal lattice framing small flowering pants on a yellow/ochre background: wide border at each end in four sections – each decorated with pendant…

  • Sarong Fragment (Thailand), 1900–1950

    Remains of a long rectangular panel: field replaced with ivory cotton end borders reduced to three sections. each band at each end is decorated by pendant forms–two with a red…

  • Textile (Indonesia), 1900–1950

    Two loomed widths of broceded weft ikat sewn together to form panel with two rectangular groups of vertical band of triangles in multicolors and gold and silver, a narrow band…

  • Textile (Indonesia), 1900–1950

    One of two halves of a long narrow panel cut lengthwise. All-over pattern of two alternating diagonal bands: one made up of alternating dark and light squares and the other…

  • Textile (Indonesia), 1900–1950

    One of two halves of a long narrow panel cut lengthwise. All-over pattern of two alternating diagonal bands: one made up of alternating dark and light squares and the other…

  • Textile

  • Fragments, 16th–17th century

    Deep purple fragments that once formed part of a stole have a stamped pattern of narrow vertical bands containing small scrolls.

  • Fragment, late 19th–early 20th century

    Fragment of crochet patterned with two narrow bands with a multi-colored stylized leaf on a gold stem, one on blue background and the other ivory. With narrow guard stripes of…