THE VILLAGE
RIP: Hugh Jacobsen, Frank Schlesinger, and Wilhelmina Holladay Architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen Dies at 91 BY KATE OCZ Y P OK Hugh Jacobsen practiced architecture for decades, with a career spanning several high-profile commissions from around the world. He passed away on March 4 in Front Royal, Virginia, at the age of 91. The cause was something we’re all too familiar with these days: complications from COVID-19. Jacobsen made his mark on Georgetown, that’s for sure. Over 120 homes in the neighborhood were refurbished or built by him. He is best known for residential designs that meshed Early American architecture with modern architecture’s interest in clean lines and a simple air. Jacobsen fit in well with his upper-crust clients, including actors Meryl Streep and James Garner and Washington royalty Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and Jackie O. All of us have seen Jacobsen’s handiwork around the city, too: he created the addition under the West Terrace of the Capitol and restored the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery and Arts and Industries Building. The Georgetowner featured one of Jacobsen’s renovations back in 2019. Writer Susan Bodiker reported: “On a winding, bricklined street in Georgetown’s East Village sits a pale gray row house with an unusual pedigree. Once an 1880s-era Victorian, it was gutted, updated and thoroughly renovated in 1965 by Hugh Newell Jacobsen. The new owners had found the original floor plan too dark and confining.” According to Architectural Digest, Jacobsen’s design started a movement
Hugh Newell Jacobsen. Courtesy Simon Jacobsen.
called “The Washington School.” Its purpose was to preserve the charms of D.C.’s historic homes while bringing them up to more modern lifestyle standards. The home we wrote about got what was back then considered innovative: a central spiral staircase, larger windows, a flagstone patio. Jacobsen’s wife, Ruth “Robin” Kearney died in 2010. He is survived by his sons — John of Bellevue, Washington; Matthew of West Hollywood, California; and Simon of Delaplane, Virginia — and by seven grandchildren.
Women’s Art Museum Founder Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, 1922-2021 BY KATE OC ZYPOK Georgetown resident and arts visionary Wilhelmina Cole Holladay died on March 6 at the age of 98. Holladay helped female artists in museums and galleries worldwide. For four decades, she served as what National Museum of Women in the Arts director Susan Fisher Sterling called “the guiding light” of the museum. NMWA was the vision Holladay founded, knowing the importance of women in art and in the world as a whole. She was affectionately known as “Billie” in her friends’ circle, according to daughterin-law Winton Smoot Holladay. Holladay’s interest in art by women began in the 1970s. She and her husband Wallace were drawn to a painting they saw in Vienna by Flemish artist Clara Peeters. Holladay was frustrated trying to find more information on Peeters and other female artists in an art history textbook. Ten years later, the Holladay collection of art by women had grown to 500 works by 150 artists, from the Renaissance through the modern day. Nancy Hanks, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, encouraged the Holladays to establish a museum. Thus, the idea for the National Museum of Women in the Arts was born. After incorporating the museum in 1981, Holladay opened her residence to the public for tours during the six years that followed, gathering support for her idea and raising millions. In April of 1987, Barbara Bush, wife of the vice president (and soon to be first lady), cut the ribbon to open the museum at 1250 New York Ave. NW.
Wilhelmina Cole Holladay. Photo by Philip Bermingham. Born in 1922 in Elmira, New York, Holladay earned a bachelor of arts degree from Elmira College in 1944, studied art history at Cornell University and did postgraduate work at the University of Paris in the 1950s. From 1945 to 1948, she served as social secretary to Madame Chiang Kaishek, but, after her son Wallace Jr. was born, Holladay only took on volunteer projects. Her son Scott Cole Holladay and her husband passed away previously. She is survived by son and daughter-in-law Wallace Jr. and Winton Holladay, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting contributions to NMWA.
Architect Frank Schlesinger, 1925-2021 B Y C H R I S T Y SC H L ESIN GER
Frank Schlesinger. Courtesy Christy Schlesinger.
Heaven must have needed some worldrenowned architects. Washington architect Frank Schlesinger died on March 4 at the age of 95. Hours earlier, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, a highly regarded colleague, passed away at age 91. Schlesinger led an award-winning practice in Georgetown for more than 60 years, the last 18 of which included his daughter Christy Schlesinger, who followed in her father’s footsteps. An alumnus of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where he was a Wheelwright Fellow, Schlesinger was influenced by leading postwar modernists Marcel Breuer and Louis Kahn. In the forward to “The Architecture of Frank Schlesinger,” architect Charles Gwathmey — best known for the 1992
renovation and expansion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum — described him as “an architect’s architect.” In tandem with Schlesinger’s work was his well-respected career, nearly as long, as a professor of architecture. Many of his students at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland appear on lists of the top architects practicing today. He also made an indelible mark on the architecture of Georgetown, which received some of his best work, including commissions from visionary developer Anthony Lanier. Schlesinger’s designs — such as 3336 Cady’s Alley and 3303 Water Street — were part of the transformation of the western fabric of Georgetown.
Schlesinger lived in the Flour Mill condos for over 20 years with his wife Draga — who, with her eye for interior design, was a frequent collaborator — and their Labrador retriever, Charlie. Before taking the short walk to his office each day, he would often sit out on his balcony, enjoying his breakfast and watching his designs come to life. Schlesinger was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. He also received the Centennial Award, the highest honor presented by the AIA’s Washington chapter. Most important, those lucky enough to work with him remember Schlesinger for his commitment to the highest levels of practice and teaching.
GMG, INC.
MARCH 10, 2021
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