Margaret Henderson Floyd (1932 – 18 October 1997) was Professor of

Architectural History The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. She was an expert on

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. Her writing includes several titles on the work of late 19th-century American architects including

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

, and Longfellow, Alden and Harlow.

Biography

Margaret Henderson Floyd was a graduate of

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

, the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, where she received her Ph.D. in 1975. She taught for many years at Tufts where she was Professor of American Art and Architectural History. Over the years, she developed detailed knowledge of the architecture of the

area and she became deeply involved in historic preservation and often provided expert testimony in an effort to save older buildings from demolition. She played a key role in the preservation of the

Robert Treat Paine Estate The Robert Treat Paine Estate, known as Stonehurst, is a country house set on in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was designed for philanthropist Robert Treat Paine (philanthropist), Robert Treat Paine in a collaboration between architect Henry Hobs ...

in Waltham; she was one of four founding members of Friends of Longfellow House formed to support

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site) is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge ...

. Floyd was a contributor to the ongoing reassessment of the "standard narrative" of nineteenth-century American architectural history. Her work on Longfellow, Alden and Harlow argued for a broader appreciation of the wide influence of the architect

. Her final book, a biographical monograph on Richardson was published after her death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. In her memory, the Department of Art and Architectural History at Tufts established the Floyd Lecture Series in 1999 and the Architectural Studies Prize in 2005.

Books

Writings by Margaret Henderson Floyd include the following books (in chronological order): * Bunting, Bainbridge, completed and edited by Margaret Henderson Floyd, ''Harvard: An Architectural History'', Belknap Press of

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, Cambridge MA 1985. * Floyd, Margaret Henderson, editor, ''Architectural Education and Boston: Centennial Publication of the Boston Architectural Center, 1889-1989'', Boston Architectural Center, Boston 1989. , * Floyd, Margaret Henderson, ''Architecture after Richardson: Regionalism before Modernism--Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow in Boston and Pittsburgh'',

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

with

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolving Fund for ...

Chicago and Pittsburgh 1994. * Floyd, Margaret Henderson, ''Henry Hobson Richardson: A Genius for Architecture'', Monacelli, New York 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Floyd, Margaret Henderson 1932 births 1997 deaths American art historians American architectural historians American architecture writers American women academics Wellesley College alumni University of New Mexico alumni Boston University alumni Writers from Boston Deaths from cancer 20th-century American historians American women historians 20th-century American biographers American women biographers Women art historians 20th-century American women writers

Biography

Books

See also

References