Margaret McCurry (born 1942) is an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and a

Fellow of the American Institute of Architects Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) is a postnominal title or membership, designating an individual who has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Fellowship is bestowed by the institute on AIA-member ...

Early life

McCurry was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in September 1942. She grew up in two Chicago houses designed by her father, architect Paul McCurry, whom she describes as "an intense modernist hononetheless instilled in his children a curiosity about the architecture of other periods." McCurry graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1964 with a degree in

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and literature.

Career

For 11 years McCurry worked in the Chicago office of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

(SOM) wher
Davis Allen (1916–1999)
became her mentor. While at SOM, the projects she worked on included the interiors of the

National Life and Accident Insurance Company The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance company that was based in Nashville, Tennessee. National Life and Accident began in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association, a mutual company. It was reorgan ...

in Nashville and the East Wing addition to the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

including the

School of the Art Institute The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

and th
Rubloff Auditorium.
After leaving SOM, McCurry opened her own firm on

April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

1977. In 1982, she joined forces with her husband,

Stanley Tigerman Stanley Tigerman (September 20, 1930 – June 3, 2019) was an American architect, theorist and designer. Biography Early years Tigerman was born into a Jewish family, the only child of Emma (Stern), a typist for the federal government, and Sam ...

(1930–2019), to found their Chicago-based fir
Tigerman McCurry Architects
She has served as the chair of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

(AIA) Committee on Design and vice-president of the Illinois chapter of th
American Society of Interior Designers.
Some of her projects include the Chicago Bar Association headquarters on Plymouth court, c. 1990, a private apartment on 900 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, a two-story farmhouse on Lake Michigan, a home in Martha's Vineyard, c. 1995, an update to a midcentury modern home in Chicago written up in ''Architectural Digest'' 2009, an article republished by the magazine May 2017. In 2017, McCurry and her husband Stanley Tigerman announced they will be retiring and closing down their Chicago office.

Publications

McCurry has published two books: ''Distillations: The Architecture of Margaret McCurry'' and ''Margaret McCurry: Constructing Twenty-Five Short Stories''. She and husband Stanley Tigerman published the children's story "Dorothy in Dreamland" in 1991, where Dorothy helps to alter the timelines of four classic fairytales while dreaming of finding her way back to Kansas. It was illustrated by Tigerman.

Personal life

McCurry was married to

from 1979 until his death in 2019. She and Tigerman were also principals in their firm, Tigerman-McCurry, from 1982 to 2017.Crain's Chicago Business: "So we're not retiring after all: Tigerman, McCurry" By Dennis Rodkin
May 16, 2017 Margaret has written about her life with Stanley and memories at their home at

900-910 North Lake Shore 900 910 North Lake Shore are a pair of glass and steel buildings, perpendicular to one another, designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. Completed in 1956, they marked the refinement of Mies' hi ...

lakefront high-rise apartment built by Mies van der Rohe. Her astrological sign, Libra, plays greatly into her design instincts - "I'm a Libra. Everything in my world has to be ordered and harmoniously balanced."

External links

Tigerman McCurry ArchitectsAmerican Society of Interior Designers
*Giovannini, Joseph. "A Legacy Preserved: Extending the Life of a Classic Midcentury Modern for the Generations." ''Architectural Digest'' 66, no. 2 (February 1, 2009). *-. "Theory of Relativity: Soaring Volumes in the Country Allow a Family to Reach out and Connect." ''Architectural Digest'' 66, no. 6 (June 1, 2009). *McCurry, Margaret, Iker Gil, and Julie Michiels.
Dialogues: Margaret McCurry
" ''MAS Context''. *Von Hoffman, Nicholas. "Margaret McCurry: An Architect Who Puts Her Own Spin on Vernacular Forms." ''Architectural Digest'' 62, no. 6 (June 1, 2005): 108.

References