David Magie Childs (April 1, 1941 – March 26, 2025) was an American architect and chairman of the architectural firm

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

. He was the architect of record for One World Trade Center in New York City, which became the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

's tallest skyscraper when it was completed in 2014.

Early life and education

Childs graduated from

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1959 and from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

in 1963. He first majored in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

before he then turned to architecture at the Yale School of Architecture and earned his master's degree in 1967.

Career

Childs joined the Washington, D.C., office of SOM in 1971, after working with Nathaniel Owings and

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (; March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and social scientist. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he represented New York (state), New York in the ...

on plans for the redevelopment of

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...

. Childs was a design partner of the firm in Washington until 1984, when he moved to SOM's New York Office. His major projects include: in Washington, D.C., 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Four Seasons Hotel, master plans for the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' headquarters, and the headquarters for ''National Geographic''; in New York City, Worldwide Plaza, 450 Lexington Avenue, Bertelsmann Tower, and One World Trade Center; and internationally, the Embassy of the United States, Ottawa, and the Changi international terminal in Singapore. Childs served as the chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission from 1975 to 1981 and he was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 2002, serving as chairman from 2003 to 2005. He was the recipient of a Rome Prize in 2004; named a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council in 2010; and served on the boards of the Municipal Art Society, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, and the American Academy in Rome.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill projects

Washington, D.C. (1971–1985)

* Metro Center (1976) * Formerly the Daon Building, now the Inter-American Development Bank, 1300 New York Avenue, NW (1984) *

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

headquarters M Street building (1985) * Four Seasons (1979), Regent, and Park Hyatt Washington (1986) hotels * Expansion of the Dulles Airport main terminal * '' U.S. News & World Report'' headquarters * University Yard, 1985–1986 restoration, The George Washington University

New York City (1984–2025)

Completed

* Worldwide Plaza, 825 8th Avenue (1989) * Bertelsmann Building, 1540 Broadway (1990) * 383 Madison Avenue (2002) * Time Warner Center, Columbus Circle (2003) * Times Square Tower, 7 Times Square (2004) *

7 World Trade Center 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC, WTC-7, or Tower 7) is an office building constructed as part of the new World Trade Center (2001–present), World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The tower is located on a city block bounded by Gr ...

, 250 Greenwich Street (2006) * One World Trade Center (2014) * 450 Lexington Avenue (over the Grand Central Station Post Office at

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

) * One North End Avenue, 300 Vesey Street (1997) * JFK International Airport Arrivals Building * New Pennsylvania Station ( Moynihan Train Hall) at James Farley Post Office Building

Planned

* New

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

* Renovation of Lever House, 390 Park Avenue

Other locations

* Embassy of the United States in Ottawa, 1999

Personal life and death

Childs married Anne Woolman Reeve (known as Annie) in 1963. The couple had three children – Joshua, Nicholas, and Jocelyn. They resided in Manhattan and Keene, New York. Childs died of Lewy body dementia in Pelham, New York, on March 26, 2025, at the age of 83. He had been diagnosed in September 2024.

References

External links

WTC.com
Interview with David Childs about Freedom Tower (video)
WTC.com
Freedom Tower
"The Power Broker Yearns to Be Cool"wirednewyork.com

A conversation with architect David Childs
About his design for the new Freedom Tower
charlierose.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, David 1941 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American architects Deerfield Academy alumni Yale School of Architecture alumni 21st-century American architects People from Princeton, New Jersey Architects from New Jersey World Trade Center Skidmore, Owings & Merrill people Deaths from Lewy body dementia Deaths from dementia in New York (state)