Over the course of his nearly four-decade career, Norman Jaffe's architectural philosophy evolved from sculptural to spiritual.

His early works were characterized by their setting in the landscape. The best of these houses combine the Japanese aesthetic Norman was exposed to during military service in Japan with a deep inspiration from Wright's modernist vision.

With the success of these works came bigger commissions. It was no longer the avant garde who wanted Jaffe houses, it was those who wanted to be avant garde. As a result, much of the work became ostentatious (or as noted by Paul Goldberger in Houses of the Hamptons, 'vulgar and bombastic'), an exercise in ego, as much the client's as the architect's.

The emptiness of these futile attempts to satisfying the neurotic fantasies of the nouveau riche pushed Norman in a new direction. He began to study eastern philosophy and traveled to India. On hearing that the Jewish Center of the Hamptons was planning to build a new synagogue, Norman rediscovered his Judaism and spent two years trying to win the commission for the project.

This was not so easily done. Every presentation he made to the board was turned down. After all, how could the architect of ego-palaces possibly design a proper spiritual space? Desperate to break away from the cycle of unsatisfying residential commissions (which he commonly referred to as 'pig-outs'), Norman persisted for the better part of two years. Eventually, when he offered to design the building for no fee, the board figured 'what have we got to lose?', and gave Norman the project.

Norman had by now spent a fair amount of time boning up on the faith that he hadn't practiced since childhood. With the awarding of the synagogue project, his commitment to Judaism deepened, but in no way diminished the Hindu influence; to the contrary, while Norman found parallels between the two, in the end it was Sai Baba who would have the most profound effect on him.

His later houses, especially those done after Gates of the Grove, clearly show Norman's lack of interest in the trials and tribulations of residential architecture. At this point in his career he was destined to move into more meaningful institutional and commercial work, at a scale that would have a profound influence on the art of architecture. His deeper understanding of the spiritual power of architecture, first realized at Gates of the Grove, was further explored at 565 Fifth Avenue, a highrise in midtown Manhattan.

This masterpiece of modern design reaches back to push forward. The use of texture and surface detail, abandoned by modernism, evokes the great buildings of the past. The spatial sensibilities and play of light and shadow demonstrate Norman's aesthetic development over decades of residential practice.

It is a great misfortune that Norman's life ended just as he was beginning to embark on the next, and far more substantial, phase of his career. Now, some dozen years after his death, his work is finally being recognized, not only for it's sculptural power but also for the purity, initially aesthetic, finally spiritual, with which he started and ended his career.

Miles Jaffe
July 2005