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Biographical Summary
John F. "Jack" Hartray, Jr. was born in 1930 in Evanston,
Illinois, and studied architecture at Cornell University, where
he received his bachelor's degree in architecture in 1954. After
serving in the military, Hartray joined the Chicago office of
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in 1956 and later worked for Holabird
and Root and Naess and Murphy in Chicago. In 1961, Hartray joined
the office of Harry Weese Associates, serving as chief project
manager on commercial and institutional commissions across the
United States. In 1977, Hartray entered a partnership with Chicago
architects Larry Booth and Jim Nagle, which continues today as
Nagle, Hartray, Danker, Kagan, McKay, Penney. Highly regarded
for his expertise in structural systems, working drawing production,
and office organization, Hartray is also respected for his teaching
and writing about the contemporary practice of architecture. Hartray
was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute
of Architects in 1991.
Interview Highlights
Hartray speaks about his family, especially his father; studying
architecture at Cornell; military service; observations in Korea
and Japan; work on the United States Air Force Academy for Skidmore,
Owings and Merrill; travel in Europe; work for Harry Weese Associates;
about Dan Kiley; joining Booth, Nagle & Hartray; new technology;
teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT); the new
Campus Center competition at IIT; on becoming a writer; reflections.
Harry Weese Associates, architect. Metro Subway System,
Washington, D.C., 1966. Photograph courtesy of Harry Weese Associates.
Harry Weese Associates, architect. Chicago Metropolitan
Correctional Center, Chicago, IL, 1975. Photograph by Annemarie
van Roessel.
Interview Excerpt
"Bucky Fuller also came to [Cornell University] before he
had any clients. It took about a week to get accustomed to his
vocabulary because he was great at neologisms. Bucky would start
a lecture at two o'clock in the afternoon and then we would break
at about six-thirty and go downtown and get a pizza and the lecture
would continue during the dinner, and then we would go from there
to the apartment that he was given to live in and the lecture
would end at about two in the morning.... We started out with
the dome, but then there were lectures on geometry and how the
geometry related to the universe and physics and life. In the
meantime, in the studios we would be doing the trig that allowed
us to break the sphere up into triangles.... I think he always
had [our class] project in mind, and he sort of led you to believe
you had thought of it, but I think he had it pretty much figured
out before he came to Ithaca.... At that time, you know, there
were no calculators, so we were doing this all with an adding
machine and trig tables. The idea that you could actually organize
a group of people to do this and check the numbers and everything
was liberating.... I remember when we were screwing the dome together
and Al Hartell said, "My God, it's coming out round!"
He was just amazed that we had done it. And then Fuller said,
"Of course, you ass, it's coming out round. We designed it
that way." It was a globe twenty feet in diameter. It was
covered with a kind of wide screen that represented oceans. All
the landforms, the continents and islands, were covered in copper
screen that was attached to it. It was designed on top of Rand
Hall. The North Pole faced the North Star on the dome, and Ithaca
was directly up above. So, our dome, as the earth rotated, being
attached to the earth, was rotating in formation with the earth.
There was a little platform in the middle of the sphere and you
could get about six students to lie there with their heads in
the middle of this thing. You could look out and see the horizon
and stars and you could actually sit there for about five minutes
and you see the stars moving and feel the earth rotating."
(pp. 25-26)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
See the oral histories of several of Hartray's colleagues at Skidmore,
Owings and Merrill: Bruce Graham, Gertrude
Kerbis, and Walter Netsch; colleagues
at Harry Weese Associates: Ben Weese,
and Harry Weese; and the oral histories
of his former business partner, Larry Booth
and current business partner, James Nagle.
Funding for this oral history was provided by 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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