Charles Gwathmey

Charles Gwathmey was an early possible contender for architect of the Clinton Library. Gwathmey is a partner in Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates.

In 1998 speculation about the most likely suspect for Clinton Library architect centered on Charles Gwathmey. Bill Clinton had recently stayed at three Gwathmey-designed homes. Two were owned by Jeffrey Katzenberg, one a Malibu beachfront mansion and another in Deer Valley, Utah. The third home was owned by Steven Spielberg on East Hampton, New York's Georgica Pond. After Gwathmey appeared at dinner with the President for the Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony on June 17, 1998, Frank Gehry was moved to say, "It was sort of obvious. Everybody said, 'Oh, he's doing the library!'"

Gwathmey is quoted as saying at the time, "I just hope he picks a modern architect and not a traditional architect, to be a patron of modern architecture and not to go backward and do a replicative building." Bill Clinton later selected Polshek Partnership as the Library's architectural firm as well as a modernist design.

References

• Todd S. Purdum, "The Clintons Shop Architects," New York Times, August 13, 1998.