ROBERT ANDREWS LITTLE, 89, Beloved husband of 64 years to Ann (nee Ann Murphy Halle); father of Sam R. Little (wife Frances Dalton) of Philadelphia and the late Revere Little of Boston (wife Ann Christensen); grandfather of Andrews, John, Robert and Christian Little.
Little designed hundreds of local buildings - including schools, offices and homes - after he established his practice in Cleveland following World War II. His first major commission was the Halle Bros. department store at Shaker Square. It was a thoroughly modern design, but it complemented the American colonial look of the adjacent buildings.
His Pepper Ridge development in Pepper Pike was the state's first street of modern houses that incorporated indoor-outdoor living designs harmonious with their natural settings, including his own home.
"I don't think anybody has made a greater contribution to modern architecture in this town," longtime architect Robert A. Madison said.
Little, a descendant of Paul Revere, was born in Brookline, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1937. He then studied under Walter Gropius and earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Design. That was where Little developed his philosophy of architecture.
"All design must be based not on precedent, tradition, style, economics, statistics; but simply and totally on people," he wrote. "Later, I discovered that this same rule applied to all valid and original architecture of the past - the Greek temple, the Gothic Cathedral, the Colonial church.
Little received an national architectural award and went to Norway for further studies but had to leave Oslo with the outbreak of World War II. He returned to Massachusetts and worked in an architect's office, where he met Ann Halle of the Cleveland department store family. They married in 1940, a month before the Army drafted him.
Little suffered a heart ailment in the service and was discharged after spending 10 months in a hospital. He then went to the Pentagon as a civilian employee. He was told to write a summary report of a glider invasion of Burma, but instead turned in a book with colored pictures, charts and diagrams. Henry "Hap" Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces, sent him a one-word note: "Wow." Little spent the rest of the war preparing graphic reports.
.A son, Reeve, died in 1994.
Little is survived by his wife; a son, Sam R. of Philadelphia; and four grandchildren.
Little designed hundreds of local buildings - including schools, offices and homes - after he established his practice in Cleveland following World War II. His first major commission was the Halle Bros. department store at Shaker Square. It was a thoroughly modern design, but it complemented the American colonial look of the adjacent buildings.
His Pepper Ridge development in Pepper Pike was the state's first street of modern houses that incorporated indoor-outdoor living designs harmonious with their natural settings, including his own home.
"I don't think anybody has made a greater contribution to modern architecture in this town," longtime architect Robert A. Madison said.
Little, a descendant of Paul Revere, was born in Brookline, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1937. He then studied under Walter Gropius and earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Design. That was where Little developed his philosophy of architecture.
"All design must be based not on precedent, tradition, style, economics, statistics; but simply and totally on people," he wrote. "Later, I discovered that this same rule applied to all valid and original architecture of the past - the Greek temple, the Gothic Cathedral, the Colonial church.
Little received an national architectural award and went to Norway for further studies but had to leave Oslo with the outbreak of World War II. He returned to Massachusetts and worked in an architect's office, where he met Ann Halle of the Cleveland department store family. They married in 1940, a month before the Army drafted him.
Little suffered a heart ailment in the service and was discharged after spending 10 months in a hospital. He then went to the Pentagon as a civilian employee. He was told to write a summary report of a glider invasion of Burma, but instead turned in a book with colored pictures, charts and diagrams. Henry "Hap" Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces, sent him a one-word note: "Wow." Little spent the rest of the war preparing graphic reports.
.A son, Reeve, died in 1994.
Little is survived by his wife; a son, Sam R. of Philadelphia; and four grandchildren.
ROBERT ANDREWS LITTLE, 89, Beloved husband of 64 years to Ann (nee Ann Murphy Halle); father of Sam R. Little (wife Frances Dalton) of Philadelphia and the late Revere Little of Boston (wife Ann Christensen); grandfather of Andrews, John, Robert and Christian Little.
Little designed hundreds of local buildings - including schools, offices and homes - after he established his practice in Cleveland following World War II. His first major commission was the Halle Bros. department store at Shaker Square. It was a thoroughly modern design, but it complemented the American colonial look of the adjacent buildings.
His Pepper Ridge development in Pepper Pike was the state's first street of modern houses that incorporated indoor-outdoor living designs harmonious with their natural settings, including his own home.
"I don't think anybody has made a greater contribution to modern architecture in this town," longtime architect Robert A. Madison said.
Little, a descendant of Paul Revere, was born in Brookline, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1937. He then studied under Walter Gropius and earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Design. That was where Little developed his philosophy of architecture.
"All design must be based not on precedent, tradition, style, economics, statistics; but simply and totally on people," he wrote. "Later, I discovered that this same rule applied to all valid and original architecture of the past - the Greek temple, the Gothic Cathedral, the Colonial church.
Little received an national architectural award and went to Norway for further studies but had to leave Oslo with the outbreak of World War II. He returned to Massachusetts and worked in an architect's office, where he met Ann Halle of the Cleveland department store family. They married in 1940, a month before the Army drafted him.
Little suffered a heart ailment in the service and was discharged after spending 10 months in a hospital. He then went to the Pentagon as a civilian employee. He was told to write a summary report of a glider invasion of Burma, but instead turned in a book with colored pictures, charts and diagrams. Henry "Hap" Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces, sent him a one-word note: "Wow." Little spent the rest of the war preparing graphic reports.
.A son, Reeve, died in 1994.
Little is survived by his wife; a son, Sam R. of Philadelphia; and four grandchildren.
Little designed hundreds of local buildings - including schools, offices and homes - after he established his practice in Cleveland following World War II. His first major commission was the Halle Bros. department store at Shaker Square. It was a thoroughly modern design, but it complemented the American colonial look of the adjacent buildings.
His Pepper Ridge development in Pepper Pike was the state's first street of modern houses that incorporated indoor-outdoor living designs harmonious with their natural settings, including his own home.
"I don't think anybody has made a greater contribution to modern architecture in this town," longtime architect Robert A. Madison said.
Little, a descendant of Paul Revere, was born in Brookline, Mass. He graduated from Harvard College in 1937. He then studied under Walter Gropius and earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Design. That was where Little developed his philosophy of architecture.
"All design must be based not on precedent, tradition, style, economics, statistics; but simply and totally on people," he wrote. "Later, I discovered that this same rule applied to all valid and original architecture of the past - the Greek temple, the Gothic Cathedral, the Colonial church.
Little received an national architectural award and went to Norway for further studies but had to leave Oslo with the outbreak of World War II. He returned to Massachusetts and worked in an architect's office, where he met Ann Halle of the Cleveland department store family. They married in 1940, a month before the Army drafted him.
Little suffered a heart ailment in the service and was discharged after spending 10 months in a hospital. He then went to the Pentagon as a civilian employee. He was told to write a summary report of a glider invasion of Burma, but instead turned in a book with colored pictures, charts and diagrams. Henry "Hap" Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces, sent him a one-word note: "Wow." Little spent the rest of the war preparing graphic reports.
.A son, Reeve, died in 1994.
Little is survived by his wife; a son, Sam R. of Philadelphia; and four grandchildren.
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