1930 - 1940

The firm, founded as Kelly & Gruzen in 1936 by Colonel Hugh A. Kelly and B. Sumner Gruzen, established offices in Jersey City, New Jersey. Their work centered on restaurants, retail, and governmental projects such a State Armory and a County courthouse.

1941 - 1950

The firm expanded and established its first New York City office on Broadway across from City Hall. Private sector work continued with the Grand Union Supermarket Corp. Headquarters and chain of stores.

In the public sector, with World War II in action, the firm designed Army and Air Force base schools and housing, hospitals and Navy engine-testing facilities. After the war, the firm started its extensive specialization with public housing funded through new government agencies such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

1951 - 1960

The New York City office expanded uptown to 14th Street and the New Jersey office moved to Newark where it remained for the next forty years (1952 -1986). The next generation of future partners, Jordan Gruzen and Peter Samton, were just graduating from M.I.T.

Design awards were frequent for precedent-setting projects in the public school systems of New York and New Jersey. The firm opened an office in Boston (1953-1958) and designed the controversial "campus plan" high school for Newport, Rhode Island using new porcelain enamel panels contrasting with the native fieldstone walls.

Master planning had its start with urban renewal projects combining housing, office buildings, retail shopping and recreation. The first apartment house, Chatham Green, was situated near the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the start of 40 years of design for twelve buildings surrounding the new Police Headquarters that gave the district the nickname "Gruzen Square". During this very busy decade the firm branched out into resort hotel design in the Catskill Mountains as well as establishing as interior design division and a medical facilities group.

Colonel Kelly withdrew from the firm due to a wartime accident that left him disabled. Barney Gruzen continued as the sole owner but relied on his brother Ben and a group of senior architects such as George Shimamoto, Lloyd Fleischman, and Admiral John Manning for management.

1961- 1970

In 1967, the firm changed its name from Kelly & Gruzen to Gruzen & Partners to reflect the addition of a new core group of designers, including Jordan Gruzen and Peter Samton.

In addition, the firm continued to expand with a Washington D.C. office specializing in new town planning. It also branched out into two new fields: facilities for the elderly, and justice architecture. These areas of expertise enabled the firm to become recognized nationwide, with projects as far away as Florida and Alaska. Gruzen & Partners pioneered humane correctional facility design and won a top professional award for the first project designed for the firm by Jordan Gruzen.

Another series of specialties started development during this period, both for agencies of New York State under Governor Nelson Rockefeller. For the New York State Urban Development Corporation, they designed over four thousand housing units in six projects; and for the New York State University Construction Fund they designed thirteen buildings at the Stonybrook campus on Long Island. For the Rockefeller family, with George Shimamoto's Japanese connections, they designed Nelson's house, Lawrence's Tea House and Garden, and David's project, the Japan Society Museum near the United Nations. The New York City Police Headquarters, for Mayor Lindsay, was the first significant civic building to be built in twenty years by the Administration.

1971 - 1980

This decade saw a switch to college building designs on four campuses of the City University of New York resulting in major libraries and mega structure designs containing many elements of college life grouped into one continuous building. Other significant growth areas included projects in Iran while the Shah was still in power. We designed a new town for Bell Helicopter Corp. in Isfahan as well as two thousand luxury apartments in Teheran. The overseas practice continued with a new United States Embassy in Moscow and a Center for Delinquent Youth in Israel's Negev desert.

Large-scale rail yard replanning for the west side of New York City led us to master plan, for Donald Trump, the new convention center behind Penn Station. This led to his joint venture with the Pritzker family for whom we designed the reconstruction of the Commodore Hotel into a 1,400-room Grand Hyatt Hotel. The hotel field blossomed for the firm with two more Hyatt Hotels, The Ritz Carlton, The Lowell, and The Royalton for Rubell and Schrager.

1981 - 1990

The firm opened a San Francisco office (1981-1986) supported by the justice work in eight western states. The office expanded when we absorbed another partner who grew our retail shopping center conversions to a national presence. To reflect the impact of the partnership at that time, the firm first changed its name to the Gruzen Partnership in 1981 and in 1986, to Gruzen Samton Steinglass. In New York City, housing and university work continued while a major refinancing of public school funding provided us with another ten years of prototype school design work resulting in over ten new schools. The first of four buildings in Battery Park City were apartments at the waterfront. A twenty-five year relationship at Beth Israel Hospital Newark led to a similar thirty-year continuum of designs for the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, New York.

The partnership divided into three separate entities in 1986, with different specialties accruing to each. Jordan Gruzen and Peter Samton developed the core membership of the firm into what we are today.

Columbia University became a repeat client, eventually leading us to design six buildings for them. Courthouse design simultaneously became an area of specialized strength.

1991-2000

The firm changed its named to Gruzen Samton, moved its New York office again, this time to Park Avenue in the "Flatiron" district and continued its diversified practice in education, housing, senior facilities, commercial, government and interior design. Under the leadership of Michael Kazan, a Principal of the firm, the Washington office expanded as a result of a major commission for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to design the interior of the Federal Triangle for the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection. This project lasted for seven years. In response to the growing awareness of the necessity for sustainable design and leveraging the experience at the EPA headquarters, the firm continues to make a commitment to emphasize this objective.

During this decade, the firm focused on designing a new community for Shanghai, China and several projects in Korea. The transportation field evolved into an area of design opportunity with subway renovations at Grand Central Station and the other boroughs. They were chosen to design a large and dramatic ferry terminal in Weehawken, New Jersey to accommodate the growing mode of commutation. The partnership expanded from two to six after the firm recovered from significant downsizing due to the industry-wide recession. New appointments within the partnership included Gerard Vasisko taking on the role of Managing Partner, and Michael Gelfand assumed leadership of the firm's residential and senior housing design, and Scott Keller was designated Design Partner. Continuing our large scale planning, we completed a master plan for Queens West, a 70-acre new town containing 9 million square feet of housing and offices on the East River opposite the United Nations.

Along with Cooper Robertson & Partners, we completed the design of one of the country's most advanced science high schools, Stuyvesant High School, in Battery Park City, and we associated with Bernard Tschumi Architects to design a new student center, Lerner Hall, at Columbia University. Gruzen Samton also designed The Kraft Center for Jewish Life at Columbia University during this time period.

2000 - present

The office moved to lower Manhattan to a landmark Cass Gilbert building near Battery Park City and its original location in the 1940s. The last of the four Battery Park City residential buildings was completed while we were in that location; and Liberty Towers - a residential high rise in Jersey City - was designed.

Before our first anniversary party, the calamity of 9/11 struck and the entire office, containing sixty-six years of documents, was destroyed in the ensuing fires. The partnership responded quickly and within three months reestablished itself in new quarters in the West Village, Meatpacking district. More than ten architectural and interior design firms, engineers, and various clients generously reached out with help and provided office space during this temporary period to aid our rapid recovery.

Our work in education, transportation, and housing continues to remain solid in the first years of the new millennium. To respond, the partnership has again expanded to provide a broad base of talent for future transition and growth.