David Childs

For the professor, seeDavid Childs (academic).

David Magie Childs (April 1, 1941 – March 26, 2025) was an American architect and chairman of the architectural firmSkidmore, Owings & Merrill.^[1] He was the architect of record forOne World Trade Center in New York City, which became theWestern Hemisphere's tallest skyscraper when it was completed in 2014.^[2]

David Childs
Born	David Magie Childs (1941-04-01)April 1, 1941 Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	March 26, 2025(2025-03-26) (aged 83) Pelham, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale School of Architecture
Occupation	Architect
Employer	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Known for	One World Trade Center
Spouse	Anne Woolman Reeve (m. 1963)
Children	3

Early life and education

edit

Childs graduated fromDeerfield Academy inDeerfield, Massachusetts, in 1959^[1] and fromYale University inNew Haven, Connecticut in 1963.^[3] He first majored inzoology before he then turned to architecture at theYale School of Architecture and earned his master's degree in 1967.^[4]

Career

edit

Childs joined the Washington, D.C., office of SOM in 1971, after working withNathaniel Owings andDaniel Patrick Moynihan on plans for the redevelopment ofPennsylvania Avenue. Childs was a design partner of the firm in Washington until 1984, when he moved to SOM's New York Office.^{[citation needed]}

His major projects include: in Washington, D.C.,1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Four Seasons Hotel, master plans for theNational Mall, theU.S. News & World Report headquarters, and the headquarters forNational Geographic; in New York City,Worldwide Plaza,450 Lexington Avenue, Bertelsmann Tower, andOne World Trade Center; and internationally, theEmbassy of the United States, Ottawa, and the Changi international terminal in Singapore.^{[citation needed]}

Childs served as the chairman of theNational Capital Planning Commission from 1975 to 1981 and he was appointed to theU.S. Commission of Fine Arts in 2002, serving as chairman from 2003 to 2005. He was the recipient of aRome Prize in 2004; named a senior fellow of theDesign Futures Council in 2010; and served on the boards of theMunicipal Art Society, theMuseum of Modern Art, and theAmerican Academy in Rome.^[5]^[6]

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill projects

edit

Washington, D.C. (1971–1985)

edit

Metro Center (1976)
Formerly the Daon Building, now theInter-American Development Bank, 1300 New York Avenue, NW (1984)^[7]
National Geographic headquarters M Street building (1985)
Four Seasons (1979), Regent, andPark 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

Personal life

edit

Childs married Anne Woolman Reeve (known as Annie) in 1963. The couple had three children – Joshua, Nicholas, and Jocelyn. They resided in Manhattan andKeene, New York.^[8]

Death

edit

Childs died ofLewy body dementia on March 26, 2025, inPelham, New York. He had been diagnosed in September 2024.^[8]

References

edit

^^a ^b"Informed Architecture"(PDF).Deerfield Academy. Vol. 19. 2012. p. 3. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on January 20, 2013. RetrievedOctober 28, 2013.
^"A Look at the New One World Trade Center".Architectural Digest. September 2012.
^"David M. Childs".nbm.org.
^"David Childs".The Real Deal New York.
^Design Futures Council Senior Fellows
^Thomas E. Luebke, ed.,Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 542.
^Forgey, Benjamin (June 9, 1984)."Minding One's Urban Manners".The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. RetrievedDecember 8, 2015.
^^a ^bDunlap, David W. (March 27, 2025)."David M. Childs, Skyline-Shaping Architect, Dies at 83". New York Times. RetrievedMarch 29, 2025.