Richard Henderson (1928–2009) was an architect and a long-time faculty member and administrator at The Cooper Union.
Henderson graduated from Cornell University’s College of Architecture in 1952, moved to New York City, and became a partner in the architecture firm Gwathmey, Henderson and Siegel. He joined The Cooper Union in 1967 as an Adjunct Professor of Architecture. In 1972 he became a full-time faculty member, and in 1982, was he appointed Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean. He retired in October, 2000.
Henderson’s principal areas of interest included the study and analysis of significant works of architecture as a didactic process, comparative formal structures, the origins of conceptual geometrics, and historic urbanism. His works have been exhibited widely, including at the Museum of Modern Art and at Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan. He earned many professional honors, including the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work was published extensively in leading architectural journals including Architectural Forum, Architectural Record, The New York Times, Progressive Architecture, and the AIA Journal.