He was noted as a pioneer in the design of interior corporate environments and had a forty-year tenure at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
He was educated at Brown University, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and the Yale School of Architecture.
[1][2][3] After first working at Knoll, and then with the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz, he moved to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1950.
[5] After Stendig was acquired by Burlington Industries, which eventually went out of business, this design was reintroduced by Knoll in 1993 as the "Exeter" chair.
[2][8][1] Examples of Allen's designs are in held in museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, sought by collectors, and sold for large sums at auction.