Mary Otis Stevens (born 1928) is an American architect in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. The

MIT Museum The MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime histor ...

describes her as "one of the most important female architects in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

during the 1960s and 1970s."

Early life and education

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to an affluent family descended from leading figures in the American Revolution, Stevens attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, where she received a degree in philosophy in 1949. She was active in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

during her undergraduate years, presaging a lifelong commitment to social and civic activism. In 1950, she married William Vaughn Moody Fawcett. Stevens entered the architecture program at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1953, graduating with an SBArch in 1956. Influences at MIT included

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

, Kevin Lynch, and

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...

, who was also a family friend. Other influences included the historian

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and ta ...

, a relative and father figure.

Work

Stevens worked for

The Architects' Collaborative The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by eight architects that operated between 1945 to 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The founding members were Norman C. Fletcher (1917-2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915-19 ...

(TAC) before launching a practice with MIT faculty member Thomas McNulty in 1956, whom she married after her 1958 divorce. Stevens and McNulty practiced together until 1969, when they founded i Press Inc., a publisher of books on architecture and urban theory, which Stevens directed until its dissolution in 1978. Stevens also founded Design Guild in 1975, a collaborative architecture practice focusing on adaptive reuse and sustainability.

Significant projects

Stevens is best known for the Lincoln House (1965), which she designed with Tom McNulty for their own family on a rural site in

Lincoln, Massachusetts Lincoln is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 7,014 according to the 2020 United States Census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits. The town, located in the MetroWest region o ...

, a suburb of Boston. The curvilinear concrete structure, which is often called the first exposed-concrete and glass house in the United States, won international attention. Stevens lived in the house until 1978, when she and McNulty sold it to

Sarah Caldwell Sarah Caldwell (March 6, 1924March 23, 2006) was an American opera conducting, conductor, impresario, and stage director. Early life Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and ...

, the renowned opera director. Stevens and McNulty divorced soon after. The house was widely published, but was demolished in 2001 after Caldwell sold the property.

Other significant work

* Milan Triennial XIV, 1968 (with McNulty and Gyorgy Kepes) *Torf House, Weston, Massachusetts * Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center, Vienna, Virginia (1980s) *World of Variation, Mary Otis Stevens and Thomas F. McNulty, G. Braziler, 1970. Stevens was also featured in Season 9 (1987) of the television series “

This Old House ''This Old House'' is an American home improvement media brand with television shows, a magazine, and a websiteThisOldHouse.com. The brand is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The television series airs on the American television networ ...

” for her work on the Benjamin Weatherbee House built in 1785 (Westwood, Massachusetts).

Later life

After the death of Jesse Fillman in 1991, a lawyer whom she married in 1978, Stevens disbanded Design Guild to pursue studies in music composition at

Longy School of Music Longy School of Music of Bard College is a private music school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915 as the Longy School of Music, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New En ...

. In 2007, she donated her archives to MIT.

References