Background
Matsumoto, George was born on July 16, 1922 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of Manroku F. and Ise (Nakagawa) Matsumoto.
Matsumoto, George was born on July 16, 1922 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of Manroku F. and Ise (Nakagawa) Matsumoto.
He attended the University of California at Berkeley in architecture, but due to his internment during World World War II as were other Japanese-Americans, Matsumoto completed his undergraduate education at Washington University in Saint Louis.
He earned his graduate degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, studying under Eliel Saarinen. Completing his graduate studies in 1945, Matsumoto joined the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Chicago and in 1946, joined the firm of Saarinen and Swanson. Their winning entry was a comprehensive regional plan for greater Chicago.
Following a year of private practice in Kansas City, Missouri, Matsumoto joined the department of architecture at the University of Oklahoma as an instructor.
A year later, he moved with the head of the school of architecture, Henry L. Kamphoefner, to the new School of Design at North Carolina State University. Kamphoefner was appointed as the first dean of the School of Design and he brought with him several students and faculty from the University of Oklahoma.
Some of his most well-known and acclaimed designs in North Carolina include the George Poland House in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Matsumoto Residence, also in Raleigh, North Carolina, the East.M. Lipman Residence in Richmond, Victoria and Albert, the Milton Julian Residence in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the J.Gregory Poole Resident in Raleigh, North Carolina, which he designed with G. Milton Small, Junior., the Ritcher House in Raleigh, North Carolina, which he designed with Kamphoefner, and the East.K. Thrower Residence in Sedgefield (Greensboro), North Carolina His houses are notable for their simplicity, rigor and residential interpretation of the International Style.
After leaving the School of Design in 1961, Matsumoto returned to California to teach at the University of California at Berkeley and later opened a successful practice that did work in commercial, educational and recreational work, as well as campus and community planning. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1973.
Currently, Matsumoto is retired and living in Oakland, California.
Board directors Young Audiences, Oakland Museum Association, Oakland Arts Council, Friends of Oakland Park and Recreation, East Bay Agency for Children. Fellow American Institute of Architects (director chapter), International Institute Arts and Letters. Member Michigan Society Architects, Association College School Architecture, Raleigh Council Architects, San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association, National Council Architectural Registration Boards, California Association Architects, Building Research Institute, Japanese-American Citizens League.
Married Kimi Nao, December 15, 1951. Children— Mari-Jane, Kiyo-Ann, Kei-Ellen, Kenneth Manroku, Miye-Eileen.