Minoru Yamasaki

Yamasaki was born in Seattle, Washington (1913), the son of John Tsunejiro Yamasaki and Hana Yamasaki, issei Japanese immigrants. The family later moved to Auburn, Washington and he graduated from Garfield Senior High School in Seattle. He enrolled in the University of Washington program in architecture in 1929, and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) in 1934. During his college years, he was strongly encouraged by faculty member Lionel Pries. He earned money to pay for his tuition by working at an Alaskan salmon cannery.

After moving to New York City in the 1930s, he enrolled at New York University for a master's degree in architecture and got a job with the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, designers of the Empire State Building. In 1945, Yamasaki moved to Detroit, where he was hired by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. The firm helped Yamasaki avoid internment as a Japanese-American during World War II, and he himself sheltered his parents in New York City. Yamasaki left the firm in 1949, and started his own partnership. He founded his own firm in suburb of Detroit in 1957. One of the first projects he designed at his own firm was Ruhl's Bakery at 7 Mile Road and Monica Street in Detroit. He died in Detroit Michigan in 1986 due to stomach. His firm, Yamasaki & Associates, closed on December 31, 2009 due to unpaid debts. The Firm has revived in 2017 and now is running in Fisher Building.

Yamasaki, Minoru and Teruko (Hirashiki), House (1972) Street Address, 3717 Lakecrest Drive, Bloomfiled Township, MI. The house is bought by Lynda and Ronald Charfoos currently which is house business for Charfood Design Inc., The site is registered as an Architecturally significant site by state of Michigan on 12/11/2013.

1950s

• Urban Redevelopment Plan, St. Louis, 1952
• Gratiot Urban Redevelopment Project, Detroit, 1954
• University School, Grosse Pointe, 1954
• U.S. Consulate, Kobe, Japan, 1955
• Pruit-Igoe Public Housing, St. Louis, 1955
• Lambert-St.Louis Airport Terminal, 1956
• McGregor Memorial Conference Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1958
• Yamasaki Building, College For Creative Studies, 1958
• Reynolds Metals Regional Sales Office, Southfield, 1959
• U.S. Pavilion, World Agricultural Fair, New Delhi, India, 1959
• Michigan State Medical Society building, East Lansing, 1959

1960s

• College of Education, Wayne State University, 1960
• Dhahran Air Terminal, Dhahran Saudi Arabia, 1961
• Carleton College, Olin Hall of Science, Northfield, Minnesota, 1961
• Carleton College, Goodhue Dormitory, Northfield, Minnesota, 1962
• Federal Science Pavilion, Seattle World's Fair, 1962
• Irwin Library at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1963
• Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., Detroit, 1963
• Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 1963
• Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1964
• Prentis Building, Wayne State University, Detroit, 1964
• Carleton College, West Gym, Northfield, Minnesota, 1964
• Queen Emma Gardens, Honolulu, 1964
• IBM Office Building, Seattle, 1964
• North Shore Congregation Israel, Glenco, Ill., 1964
• Northwestern National Life Insurance Co., Minneapolis, 1964
• Carleton College, Cowling Rec Center, Northfield, Minnesota, 1965
• Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 1965
• Carleton College, Watson Hall, Northfield, Minnesota, 1966
• Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, 1966
• Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., Buffalo, 1967
• Eastern Airlines Terminal, Logan International Airport, Boston, 1969

1970s

• Temple Beth El, Birmingham, 1974
• Colorado National Bank, Denver, 1974
• Century Plaza Towers, Los Angeles, 1975
• Performing Arts Center, Tulsa, 1976
• World Trade Center, New York, 1976
• Rainer Bank Tower, Seattle, 1977
• Bank of Oklahoma, Tulsa, 1977
• Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond, Va., 1978
• Horace Mann Educators Insurance Co., Springfield, Ill., 1979

1980s

• Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Head Office, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,1981
• Founder's Hall, Shinji Shumeikai, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, 1982
• Eastern Province International Airport, Saudi Arabia, 1985