Carol Willis is the founder, director, and curator of the Skyscraper Museum. She is also adjunct associate professor of Urban Studies 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 ...

Herbert Muschamp Herbert Mitchell Muschamp (November 28, 1947 – October 2, 2007) was an American architecture critic. Early years Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: "The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. ...

described Willis in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as the “woman who created the Skyscraper Museum in 1996 from nothing but her imagination, her passion for New York architecture, and her belief in the importance of history and the value of the public realm.”

Life

Willis graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

(B.A Art History, 1971.) She studied architectural history at

in the Department of Art History and Archaeology (M.A., 1976, M.Phil.,1979.) Willis is author of ''Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago''. The book received an AIA book award and the "Best Book on North American Urbanism" in 1995 by the Urban History Association. Willis is married to Mark Willis, a banker and adjunct professor of urban planning at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Selected works

* ''Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

'' (

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press is a small press publisher, specializing in books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture, with over 1,000 titles on its backlist. In 2013, it added a line of stationery products, includin ...

, 1995: 2008) * ''Building the Empire State'' (

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

, 1998) * ''Introduction to Skyscraper Rivals by Daniel M Abramson'' (Princeton Architectural Press, 2000) * ''The Lower Manhattan Plan Paperback,'' edited by Carol Willis, introduction by Ann Buttenwieser (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002) * ''Introduction to New York Architecture: A History,'' photographs by Richard Berenholtz, text by Amanda Johnson (New York:

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...

, 2003) * ''Introduction to New York Deco'' by photographer Richard Berenholtz (Welcome Books, 2009)

References

External links

The Skyscraper Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Carol 1949 births Living people American curators American women curators Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty American women academics 21st-century American women