Victor H. Bisharat

Bio

Arab American architect Victor Hanna Bisharat (1920–1996) was born in Es Salt, Palestine (Jordan). He graduated from the American University in Beirut with a degree in architecture. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States, and studied at the University of California (Berkeley) under Erich Mendelsohn.

In an article in the The Times San Mateo, he recounted while a student at Berkeley, Frank Lloyd Wright told him “Victor if you hadn’t come to America, you would have been spared the agony of looking at it.” Such a FLW thing to say.

It was in the early 1950s when he was in the Bay Area where he designed a small line of metal furniture and accessories. Ads for his tables, planters and candleholders were seen in Arts & Architecture, Redbook and House & Garden. He applied and received US Patents for the designs in 1951.

His architectural career then shifted to southern California. He was on the team laying out Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and opened his own firm in 1960.

Bisharat designed the Jordan Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. He was living in Pasadena at the time.

Bisharat made his way to the east coast. He landed in Stamford, Connecticut and moved into the Glenn House (1960) by Richard Neutra.

Photo Neutra. Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht, Peter Gössel

He made a substantial mark on Stamford, including the High Ridge Office Park (1967)

Photo: Joeb Moore

Terrazzo ad crediting Victor for his use of the material in one of his projects, possibly the High Ridge Office Park.

Source: AIA Journal, July 1968

Landmark Tower (1973) in Stamford.

Photo: Mike Boening Photography

The architecture in Stamford, Connecticut and projects in the middle east are what he is most known for. His impact on the Stamford’s skyline include the Landmark Square Tower, the Marriott Hotel and the St. Johns Towers. He also designed the headquarters building for the G.T.E. Corporation, headquarters buildings in the city’s High Ridge Park complex, and buildings for CBS Laboratories and General Electric.

Outside of Stamford there are the headquarters for the Flintkote Company in Harrison, N.Y., and the headquarters for the State National Bank in Bridgeport, Conn. Projects internationally include Puerto Rico, Beirut, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates. He also designed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Amman, Jordan.

1960s Koujak-Jaber Building in Beirut, Lebanon (Architect Victor Bisharat).

Source: In photos: Modernist architecture in Abu Dhabi