The National Building Museum in Washington, DC, has selected Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president of the American Academy in Rome and a 1984 Fellow, to receive its 2010 Vincent Scully Prize, one of the most significant distinctions in the architecture and design fields. The prize was awarded “for her notable work encouraging excellence in the design world while ensuring that planning, architecture, and preservation remain relevant and connected to the public.”
In announcing Chatfield-Taylor’s selection for the twelfth Vincent Scully Prize, members of the jury—chair David Schwarz, Deborah Berke, Ned Cramer, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (1988 Resident)—noted that through a variety of positions in her career, “Ms. Chatfield-Taylor has consistently promoted excellence in the design world, while ensuring that the planning, architecture, and historic preservation disciplines remain connected to the public.”
At the November 8 award ceremony, Chatfield-Taylor presented a talk and answered questions on historic preservation at the American Academy in Rome in the twenty-first century. You can view the ceremony and that presentation in their entirety below.
The National Building Museum established the Vincent Scully Prize to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design. It honors Professor Vincent Scully (1998 Resident), the Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, whose teaching and scholarship long have profoundly influenced prominent architects and urban planners.
With the award to Chatfield-Taylor, five of the twelve Vincent Scully Prizes are held by individuals with a strong connection to the American Academy in Rome:
2010 Adele Chatfield-Taylor FAAR’84
2008 Robert A. M. Stern
2007 (Dec.) Richard Moe RAAR’11
2007 (Jan.) Witold Rybczynski
2006 Phyllis Lambert
2005 (Nov.) His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
2005 (Jan.) His Highness the Aga Khan
2002 Robert Venturi FAAR’56 and Denise Scott Brown
2001 Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk RAAR’88
2000 Jane Jacobs
1999 Vincent Scully RAAR’98
The National Building Museum in awarding the 2010 Vincent Scully Prize noted that Adele Chatfield-Taylor has had a long career in the arts. After over a decade on the staff of theNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Chatfield-Taylor received the AAR’s Rome Prize in 1983, returning to the US in 1984 to become director of the Design Arts program at the National Endowment of the Arts. While there, she helped establish theMayors’ Institute on City Design; the program continues to thrive today and has inspired many municipal leaders and their staffs to transform their communities through high-quality design and planning.
Since 1988 Adele Chatfield-Taylor has been president of the American Academy in Rome. Chatfield-Taylor was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996; in 2002 she was decorated by the President of the Italian Republic with the award of “Grand Officer of the Ordine al Merito.”
You can read a more detailed biography of Adele Chatfield-Taylor here.