Herman is the Who, but you probably never heard of him
Herman Jessor, the architect and engineer responsible for 40k+ homes in New York
Most New Yorkers have heard of Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses — civic heavyweights who defined the landscape of our modern-day city . Few, though, know the name Herman Jessor , even though his work is everywhere around us .
I even said, “Who?” without realizing that I live in a building he designed .
Jessor wasn’t an attention-grabber or a rabble-rouser . He was a builder , and for about 50 years he was central to the existence of nearly 40,000 homes across fifteen cooperative housing complexes — from Manhattan to the Bronx and Queens .
His preferred medium? Brick.
His mission? Stability.
His audience? The working class.
Born Herman Yezhersky in (what is now) Belarus , Jessor immigrated as a child , and studied engineering at Cooper Union — while still in high school . He also Americanized his name , one of countless Jewish immigrants pushing against the era’s anti-Semitism .
He began his career at Springsteen & Goldhammer, where he worked on the United Workers Association Houses in the Bronx , a cooperative project for union families , many of whom found themselves escaping the overcrowded tenements of the Lower East Side .
Jessor’s buildings were not designed to impress passersby ; they were designed to end squalor . He believed housing should be cooperative , equitable , and durable — putting them at odds with Jane Jacobs’s “sidewalk ballet” of street-level intimacy. Jessor’s structures were inward-looking communities , with shared courtyards , kindergartens , and libraries — central locations in which to commune .
Among his buildings are East River Co-ops, Hillman Houses, and Seward Park , all of which still exhibit the traits upon which his design ethos centered .
Earlier this year, Cooper Union installed an exhibit, Thank You, Herman Jessor , which shared his story . If you missed it, don’t worry : Simply take a stroll through the Lower East Side on Grand Street , and you’ll see his legacy all around us: Brick , stable , and (more) affordable than many other parts of New York City . (And, if you want to take a tour, give me a shout!)
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