--- description: Aug. 20, 1910: Eero Saarinen is born title: Eero Saarinen: How an Architect Rose to Fame image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbf0ca87cc36138/69885ede5f570f4b8eb1ce0a/eero.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Eero Saarinen Became One of America’s Best-Known Architects by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2015 2:30 PM CUT  Architect Eero Saarinen with the model of the new proposed US Embassy in London, June 5, 1956. Architect Eero Saarinen with the model of the new proposed US Embassy in London, June 5, 1956.Ron Case—Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2015 2:30 PM CUT It would have been difficult for Eero Saarinen to escape the pull of architecture. Born on this day, Aug. 20, in 1910, to Finland’s top architect — Eliel Saarinen — Eero grew up surrounded by blueprints and building models. His father’s studio doubled as the family’s immense living room, where Eero and his sister, Pipsan, mingled with the ever-present draftsmen and designers. “Such a beehive of cultural activity was calculated either to smother or force the children,” [TIME noted](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,891296,00.html "undefined"). “In the case of Eero and Pipsan, it forced. By the time Eero was five, his talent for drawing had shown itself. Sitting under his father’s drafting tables, he busily turned out his own versions of door details and houses.” Of course, Eero didn’t remain in the shadow of his father’s drafting tables; he [flourished in his own right](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1955585-1,00.html "undefined"). That he made a name for himself — apart from the family name — is evident in TIME’s 1956 cover story, which proclaimed, “…of the whole U.S. cast of modern architects, none has a better proportioned combination of imagination, versatility and good sense than Eero Saarinen.” But as Eero told TIME, he owed a good part of his success to his father, who was both his role model and longtime collaborator. While the elder Saarinen was alive, [according to the New York _Times_](http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A04E6D7163EE43ABC4E51DFB2668388649EDE "undefined") (in a 1953 profile written by the art critic whom Eero would later marry), “Eero neither rebelled nor rejected: he remained architecturally, as well as filially, deferential.” “I often contributed technical solutions and plans,” Eero is quoted as saying, “but only within the concept he created.” Still, the Saarinens were innately competitive — and had a knack for winning contests. At age 12, per TIME, Eero placed first in a matchstick design contest sponsored by a Swedish newspaper, winning 30 Swedish kronor — or about $8\. The same week, his father was a runner-up in an international contest to design the Chicago Tribune Tower, and won $20,000. The tables eventually turned in Eero’s favor, however, creating at least one awkward scene at the Saarinen house. Both father and son — separately — entered the 1948 competition to build a monument for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis. Per TIME: --- > “” --- **_Read more about Eero Saarinen from 1956, here in the TIME archives_**: [The Maturing Modern](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,891296,00.html "undefined") ### The Work of Eero Saarinen  Caption from LIFE: Saarinen's study is equipped with three varieties of Saarinen furniture: a blue "womb" chair, a plywood chair (next to the bookcase) and a white pedestal chair. In the left foreground is a newly designed aluminum base for a lower pedestal chair and on the wall in the rear are trial sketches for more chairs. Frank Scherscehl—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A photograph of the "Womb Chair" designed by Eero Saarinen. Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A photograph of the living space inside the Saarinen House in Detroit, 1958. Frank Scherscehl—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The fountain in front of the University of Chicago Law Library designed by Eero Saarinen, 1961. Andreas Feininger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The TWA terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, 1961. Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen, under construction in 1965. Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen, under construction in 1965. A.Y. Owen—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  A walled-in glass bank designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The interior of the North Christian Church designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Crowds out side of the North Christian Church designed by Eero Saarinen, 1967. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3994195/eero-saarinen-105/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3994195/eero-saarinen-105/"},"headline":"How Eero Saarinen Became One of America’s Best-Known Architects","datePublished":"2015-08-20T14:30:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:04.476Z","description":"Aug. 20, 1910: Eero Saarinen is born","url":"https://time.com/3994195/eero-saarinen-105/","keywords":["architecture","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbf0ca87cc36138/69885ede5f570f4b8eb1ce0a/eero.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7dbf0ca87cc36138/69885ede5f570f4b8eb1ce0a/eero.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Eero Saarinen","caption":"Eero Saarinen","creditText":"Ron Case—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3994195/eero-saarinen-105/","name":"How Eero Saarinen Became One of America’s Best-Known Architects"}}]}] ```