Norval White was an American architect, architectural historian, and professor. He designed buildings throughout the U.S., but he is best known for his writing, particularly the “AIA Guide to New York City,” co-authored with Elliot Willensky.
Raised in New York City, White received a BS from MIT in 1949 following two years of Navy service during World War II. He attended the Fontainebleau Schools in France and earned an MFA from Princeton University’s School of Architecture in 1955.
In 1962, upon hearing of the imminent demolition of New York City's historic Pennsylvania Station, White and several other architects, including Willensky, founded the Action Group for Better Architecture in New York (AGBANY). In 1967, White and Willensky proposed a guide to New York City architecture to the American Institute of Architects. In 1968 they published the Guide’s first edition, a 464+ page guidebook featuring over 2,600 buildings. The Guide proved influential: “No other American or, for that matter, world city can boast so definitive a one-volume guide to its built environment,” Phillip Lopate wrote in The New York Times in 2000, when its fourth edition came out. White was also the author of “The Architecture Book” (1976) and “New York: A Physical History” (1987).
From 1968 to 1973, White worked as a partner-in-charge with the architecture firm Gruzen and Partners on the development of the New York City Police Headquarters building. As a professor, White taught architectural history and design at The Cooper Union. In 1968 he became the founding chairman of the City College School of Architecture and Environmental Studies where he continued to teach until he retired.
This text has been adapted and compiled from the following sources:
“Norval White.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 23, 2019. Dunlap, David W. “Norval White, of AIA Guide, Dies at 83.” The New York Times. The New York Times, December 30, 2009.