Happy 99th Birthday, I.M. Pei

Ieoh Ming (I.M) Pei is celebrating his 99th birthday today. Pei, a renowned architect, is best-known for designing the Bank of China Building in Hong Kong, and the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. Buildings he designed in the United States include the Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street in New York; the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston; the National Gallery of Art’s East Building in Washington, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Pei was born in Guangzhou, China in 1917. He relocated to the United States at age 17, and received a degree in architecture from MIT in 1940. He also received his masters degree in architecture in 1946 from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied under Walter Gropius.

In 1955 he formed the partnership of I. M. Pei & Associates, which became I. M. Pei & Partners in 1966, and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in 1989.