Fred N. Severud Birth Celebration – June 8, 1899

125 years ago this June, Fred N. Severud (above, at left) was born in Bergen, Norway, June 8, 1899—125 years ago this month—one of 12 children in what he called a very religious and very musical family.  Although he considered himself artistic, Severud wound up at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim.  He had originally intended to study for the military but fate, or perhaps providence, intervened and he switched to engineering.  Severud graduated with a degree in civil and structural engineering in 1923 and shortly thereafter, married and immigrated to the United States.

Once established in New York City, Severud went to work designing bridges and buildings for consulting firms as well as providing engineering for a construction company, where at the age of 25, he was already supervising a large staff.  In 1928, Severud established a private practice.  Despite the onset of the Great Depression only a year later, the firm managed to survive and then grew as Severud and his staff gained expertise in structural design and experience with building construction.

Severud believed that engineers must approach their work with imagination and produce designs that rise above the “doldrums of handbook engineering,” a philosophy that led the firm to many exceptional projects.  For instance, in April of 1945, Severud met with the architectural firm, Saarinen and Swanson.  The circumstances that led to the meeting and with whom, exactly, he met are lost to history.  However, the results were immensely positive.

In August of that year, they hired Severud to provide structural engineering for the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a building thought to be Eero Saarinen’s first significant work.  That led to Saarinen choosing Severud to consult on the architect’s entry in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial design competition and, in 1960, to engineer the iconic Gateway Arch—known by most as the St. Louis Arch.  The firm’s reputation for innovative structural solutions to challenging engineering projects grew from there.

As a young man newly arrived in the United States, Severud was poised to become one of the greatest structural engineers in the world.  By the time of his retirement to Florida in 1973, he had designed other iconic structures, including Madison Square Garden and the Seagram Building in New York City; the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the David S. Ingalls Rink at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, to name just a few.  After 50 years of distinguished structural engineering practice—45 of them with his namesake firm—he had clearly demonstrated his right to claim that lofty title.  Fred N. Severud passed away on June 11, 1990.

Severud Associates has a 95-year history of turning its clients’ most ambitious visions into reality.  Recent examples include the new corporate headquarters for JP Morgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue in Manhattan; Sphere, a next-generation entertainment venue in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Moynihan Train Hall, which expands New York City’s Penn Station across Eighth Avenue and into the landmarked James A. Farley Post Office to create a grand entrance to New York City.