1910-1961
Architect and Furniture Designer

From a Family of Architects.

Born in Kirkkunummi, Finland, in 1910, Eero Saarinen was the youngest child of the famous architect Eliel Saarinen, who explained that his son was "born practically on the drafting board." Saarinen's uncle, aunt, and grandfather were also architects. When he was thirteen the family moved to the United States, and his father became director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Saarinen graduated from high school in 1929 and went to Paris to study sculpture. Upon his return to the United States he worked in his father's office on furniture designs. In 1931 he entered the Yale School of Architecture. From 1939 to 1947 he worked for his father's firm of Saarinen, Swanson, and Saarinen, afterward called Saarinen, Saarinen and Associates. His work was interrupted by three years of wartime service in the Office of Strategic Services in...