Paul Spencer Byard (August 30, 1939 – July 15, 2008) was a lawyer and an

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 ...

. He was born in New York to Dever Spencer Byard, a lawyer and Margaret Mather Byard, a teacher of English Literature at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Byard graduated from

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

in Massachusetts in 1957, from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1961 and went on to receive degrees from

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

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 ...

, Harvard Law School, and from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture.

Law career

In 1966, having completed law school, Byard joined the law firm of Winthrop & Stimson, where he remained for three years. He also acted as

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

to the Roosevelt Island Development Corporation and as an associate counsel to the

New York State Urban Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

. Combining law with architecture, Byard supported the legal defense of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Law.

Architecture career

In 1977, Byard received an architectural degree from the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning at Columbia University, after which he joined James Stewart Polshek & Associates in 1977. In 1981, he was made a partner in the firm. In 1989, Byard joined Charles A. Platt Partners (later known as Platt Byard Dovell White). While working as an architect, Byard was involved in the

renovations Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

of Carnegie Hall, the old Custom House on Bowling Green, the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division Courthouse on

Madison Square Madison Square is a town square, public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway at 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. The square ...

, the Cooper Union Foundation Building, and the

Villard Houses The Villard Houses are a set of former residences comprising a historic landmark at 451–457 Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by the architect Joseph Morrill Wells ...

. He also helped to design the New 42nd Street Studios, the Channel 57 building, and a mausoleum and

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, all of which were of contemporary design. Byard was highly involved in the Architectural League of New York and served as president from 1989 to 1994. While working as an architect, Byard wrote ''The Architecture of Additions: Design and Regulation'' (W.W. Norton, 1998), in which he discusses the renovations of many historic buildings and exhibits his knowledge of blending old and new styles of architecture. At the time of his death, Byard was working on a book to be entitled ''Why Save This Building? The Public Interest in Architectural Meaning''. In keeping with his architectural interests, Byard directed the

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

program at Columbia for ten years until his death. He also developed a third-year studio and workshop for architecture and preservation students.

Personal life and death

Byard married Rosalie Starr Warren in 1965 and had two children. He lived in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, where he died on July 15, 2008, of cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byard, Paul 1939 births 2008 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Yale College alumni 20th-century American architects Deaths from cancer in New York (state) People from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Law career

Architecture career

Personal life and death

See also

References