Pei day

摘要

Great architects are generally inclined to longevity: Frank Lloyd Wright died at 91, Philip Johnson at 98, and Oscar Niemeyer lived to 104. So perhaps it should not be all that surprising that I. M. Pei, who will turn 100 this April 26, is still living comfortably in his Manhattan townhouse, surrounded by paintings and sculptures by Morris Louis, Jean Dubuffet, and Franz Kline that he and his late wife, Eileen, acquired back when serious art collecting was within the reach of a successful architect. Pei spends much of his time looking through the rear wall of glass that he designed to bring the view of the garden and the East River into the house, but he still gets out from time to time. A few months ago we met for lunch—along with his son and partner Li Chung Pei, known as Sandi—at Pei's favorite restaurant, Gramercy Tavern. He ordered a full lunch and, taking full advantage of privileges that come with a man's tenth decade, a bottle of a favored red Bordeaux. A few years ago Pei stepped away from actively designing buildings himself, but he likes to talk architecture as much as ever, especially when the conversation turns to old friends, such as the revered critic Ada Louise Huxtable. Pei remembered when she and her husband drove up to his country house in Westchester County in their Volkswagen Beetle and proceeded to wash their car in his driveway.