An Architect Of Minds, She 'Changed The Way We Think': Architect Critic Ada Louise Huxtable Dies Age 91

Ada Louise Huxtable isn't quite a household name, but her extraordinary influence has made architecture a household topic of conversation. As a critic of architecture, she made significant waves in the field, and, as quoted by the NY Times, Paul Goldberger - a fellow critic - said: "Before Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture was not a part of the public dialogue." She died on January 7th, aged 91.

The Times had already praised her for similar attributes way back in 1981: "Mrs. Huxtable invented a new profession, and, quite simply, changed the way most of us see and think about man-made environments." In 1970 she won the first Pulitzer Prize for criticism, just seven years after beginning that 'new profession' in the Times back in 1963. In her column she criticised and praised buildings for their interaction and respect for human life, thus opening up the topic for the 'average Joe'.

Her style was at once personable and hyperbolic, and she wrote with great wit. Her first book, published in 1986, was called Goodbye History, Hello Hamburger: An Anthology of Architectural Delights and Disasters plus, a later gem was called Kicked a Building Lately? Her other achievements are too many to name, but here are just a few highlights: She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1981, she was a curator of architecture at MOMA during the 40s, and she was the subject of a New Yorker cartoon - that's when you know you've made it.

Ada married the architect L. Garth Huxtable in 1942 and was married to him until his death in 1989, they had no children.