Sidney Epstein

"Sidney Epstein was born in 1923 in Chicago and studied at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, from where he received a degree in civil engineering in 1943. After serving in the military during WW II, Sidney joined his father Abraham and brother Raymond in their family business, A. Epstein & Sons, an engineering firm that hired architects. They specialized for many years in industrial parks but extended their work to highrise office buildings after WW II . Epstein's firm was included in the consortiums that built the Mies van der Rohe-designed Federal Center in Chicago, the Maine Montparnasse Tower in Paris, and the Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago. From a small family-owned and -run business Epstein's firm, now A. Epstein & Sons, International, has grown to an international company with offices worldwide. Epstein was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1959, and a Fellow of the Society of American Registered Architects in 1969. Interview Highlights Sidney serves as the spokesman for the history of his family's firm. He speaks about his father Abraham's jobs with S. Scott Joy and the Central Manufacturing District; founding the firm of A. Epstein, Structural Engineer; the Depression and how they survived; rebuilding the Union Stockyards in 1934; postwar work of industrial parks; highrise buildings such as the Borg-Warner building and the Federal Center in Chicago, and the Maine Montparnasse Tower in Paris, France; overseas work; design/build; the personal and professional legacy left by Abraham."