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Jaquelin T. Robertson

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Jaquelin Taylor Robertson,FAIA,FAICP,informally known as "Jaque,"(March 20, 1933 – May 9, 2020) was an Americanarchitectandurban designer,working atCooper Robertson.He was a representative ofNew UrbanismandNew Classical Architecture.

Early life and education[edit]

Robertson was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia on a classical family-owned estate.[1]His family was aristocratic and lived in a Georgian-style house; he is a descendant of presidentsZachary TaylorandJames Madison.[2]His father Walter worked for the U.S. State Department and was special envoy to China for several years. After graduating fromYale Collegewith a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954 and spending a year atOxford Universityas aRhodes Scholar,Robertson received aMaster of Architecturedegree fromYale School of Architecturein 1961.

Career[edit]

Working in New York City Planning, he was the founder of the New York City Urban Design Group,[3]the first Director of the Mayor's Office of Midtown Planning and Development, and a City Planning Commissioner.

In 1975, he spent three years inTehran, Iran,directing the planning and design of the country's new capitol center Shahestan Pahlavi[4]in theAbbas Abaddistrict of Tehran.

From 1980 to 1988, Robertson was Dean of theUniversity of Virginia School of Architecturewhere there is now an Endowed Professorship in his name entitled the "Jaquelin T. Robertson Visiting Professorship in Architecture." AtUVA,Robertson often invited notable guest speakers and organized a famous symposium with 25 of the nation's leading architects, includingRobert A. M. SternandLéon Krier,that resulted in the publication of a book entitledThe Charlottesville Tapes.During this same period (1980 to 1987), he was partnered withPeter Eisenmanin the firm Eisenman/Robertson Architects in New York City.

In 1988, he stepped down from theUniversity of Virginiapost and his partnership withPeter Eisenmanto join his Yale School of Architecture classmateAlex Cooperin his firm in New York City, established now under a new name:Cooper, Robertson & Partners.

His notable work includes the New Albany Country Club inNew Albany, Ohiooutside Columbus, the Visitor Center at theLewis Ginter Botanical Gardenin Richmond, Virginia, theHenry MooreSculpture Garden at theNelson-Atkins Museum of Art,the Master Plan forCelebration, Floridafor theDisney Development Companyas well as the Golf Clubhouse there, The Institute for the Arts & Humanities at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,the Master Plan for the new community ofVal d'Europe,outsideParis,France, theSony Pictures ImageworksHeadquarters Building inCulver City,California, and numerous private residences.

Having designed many AIA (American Institute of Architects) award-winning houses, many of which are inthe Hamptonson the East End of Long Island and in theCaribbean,Robertson was named one of "the AD 100,"Architectural Digest's list of the top 100 architects and interior designers whose work has been published byArchitectural Digestover the years.

Robertson was both aFellow of the American Institute of Architects[5]and a Fellow of theAmerican Institute of Certified Planners.

Robertson died ofAlzheimer's diseaseinEast Hampton, New York,in May 2020.[6]

Career awards[edit]

Quotes[edit]

  • "The symbolic hard currency of architecture is classical,... It's gold in the bank. The other stuff is leveraged buy-outs and soybean futures."[7]
  • “We [architects] don’t seem to understand very well yet how our society works or what our people want or need, and we are continually caught up in a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland situation of either giving answers to questions no one is asking or ignoring completely some of the more pressing and obvious problems.”[1]
  • “Architects must have in front of them some notion about the order of the whole, not just the parts.”[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcGoldberger, Paul (2020-05-10)."Jaquelin Taylor Robertson, Architect and Passionate Urbanist, Dies at 87".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2020-05-13.
  2. ^O'Connell, Kim A."Jaquelin T. Robertson: Going to Ground".Traditional Building.Retrieved2020-05-13.
  3. ^Hines, Thomas S. (19 March 1995)."A Star Is Built".Retrieved25 March2017– via NYTimes.
  4. ^"Archnet".Retrieved25 March2017.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^[1][permanent dead link]
  6. ^Jaquelin Taylor Robertson, Architect and Passionate Urbanist, Dies at 88,NYT, May 11, 2020
  7. ^Miller, Arthur."Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Chatfield-Taylor's" Bluff's Edge "".June 12, 1996.Lake Forest College.Retrieved9 April2014.

External links[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  1. ^[2]
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