Joseph J. Jordan, Philadelphia architect and educator dies at 102 Saturday February 28th 2026.
Mr. Jordan became a pioneer in design for the elderly in the early 50’s, when he and Hanford Yang won an international competition for the design of a Home for the Aged. He became a consultant to the National Council on the Aging, which published his first two architectural books: Senior Center Facilities and Senior Center Design.
Thomas Hine, architectural critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote “Jordan calls himself an architect/gerontologist planning consultant, which means he will design or advise on the design of new buildings for older people”. Attached to the article is a photo of the Philadelphia Senior Center at 509 South Broad, one of a number designed by Mr Jordan.
A long time resident of of the William Penn House, he is survived by Sarah Connolly Jordan, his wife of 53 years. They had no children.
Born in Germantown, he moved to center city following his World War II service in the Special Services Division of the Army Air Corp. He received his architectural degree, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Illinois in 1949, where he placed first in his class.
Before opening his own firm, Mr. Jordan joined Drexel University’s architectural faculty in 1953 as an Instructor. Two leaves of absence brought him first to Copenhagen, Denmark on a Fulbright Grant to study city planning, and then to Ankara, Turkey on a UN grant for a two year stint as the Associate Dean of Architecture at the newly opened Middle East Technical University.