Jonathan Ochshorn—photo-biography

Jonathan Ochshorn is a registered architect with an academic background in structural engineering and urban design as well as architecture. He has been ensconced at Cornell University since 1988 (retiring in 2022) and previously taught at the City College of New York while working with community groups in New York City. He is the author of three editions of the textbook, Structural Elements for Architects and Builders, and has also written on the relationship of design theory to technical practice. Professor Ochshorn taught required courses in construction technology and structures, and offered elective courses focusing on the science and politics of green building as well as life- and fire-safety. His latest book, Building Bad: How Architectural Utility is Constrained by Politics and Damaged by Expression, was published by Lund Humphries in 2021.

Second of three sons, born May 1952 in Doctors Hospital, NYC: I grow up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in Knickerbocker Village, shown here in 1955

I play in the sandbox with my older brother, unaware that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (who also lived in Knickerbocker Village) had been executed a year earlier, in June 1953.

Alternate summer entertainment: take the subway to Coney Island, Brooklyn, 1955

ochshorn photo: Jonathan and older brother examining baby Kurt

Kurt is born and us older brothers ponder the new arrival (I'm at the far right, recently turned three); this must be July or August 1955.

We move to an apartment complex in the suburbs: New Rochelle, NY (brother Kurt is on the right), 1957

All the kids pose with Mom in front of the apartment house on Davenport Avenue, New Rochelle, NY (younger and older brother on the bottom row), 1957

Another pose in front of the apartments in New Rochelle, NY (one of the few photos showing Mom and Dad together; brother Kurt sitting), 1957

I already play, but now I start taking lessons (the left hand is for show only), circa 1958

A formal portrait is taken, spring 1958

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