Leonard Jacobson FAIA (March 7, 1921 – December 26, 1992) was an American museum architect.[1] He worked with I. M. Pei on some of the major museum projects in the 20th century.[2]
Jacobson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States on March 7, 1921. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942.[3] He served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942–45 during World War II. In 1947, he gained a Master of Architecture degree, also at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1953, Jacobson started working with I.M. Pei, joining him at I. M. Pei & Partners, founded in 1955. He was a Partner in I. M. Pei & Partners (which became Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in 1989) from 1980–92. Jacobson was central to the following building projects in the US, mainly involving museums:
At the end of his career in the 1980s and early 1990s, Jacobson was heavily involved with the modernization of the Louvre in Paris, France.Jacobson was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 1989, he was made an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
Leonard Jacobson died of a heart attack on December 26, 1992 at the age of 71 at his home in the village of Briarcliff Manor, New York, USA.