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She is reportedly one of the world's richest women, but money is hardly the only thing that sets her apart.
She is still remembered for what she did at age 27, which was to persuade her father, Samuel Bronfman, president of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Corp., to drop an architect that his company already had selected for its Manhattan headquarters. She picked Ludwig Mies van der Rohe instead. His bronze-covered Park Avenue Seagram Building turned out to be his signature building, an aesthetic triumph and a world landmark.
Now 75, still fiercely opinionated and formidably intelligent, Phyllis Lambert was here for the opening of "Mies in America," the traveling exhibition that she curated and that will run at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art until May 26.
Lambert recently discussed everything from her selection of Mies to today's architectural scene. She also looked back on her own career as a museum director, historic preservationist and champion of the avant-garde--activities that have earned her the sobriquet "Joan of Architecture."
Question: You were living in Paris in 1954 when your father sent you a clipping from Newsweek, which said that the California architects Charles Luckman and William Pereira had been chosen to design the Seagram Building. What was your reaction?
Answer: I had met Mr. Luckman on the boat going over to Europe a couple of years earlier. And I said, "That's a rotten apple." The drawing [of the Seagram Building] was so absolutely vile.
Q: How did your father react to your protest?
A: He said: "You come over and choose the marble."
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Q: I have a hunch you didn't want to be the decorator.
A: No. Then my mother said to my father: "Well, dearie, why don't we have her come over and see what she can do?"
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Q. Was Frank Lloyd Wright on your list?
A....