Ellerbe Becket began in 1909 as a small St. Paul, Minnesota practice called Ellerbe & Co., founded by Franklin Ellerbe and built on decades of healthcare and institutional work for clients like the Mayo Clinic. The firm stayed employee-owned after Thomas Ellerbe’s son took the reins in 1921, and it wasn’t until a 1988 merger with the Los Angeles firm Welton Becket and Associates that it took the name most sports fans would come to recognize: Ellerbe Becket.
That same year, the newly formed firm opened a sports design division that would go on to define the look of American arenas for the next two decades, from Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to TD Garden in Boston. Ellerbe Becket operated as an independent architecture and engineering firm until October 26, 2009, when it was acquired by the global infrastructure giant AECOM, ending its 100-year run under its own name.
Stats at a Glance
- Founded: 1909, as Ellerbe & Co. in St. Paul, Minnesota
- Became Ellerbe Becket: 1988, after merging with Welton Becket and Associates
- Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Sports design division launched: 1988
- Notable venues: Conseco Fieldhouse, TD Garden, Barclays Center, Turner Field
- Ceased independent operation: 2009, acquired by AECOM
From Mayo Clinic to Madison Square Garden
For most of its early history, Ellerbe Becket was known for hospitals and campus buildings, not sports venues. Its sports design group, opened in Kansas City in 1988 after the Welton Becket merger, changed that quickly. The team’s breakout project was Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which opened in 1999 with a retro brick-and-glass exterior meant to evoke Indiana’s classic high school gymnasiums. The design proved so influential that when developers later planned Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, they reportedly asked Ellerbe Becket to recreate the feel of Conseco Fieldhouse for the new Nets arena.
A Legacy Absorbed Into AECOM
By the 2000s, Ellerbe Becket’s arena work had spread across the country, including TD Garden in Boston, built within tight downtown clearances above North Station and opened in 1995, and Barclays Center, where the firm served as arena architect while SHoP Architects designed the exterior facade. AECOM’s 2009 acquisition folded a century of independent practice into a much larger global firm, but many of the buildings Ellerbe Becket designed, TD Garden among them, are still hosting games today under the AECOM name.
Explore more: Explore more Stadium Design history.
Ellerbe Becket Venues on ThrillZing
- Madison Square Garden — renovations
- Target Center
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Ellerbe Becket FAQs
Does Ellerbe Becket still exist as a company?
No. Ellerbe Becket operated independently from 1988 until October 26, 2009, when it was acquired by AECOM, which now credits its former projects under the AECOM name.
What stadiums and arenas did Ellerbe Becket design?
The firm’s sports portfolio includes Conseco (now Gainbridge) Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, TD Garden in Boston, and Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where it served as arena architect alongside facade designer SHoP Architects.
Why is Ellerbe Becket significant to modern stadium design?
Starting with its 1988 sports design division, Ellerbe Becket helped popularize the retro-styled, fan-focused arena template used across the NBA and NHL, most visibly at Conseco Fieldhouse in 1999.
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Photo: Cacophony / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.