Ada Louise Huxtable facts for kids
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Ada Louise Huxtable (born Ada Louise Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was a famous architecture critic and writer. She helped people in North America understand more about buildings and city design. She made sure that architecture became a topic people talked about.
In 1970, she won the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. This is a very important award for writers. In 1981, she also became a MacArthur Fellow, which is another special honor. A famous architecture critic named Paul Goldberger said that before Ada Louise Huxtable, people didn't really talk about architecture. Architect Robert A. M. Stern called her "a great lover of cities" and "a great preservationist."
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Early Life and Education
Ada Louise Huxtable was born and died in New York City. She went to Hunter College and graduated in 1941. After that, she studied the history of architecture at New York University.
In 1942, she married industrial designer L. Garth Huxtable. She continued her studies at New York University until 1950. From 1950 to 1951, she received a special scholarship called a Fulbright Scholarship. This allowed her to spend a year in Italy, where she studied Italian architecture and engineering.
Her Career in Architecture
Ada Louise Huxtable worked at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York from 1946 to 1950. There, she helped with exhibitions about architecture and design. After her time in Italy, she also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1958. This helped her research new ideas in American architecture and design.
From 1950 to 1963, she wrote for magazines like Progressive Architecture and Art in America. Then, in 1963, she became the very first architecture critic for The New York Times. She held this important job until 1982.
Making Architecture Public
Ada Louise Huxtable wrote about how buildings and cities affect people. She believed that architecture should have a deeper meaning and artistic power. She often shared her strong opinions when she felt that building projects didn't consider the public's needs or the city's history.
She made architecture a more popular topic by having her articles appear on the front page of The New York Times. Her opinions were so well-known that they were even featured in cartoons in New Yorker magazine between 1968 and 1971.
After leaving The New York Times, she continued to write. From 1997 until 2012, she was the architecture critic for The Wall Street Journal.
Protecting Historic Buildings
Ada Louise Huxtable was a strong voice for saving important old buildings. She is known as one of the main people who helped create the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. This group helps protect historic places in New York City.
However, she also believed that preserving the past should be done carefully. She didn't like fake "re-creations" of old places. She wrote in 1968 that it's best to keep old cities as they are, but without making them look like a stage set or a theme park.
Influence and Recognition
Ada Louise Huxtable wrote more than ten books about architecture. One of her books, published in 2004, was a biography of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
She became a very important person in the world of architecture. She was often asked to be a judge for major awards, such as the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Praemium Imperiale of Japan. She also helped choose designs for important places like the Getty Center and the Getty Villa.
Her Legacy
In 2013, the Getty Research Institute received all of Ada Louise Huxtable's writings and research materials. This collection includes her manuscripts, letters, notes, and many original photographs of architecture. This archive helps people continue to study her important work and ideas.
See also
In Spanish: Ada Louise Huxtable para niños
