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Biographical Summary
Arthur Detmers Dubin was born in 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, the
son of noted architect, Henry Dubin (1892–1963). Perhaps
Henry's best known work is the award–winning Battledeck
house that was built as his family home, an early modern home
in design and construction technique. Raised in this environment,
Arthur's desire to become an architect developed early, during
his high school years. He began his architectural education at
the University of Michigan in 1941 but was interrupted by World
War II, and he served with distinction in the U.S. Army until
1946. After completing his studies in 1949, Dubin joined his father's
and uncle's firm, Dubin and Dubin, as a second–generation
architect in a Chicago family firm. The leadership of the firm
soon passed to Arthur and his brother, Martin David, and in 1965
they were joined by John Black and in 1966 by John Moutoussamy,
each of whom brought commissions of diverse types to the firm.
Dubin & Dubin's commissions included high–rise office
and apartment buildings, college dormitories, and work for the
United States Army. Arthur's life–long interest in trains
and transportation and their implications for architecture is
evident in transit stations commissions and service on transportation–related
advisory boards, as well as in his writings and personal collections.
Dubin retired in 1993.
Interview Highlights
Dubin speaks about his father, Henry Dubin, and his uncle, Eugene
Dubin, and their architectural projects; being Jewish; his father's
travels in Europe; the Battledeck House in Highland Park, Illinois;
his interest in trains and industial design; studying at the University
of Michigan; joining Dubin and Dubin; various commissions, including
transit designs; being a collector; and his reflections and observations.
Henry Dubin, architect. Battledeck House, Highland Park,
IL, 1930. Photograph by Skara. Historic Architecture and Landscape
Image Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute
of Chicago.
Arthur Dubin, architect. Chicago Transit Authority, Davis
Station, Chicago, IL, 1994. Photograph courtesy of Arthur Dubin.
Interview Excerpt
"It occurred to him [Henry Dubin] that the greatest need
at the time, after the stock market crash, was to house the poor.
And he went around the country being invited to lecture about
prefabricating homes. In fact, one of those articles is near and
dear to my heart, because of my railroad interest. My father wrote
a sentence that Pullman cars that traveled from Chicago in the
freezing winter weather and have to pass through Arizona desert
in scalding heat are so well insulated. And the Pullman construction
was only a rather thin prefabricated kind of construction. The
idea was to build easily and quickly, and also fireproof. At the
time that [Battledeck] house was built, it had the lowest fire
rating of any residence for miles around. It was one of the first
residences that he ever designed. And he conceived the idea of
making the floor framework in large segments, and dropping them
into place with a crane—the way they did tall buildings,
steel buildings—and just bolt or weld them together. And
that's the way they built battleship decks." (pp. 44-45)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural drawings may be consulted by appointment in the
Department of Architecture.
Photographs of the Battledeck House are held in the Historic
Architecture and Landscape Image Collection in the Ryerson
and Burnham Archives.
See also the oral histories of other second-generation architects in Chicago: Sidney Epstein, Ernest A. Grunsfeld,, John Holabird, Lawrence Perkins, and Bertram Weber.
Funding for this oral history was provided by a grant from
the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
About the Chicago Architects Oral History Project
Department of Architecture • Ryerson & Burnham Archives
Send questions or comments to:
Ryerson & Burnham Archives, Chicago Architects Oral History Project
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