Renowned Wilkes-Barre architectural firm celebrates 50 years

Nearly 10 years after its founding, Bohlin and Powell Architects arrived in the national spotlight.

It was 1976 when its Forest House, a summer home designed for Peter Bohlins parents in Connecticut, appeared on the cover of New York Times Magazine.

A simple building becomes serious architecture thanks to a knowing choice of materials, rich use of color and intelligent arrangement of spaces, a summation of the article read.

The Wilkes-Barre-based architectural firms projects have been celebrated in many publications over its five decades.

Architects Mr. Bohlin and the late Richard Powell founded the firm in 1965 with a single office on North Franklin Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The firm merged with Bernard Cywinskis Philadelphia-based architectural practice in 1979. Mr. Bohlin and Mr. Cywinski had drawn together through a shared interest in sketching.

Photos: Peter Bohlin Projects

This year, the firm, now known as Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, celebrates a half-century of projects. It took that name in 1991; Jon Jackson is among the principal architects in the firm.

Mr. Bohlin, who lives in Waverly, called their firms journey an unusual one.

One, we started here. That is unusual for a major firm, Mr. Bohlin said of its Northeast Pennsylvania roots. Two, weve never given up doing little buildings. Most major firms in the U.S. dont do little buildings.

Over the last 50 years, Mr. Bohlin has worked with famous icons like self-made billionaire Bill Gates and the late Apple CEO, co-founder and inventor Steve Jobs in designing dozens of Apple stores. He is now working with Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payments company.

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Renowned Wilkes-Barre architectural firm celebrates 50 years