HISTORY

Since its New York founding in 1885, HLW’s imprint has shaped thousands of clients’ businesses and, with the firm’s earliest buildings still in active use today, has contributed significantly to the history of New York City architecture. The partnership of Architect Cyrus Eidlitz and Structural Engineer Andrew McKenzie, forming Eidlitz & McKenzie, established our tradition of providing business-focused solutions through integrated services. Their first commissions were the Metropolitan Telephone Building and the first skyscraper, the New York Times Building, on the site renamed Times Square in its honor.

With the hiring of Ralph Walker in the mid-1920′s, the Barclay-Vesey Building, Western Union and the Irving Trust Headquarters at One Wall Street were completed. In 1939, the firm receives ten commissions for the New York World’s Fair.

The firm’s preeminence in research facilities begins in 1941 with the seminal Bell Labs project in New Jersey and continues with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 1965. During this period, Charles Haines, Robert Lundberg and Frank Waehler become partners. In 1968, the firm becomes Haines Lundberg Waehler.

In 1974, with work overseas, the firm creates HLW International. Significant projects abroad extend from Rome and Nigeria, to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

100 years after the firm’s design for the first telephone building in New York, work for NYNEX Corporation was initiated, epitomizing the long-standing relationships HLW enjoys with many clients.

HLW’s enduring tradition is demonstrated by our work for companies such as Avon, Fox Studios, Disney/ABC, and JPMorgan Chase. The historic renovation of the United Nations Secretariat Building and Google’s East Coast Headquarters are a reflection of our heritage; combining great aesthetics with innovative technical skills in meeting the needs of our clients.