Timeline of a Global GSD

Early 1900s: GSD’s instruction in architecture remains greatly influenced by the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

1936: Joseph Hudnut appointed as GSD’s first dean. He initiated a dramatic shift in the direction of architectural education at Harvard.

1937: Walter Gropius (founder of the German Bauhaus) comes to Harvard as professor and chairman of the department of architecture.

1945-46: Harry Seidler (Austria/Australia) earns his MArch from the GSD.

1953: Josep Lluis Sert (Spain) is appointed as second dean of the GSD.

1958: Hideo Sasaki is appointed as chairman of the landscape architecture department.

1959: Jerzy Soltan (Poland) comes to the GSD. Serves as chair of the department of architecture from 1967 to 1974.

1960: Eduard Sekler (Switzerland) becomes a professor of architecture at the GSD.

(In 1966, Sekler becomes the first director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts.)

1969: Maurice D. Kilbridge becomes the third dean of the GSD.

1972: The GSD moves into newly built Gund Hall, designed by Australian architect John Andrews.

1976-77: Harry Seidler returns to the GSD as a Visiting Professor.

1980: Gerald M. McCue is appointed as fourth dean of the GSD.

1992: Peter G. Rowe becomes the fifth dean of the GSD.

2005: Alan Altshuler is appointed as sixth dean of the GSD.

2008: Mohsen Mostafavi returns to the GSD, appointed as the seventh dean.