HERMAN GIBANS FODOR, INC., an architectural firm, can be traced back to when JOSEPH WEINBERG began practicing in Cleveland in 1919. In 1934 Weinberg, along with the firm of (William H.) Conrad and (Wallace) Teare (which existed from about 1934-37), designed LAKEVIEW TERRACE. The complex, built 1935-37, was a landmark in public housing, as it was one of the first such projects authorized by the federal government. The Lakeview project was Weinberg's first association with Wallace Teare. Afterwards, Teare worked for CMHA before teaming up with Weinberg and Pasqual Laurie in 1946.
Weinberg, Laurie, & Teare became Weinberg and Teare in 1949. In the mid-1960s the firm became Weinberg, Teare, Fischer & Herman with the addition of Donald A. Fischer and James G. Herman. The company specialized in multifamily housing in the late 1960s, but also did hotels, shopping centers, and schools. In 1972 the firm became Weinberg, Teare & Herman.
Weinberg was Cleveland's oldest practicing architect when he died at the age of 86 in 1977. The firm them became Teare, Herman & Gibans, Inc. After Wallace Teare died in March 1989, the firm merged with the Galvin Design Group and was renamed Herman Galvin Gibans, Inc. The company's name was changed to HGG Inc. in 1992; then in 1994 to Herman Gibans Fodor, Inc. The firm's buildings include the Community Chest headquarters (1957); the Jewish Day Nursery (1961); the Jewish Community Federation building (with Edward Durrell Stone, 1965); Chesterfield apartment building (1967); Lakeview Towers (1975) adjacent to Lakeview Terrace; the renovation work at Stouffer Tower City Plaza (1978); the Bruening Health Center in Judson Park (1991); and a comprehensive modernization of the Outhwaite Homes scheduled for completion in 1999.
Wallace Teare, Multiple Papers, WRHS.