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Chicago

Architect Lucien Lagrange and team leap to Clayco affiliate

No sign of slowdown for 82-year-old behind library and big condo projects

Architect Lucien Lagrange and 2550 North Lakeview Avenue in Chicago (Zillow, Lucien Lagrange Studio, Getty)
Architect Lucien Lagrange and 2550 North Lakeview Avenue in Chicago (Zillow, Lucien Lagrange Studio, Getty)

Architect Lucien Lagrange’s age exceeds the number of floors in his admired 70-story Park Tower condo on Michigan Avenue, one of his several projects to have altered Chicago’s skyline. Yet at 82, he’s still making a big career change with a move of his 10-person design team to developer Clayco’s subsidiary Lamar Johnson Collaborative.

With the jump, Lagrange joins the firm that is currently working on the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and the $8.5 billion O’Hare International Airport modernization project, the Chicago Tribune reported. Lagrange said he plans to continue working on large-scale residential projects and hotels.

Lagrange’s design aesthetic stands out amongst the steel-and-glass modernist style of post-war Chicago buildings. Rather, he takes inspiration from Chicago architecture of the first half of the 20th century, which can be seen in the 60-story Waldorf Astoria building and the tower at 2550 North Lakeview Avenue in Lincoln Park.

He wants to contribute to bringing about a renaissance to the skyline views on Lake Shore Drive akin to those of its buildings in the 1920s and 1930s, he told the outlet.

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His classic, pre-war style style has made him popular with high-profile homebuyers. Ken Griffin, one of the nation’s most prolific buyers of high-end residential real estate, dropped $15M on Park Tower’s 66th floor Penthouse in 2012, and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas spent $18.75 million on its 65th floor in 2015.

Lagrange is joining LJC as principal and senior design consultant and bringing My-Nga Lam, Victor Krasnopolsky and Alfredo Marr along with him from Lucien Lagrange Studio.

Lamar Johnson Collaborative has 250 staff members and offices in Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Phoenix and Kansas City, Missouri. Some of its recent projects include the 12-story Fulton East boutique office building in Fulton Market and Triangle Square Apartments in Bucktown.

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— Victoria Pruitt

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ArchitectsArchitecture And DesignClayco