Eliot Noyes

Eliot Noyes
Noyes portrait from IBM archives.
Born	Eliot Fette Noyes (1910-08-12)August 12, 1910 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	July 18, 1977(1977-07-18) (aged 66) New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard Graduate School of Design
Occupation	Architect, Industrial Designer
Years active	1939–1977
Spouse(s)	Molly Duncan Weed
Children	4

Eliot Fette Noyes (August 12, 1910 – July 18, 1977) was a Harvard-trained American architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most notably the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California. Noyes was also a pioneer in development of comprehensive corporate-wide design programs that integrated design strategy and business strategy. Noyes worked on corporate imagery for IBM, Mobil Oil, Cummins Engine and Westinghouse.

Eliot Noyes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after his birth, Noyes moved to Colorado where he resided until age seven. At this point, Noyes and his family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Noyes’ father taught English at Harvard and his mother was an accomplished pianist. He was not always set on architecture. As a teen, he seriously contemplated becoming a painter; however by age 19 he had his mind set on architecture. He first enrolled at Harvard University in 1932 to obtain a bachelor's degree in the Classics. Noyes’ experience at Harvard was unlike the other four members of Harvard Five. When he arrived at Harvard, the school was still under the influence of the Beaux-Arts architecture movement – hardly the modernist influence that the other four received. However, after meeting guest lecturer Le Corbusier in the school library, his architectural outlook changed entirely. He was inspired by Le Corbusier’s work and researched the Bauhaus. In his junior year at Harvard, he traveled to Iran for an archaeological expedition. Upon returning to the school, Noyes found that Harvard had undergone a complete revolution. Gropius and Breuer had already arrived there, and with them came a new modernist spirit at the school. In 1938 he received his architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design.