Mary Jane Long, Lady Wilson, OBE (July 31, 1939 – September 3, 2018), known as MJ Long, was 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 ...

, lecturer and author, best known for her work as a principal architect partner on the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

in London (with her husband Sir Sandy Wilson). She created a series of purpose-built studios for the artists Peter Blake, RB Kitaj, Paul Huxley and

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...

, later documenting these in a book. In partnership with Rolfe Kentish, she focused on designing museums, libraries and galleries, including the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, the Jewish Museum London in Camden Town and an extension to Pallant House Gallery. With Wilson, she also co-designed Spring House/Cornford House (1965) in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, for Christopher Cornford.

Early and family life

Long was born in Summit, New Jersey. She attended

Westmount High School Westmount High School (french: École secondaire Westmount) is a public co-educational anglophone secondary school located in Westmount, Quebec, Canada, located near Alexis Nihon Complex Shopping Mall. Westmount High is Quebec's first and o ...

, graduated first in class in 1956 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and later studied at Smith College before enrolling on a four-year architecture course at Yale School of Architecture, studying under Paul Rudolph. It was at Yale that she met Colin St John (Sandy) Wilson, and in 1965 joined his newly formed architecture practice in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The couple married in 1972. She had two children.

References

1939 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American architects 21st-century American architects Architects from New Jersey British Library People from Summit, New Jersey Smith College alumni Yale University alumni {{US-architect-stub