A Reception at The Branch kicks off the evening from 5:00 – 5:45 p.m.
Learning from Landmarks program will begin at 6:00 p.m.
This moderated interview with Hugh C. Miller FAIA, FAPT, will explore Hugh’s career as the National Park Service’s 2nd Chief Historical Architect between 1979 and 1988. During that tenure, he was the Park Service’s Executive Architect for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Independence Hall, and principal steward of many nationally-significant historic buildings and landscapes in the Service’s care.
The evening is moderated by Donna Dunay, FAIA, DPACSA from Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design.
Ticket Options:
Reception with Program Following: $100
($80 for Branch Museum Members and AIA Virginia Members)
Program Only:$25
($20 for Branch Museum Members and AIA Virginia Members)
Hugh C. Miller. FAIA, FAPT, a 28-year veteran of the National Park Service served as the Service’s 2nd Chief Historical Architect between 1979 and 1988. During that tenure, he was Executive Architect for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and principal steward of the many nationally-significant historic buildings and landscapes in the Service’s care. Throughout his career, Miller was a leading voice for the “professionalization” of Service rrestoration/rehabilitation practices based on sound research, science, and policies. A registered architect, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Miller was instrumental in development and evolution of the emerging field of historic landscape identification and conservation both in the units of the Park System and nationwide.
Born
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as a son of a corporate gypsy, Hugh Miller lived in
eleven houses in four states by the time he was twelve. He
received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of
Pennsylvania. He then served as Unit Commander, 94th Engineer
Battalion (Construction), in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany and
France. Returning to the States, he
worked in private architectural practice in Philadelphia and Wilmington,
Delaware, before joining the National Park Service in 1960. He worked in the Service’s
Eastern Office of Design and Construction until 1966. He then became supervisory architect/ planner
for the NPS/USAID planning team stationed in Jordan and Turkey. Starting in 1971 he served as Assistant NPS
Chief Historical Architect in Washington, DC until assuming the Chief
Historical Architect position in February of 1979.
Throughout
his professional career, Miller advocated for America’s and the Service’s role
in the international community of heritage conservation and historic
preservation. For five years, he served
as advisor for cultural tourism and the development of park systems and the
preservation of cultural properties in Jordan and Turkey. He undertook or participated in special
studies of cultural properties in Lebanon, Greece, Iran, Singapore, Macau,
Mexico, and Great Britain. He is a member of the International Council of
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and was made a fellow in 1995.
Miller
was, and remains, a leading national and international voice for the science-
and research-based investigation, maintenance, and restoration of historic buildings. Hugh Miller has been a member of APT
International since 1972, a Director of their Board (1974-1981), and founder
and past president of its Foundation for Preservation Technology. He currently
serves on the APT Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation. In 1998, he was made a Fellow of APT and
presented with the organization’s highest honor – the Harley J. McKee Award for
Lifetime Achievement. Hugh Miller is also
widely recognized nationally as a founding leader in identifying, recording,
and conserving what today are identified cultural or living landscapes – a
recognition of the inter-connectedness of history, historic place, land use,
and the natural environment and how each affected the other.
After
retirement from the Service in 1988, Miller served as first Director of the
Virginia Department of Historic Resources and as Virginia State Historic Preservation
Officer (1989-1994). He was an Adjunct Professor in the Goucher College’s
Master’s Program in Historic Preservation(1964-2016) , instructing in historic
building technology and directing the graduate thesis program. As NPS Chief
Historical Architect or in retirement Miller influenced countless projects
affecting historic places outside the NPS System including Philadelphia City
Hall, the Amana Colonies (Iowa), the Fan Historic District (Richmond, VA), the
Octagon and Calwell-Abbe Houses in Washington, DC, and, in the Commonwealth of
Virginia -Stratford Hall, Menokin, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest,
Monticello, and the Academical Village of the University of Virginia.
In
1952, Hugh married the former Stella Hawkins.
Together they have three children, four grandchildren, and two great
grandchildren. Stella died 1 June 2016.
Hugh Miller lives in the Fan Historic District of Richmond, Virginia, lectures frequently nationwide on such wide-ranging topics as sustainability and historic preservation and heritage landscapes, serves on innumerable advisory boards, and continues to be an important figure in national and international heritage preservation professional practice.
Where did you go to college? The University of Pennsylvania, School of Fine Arts, now School of Design
Would you recommend studying architecture to a young person? YES
What does it take to be an architect? Imagination and attention to detail…Problem solving…designable, buildable, maintainable.
Was there an architect that particularly inspired you? Buckminster Fuller. The futurist
What are you currently reading?
Toward A Simpler Way Of Life The Arts & Crafts architects of California
What’s the best meal you’ve ever had? Any filet mignon cooked rare by my wife Stella.
Why do you volunteer with the AIA? To meet other architects and work on interesting projects and programs. First with AIA HRC in the 1970s.
