Thomas Gordon Smith

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Thomas Gordon Smith, FAAR, Professor Emeritus University of Notre Dame (April 23, 1948 - June 23, 2021) was an American architect, scholar of American Classical architecture and decorative arts, author, professor and chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame (1989 - 1998). As professor and chair of the then Department of Architecture (now Notre Dame School of Architecture) at the University of Notre Dame, he transformed the curriculum by re-introducing the teaching of the theory and practice of Classical architecture. Quoted in Traditional Building Magazine, he defined his work at Notre Dame, “What we were able to do is change to a classical perspective...which means responding to and re-animating antiquity, as well as the Renaissance and, certainly, the period during the 1800s and later within the United States.”

Smith's architectural work and career are documented in Dr. Richard John's "Thomas Gordon Smith and the Rebirth of Classical Architecture", Andreas Papadakis, Publisher: London, 2001

Thomas Gordon Smith
Architectural Fellow for the General Services Administration
In office 2006-2008
President	George W. Bush
Personal details
Born	(1948-04-23)April 23, 1948
Died	(2021-06-23)June 23, 2021
Education	University of California at Berkeley

Education

Thomas Gordon Smith began his career studying at the University of California at Berkeley where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Painting (1970) followed by a Master of Architecture (1975). He was the recipient of the Rome Prize in Architecture (1979-1980) to the American Academy in Rome.

Academic Appointments

Beginning in 1975, Smith held a number of teaching appointments at Universities including University of California, Los Angeles, Yale University, and University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1989 he was appointed chair of the University of Notre Dame Department (now School) of Architecture. He served as chair until 1998 and as professor until his retirement in 2016.

Architectural Works

In 1979, just prior to his fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, Smith designed two houses in Livermore, California, which he called the Tuscan and the Laurentian. These Post-modern style homes were a precursor to his later Classical architecture. Returning from the American Academy in Rome, he formed his architectural practice, (San Francisco, CA: 1981 - 1986, Chicago, IL: 1986 - 1989, South Bend, IN: 1990 - 2015), which he closed in 2015. During the course of his practice, he made important contributions to sacred architecture as well as the contemporary practice of Classical architecture.

Selected architectural works:

• Our Lady of the Annunciation Benedictine Abbey at Clear Creek; Hulbert, OK
• Installation of La Grange Terrace column elements, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter; Denton, NE
• Holy Family Cathedral Renovation, Tulsa, OK
• Classical Galleries, the American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Lanier Mansion Historic Site Addition; Madison, IN
• House in Rural Wisconsin
• St. Joseph Catholic Church, School and Parish Hall, Dalton, GA
• Bond Hall School of Architecture Additions, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
• Civic Center for Cathedral City, CA; with MWM Architects
• Church renovations in Michigan and Indiana
• Private residences in California, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Carolina

An example of Smith's early, Post-modern style work can be seen here in his drawing of the Matthews Street House, Berkeley, California, in the Cooper Hewitt Drawing, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

In the design of his own residence in South Bend, Indiana, Smith combined his studies of Vitruvius and American Greek Revival architecture. The house was featured on Bob Vila's "In Search of Palladio" (1996).

Thomas Gordon Smith's Vitruvian Villa in South Bend, IN

Publications: Books and Articles

• Vitruvius Pollio (2003). Vitruvius on architecture. Thomas Gordon Smith. New York: Monacelli Press. ISBN 1-58093-127-8. OCLC 52196303. Search this book on
• Smith, Thomas Gordon (1988). Classical architecture : rule and invention (1st ed.). Layton, UT: G.M. Smith, Inc. ISBN 0-87905-246-5. OCLC 13861016. Search this book on

Essays and Reprints:

• The Cabinet Maker’s Assistant; John Hall, Acanthus Press, 1996
• The Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified; Thomas King, Dover Publications, 1995
• The Builder’s Guide & Practice of Architecture; A. Benjamin, Da Capo Press, 1994

Exhibitions of Creative Work

Among numerous exhibitions of Smith's work, his participation in the 1980 The Presence of the Past, Venice Biennale, Exhibit and façade on La Strada Novissima stands as a marker of the direction his career would take. He explains in the catalogue "In my buildings I am working to achieve a synthesis of form, function, and symbolic content. I admire architects who have achieved a fusion of these considerations in their work and I feel a close kinship with them. For the past ten years I have been particularly drawn to the work of the Roman Baroque architect, Francesco Borromini. Borromini’s accomplishment represents at once the most stimulating and the most challenging model for the synthesis which I want to achieve."

Selected Exhibitions of Creative Work:

• 2014 Mission: Postmodern; Deutsches Architektur Museum; Frankfurt, Germany
• 2012 La Tendenza: Italian Architecture 1965-1985, Centre Pompidou; Paris, France
• 2011 Architecture Creates Cities, Cities Create Architecture; Shenzen, China
• 2009 New Ecclesiastical Architecture by Thomas Gordon Smith; Omaha NE
• 2008 New Palladians; The Prince’s Foundation, London, U.K.
• 2004 Post-Modernism Revisited, Deutsches Architektur Museum; Frankfurt, Germany
• 2002 A Decade of Classicism, Institute for Classical Architecture; New York NY
• 2002 Vitruvius on Architecture, South Bend Museum of Art; South Bend IN
• 2000 The Other Modern; Bologna, Italy
• 2000 Rediscovering Tradition in Twentieth Century Liturgical Architecture, Rome
• 1991 Avery Centennial Collection, Columbia University; New York NY
• 1990 The History of History in American Schools of Architecture, Columbia University; New York NY
• 1987 Post Modern Visions, IBM Gallery; New York, NY
• 1985 Classical Architects, Europaische Kulturtage; Karlsruhe, Germany
• 1984 Opening Exhibition, “Revisiting Modernism,” Deutsches Architektur Museum; Frankfort, Germany
• 1980 The Presence of the Past, Venice Biennale, Exhibit and façade on La Strada Novissima
• 1978 Ornament in the 20th Century, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, NY
• 1977 A View of California Architecture, 1960-1976, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Federal Appointments

Smith served as Architectural Fellow for the General Services Administration from 2006-2008. The appointment was controversial to some architects and supported by others, such as Robert A. M. Stern, architect and former Dean of Yale University School of Architecture, who described Smith's appointment in the Wall Street Journal article reporting the news as "a wonderful choice," though one that will "probably get a lot of people crazy." [Stern] says Mr. Smith has "a strong point of view, and that's great...But he has the capacity to shift and manage his position without closing the door to others.""

Honors and Recognitions

• The Arthur Ross Award for Architectural Education, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, 2017
• Simons Medal, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, November 2014
• University of Notre Dame Faculty Recognition Award, November 17, 2007
• Award for Excellence in Construction, Assoc. Builders of OK, 2005 & 2009
• American Institute of Architects Indiana, Merit Award, 2002
• The Arthur Ross Award for Architectural Education, Classical America, 1997 Category:Architecture_academics Category:New_Classical_architects Category:21st-century_American_architects

External links

• Google Scholar profile
• Oxford Reference entry
• Smith, T., "New Athenians." Period Homes Magazine. March 2008.
• Gebhar, D. "Architecture: Thomas Gordon Smith." Architectural Digest. October 1984.
• Thomas Gordon Smith, Architect

Thomas Gordon Smith

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