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Biographical Summary
Sidney Epstein was born in 1923 in Chicago and studied at the
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, from where he received
a degree in civil engineering in 1943. After serving in the military
during WW II, Sidney joined his father Abraham and brother Raymond
in their family business, A. Epstein & Sons, an engineering
firm that hired architects. They specialized for many years in
industrial parks but extended their work to highrise office buildings
after WW II . Epstein's firm was included in the consortiums that
built the Mies van der Rohe-designed Federal Center in Chicago,
the Maine Montparnasse Tower in Paris, and the Harold Washington
Public Library in Chicago. From a small family-owned and -run
business Epstein's firm, now A. Epstein & Sons, International,
has grown to an international company with offices worldwide.
Epstein was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil
Engineers in 1959, and a Fellow of the Society of American Registered
Architects in 1969.
Interview Highlights
Sidney serves as the spokesman for the history of his family's
firm. He speaks about his father Abraham's jobs with S. Scott
Joy and the Central Manufacturing District; founding the firm
of A. Epstein, Structural Engineer; the Depression and how they
survived; rebuilding the Union Stockyards in 1934; postwar work
of industrial parks; highrise buildings such as the Borg-Warner
building and the Federal Center in Chicago, and the Maine Montparnasse
Tower in Paris, France; overseas work; design/build; the personal
and professional legacy left by Abraham.
Abraham Epstein. International Ampitheater, Chicago Stockyards;
Chicago, 1934. Photo by Abernathy.
A. Epstein & Sons, with William Lescaze. Borg-Warner
Building, Chicago, 1959.
Photo by Annemarie van Roessel.
Interview Excerpt
"[Abraham] gave us a legacy of trying to satisfy the client,
building a quality building, being on time and on budget. He left
us a legacy of participating in communal and philanthropic work.
That was a requirement. My father believed to the core in civic
work...He gave us a legacy of dealing ethically and honestly.
My father valued his reputation in the community much more than
any wealth." (p. 77)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural drawings may be consulted by appointment in the
Department of Architecture.
See also the oral histories of colleagues with whom Epstein
worked on the Federal Center: Joseph Fujikawa
and Charles F. Murphy.
See also the oral histories of other second-generation architects
in Chicago: Arthur Dubin, Tony
Grunsfeld, John Holabird, Lawrence
Perkins, and Bertram Weber.
Funding for this oral history was provided by a gift from
the Estate of Norman Schlossman.
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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