Margaret McCurry

Last updated
Margaret McCurry
BornSeptember 1942
Chicago
NationalityAmerican
Education Vassar College, BA in Art History; Harvard Graduate School of Design, Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies
OccupationArchitect
Spouse Stanley Tigerman

Margaret McCurry (born 1942) is an American architect and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Contents

Early life

McCurry was born in Chicago in September 1942. [1] She grew up in two Chicago houses designed by her father, architect Paul McCurry, whom she describes as "an intense modernist [who] nonetheless instilled in his children a curiosity about the architecture of other periods." [2] McCurry graduated from Vassar College in 1964 with a degree in art history and literature. [1]

Career

For 11 years McCurry worked in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) where Davis Allen (1916–1999) became her mentor. [2]

While at SOM, the projects she worked on included the interiors of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in Nashville [2] and the East Wing addition to the Art Institute of Chicago including the School of the Art Institute and the Rubloff Auditorium.

After leaving SOM, McCurry opened her own firm on April Fool's Day 1977. [1] In 1982, she joined forces with her husband, Stanley Tigerman (1930–2019), to found their Chicago-based firm Tigerman McCurry Architects. [3] [4]

She has served as the chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on Design and vice-president of the Illinois chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers.

Some of her projects include the Chicago Bar Association headquarters on Plymouth court, c. 1990, [3] a private apartment on 900 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, [3] [2] a two-story farmhouse on Lake Michigan, [2] a home in Martha's Vineyard, c. 1995, [2] an update to a midcentury modern home in Chicago written up in Architectural Digest 2009, [5] an article republished by the magazine May 2017. [6]

In 2017, McCurry and her husband Stanley Tigerman announced they will be retiring and closing down their Chicago office. [7]

Publications

McCurry has published two books: Distillations: The Architecture of Margaret McCurry and Margaret McCurry: Constructing Twenty-Five Short Stories. [8]

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. [9]

Personal life

McCurry was married to Stanley Tigerman from 1979 until his death in 2019. [3] She and Tigerman were also principals in their firm, Tigerman-McCurry, from 1982 to 2017. [10] Margaret has written about her life with Stanley and memories at their home at 900-910 North Lake Shore 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." [11]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Gordon, Terri (February 18, 2013). "Margaret McCurry's extraordinary career". The Times of Northwest Indiana . Munster, Indiana . Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Giovannini, Joseph (December 31, 2001). "Margaret McCurry: All-American houses that reflect a layered tradition". Architectural Digest.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Tapp, Mara (November 20, 2003). "Can Stanley Tigerman Play Nice? - The legendarily combative architect is trying to keep his cool as he works toward what may be the crowning achievement of his career". Chicago Reader.
  4. Rossi, Kaitlyn (June 9, 2014). "ARCHITECT Visits: Stanley Tigerman & Margaret McCurry". Architect.
  5. "2010 AD100: Margaret McCurry". Architectural Digest.
  6. Giovannini, Joseph (May 18, 2017). "A Midcentury Modern Home in Chicago is Refreshed". Architectural Digest.
  7. LaTrace, A. J. (2017-05-12). "Architects Stanley Tigerman and Margaret McCurry retiring". Curbed Chicago. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  8. "Writings | Tigerman McCurry Architects". www.tigerman-mccurry.com. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  9. Tigerman, Tracy; McCurry, Margaret (1991). Dorothy in Dreamland. Rizzoli. ISBN   0847813932.
  10. Crain's Chicago Business: "So we're not retiring after all: Tigerman, McCurry" By Dennis Rodkin May 16, 2017
  11. "Margaret McCurry". Architectural Digest. January 2002. Retrieved 2019-03-22.