Mario di Valmarana

Professor Mario

di Valmarana

Mario di Valmarana of Charlottesville, Virginia, and Venice, Italy, a talented architect, outstanding educator, leader in historic preservation and devoted father and husband, died on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, at his home in Venice. He was 81.

His distinguished 52-year career was remarkable for its breadth. It encompassed 14 years of professional practice with architectural firms in New York City and Washington, D.C., on a wide range of urban projects. He taught in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia for 28 years, where he served as Director of the Historic Preservation Program and founded the School's first international study programs, in Vicenza and Venice, which remain an essential part of the curriculum. He also authored a number of influential works on the theory and ethics of historic preservation that redefined and expanded the scope of the field and the values informing its practice.

Mario di Valmarana was born on August 16, 1929, in Venice, Italy, a son of Andrea and Marina di Valmarana. One of seven siblings, he remained close to his family and was a friend and mentor to his nieces and nephews throughout his life. He grew up surrounded by the architectural treasures of Venice and the Veneto region, spending his summers at the family home, Andrea Palladio's Villa Capra in Vicenza, known as la Rotonda, which awakened an early interest in architecture.

A gifted student of sculpture, music, and drawing, he was drawn to architecture as a synthesis of the arts. After earning his architecture degree from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura in Venice in 1955, he moved the following year to New York City, where he practiced architecture and attended graduate courses in Columbia University's School of Architecture. There he studied with the renowned Palladian scholar Rudolf Wittkower, and developed a firm belief in the relevance of architectural history for the design work of the present which he retained throughout his career.

He was foremost a contemporary architect, who advocated an architecture enriched by the design principals of the great works of the past as opposed to stylistic revivals. In 1963, he married Betty Baker Supplee in Philadelphia. During the 1960's he practiced architecture as an associate in a variety of firms, including Alfred E. Poor, Architects in New York, Giuliani Associates Architects in Washington, D.C., and Corning, Moore, Elmore and Fischer in Washington, D.C. He was particularly fond of his involvement in the McGraw Hill offices in Hightstown, New Jersey, the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C., and the TWA Terminal at National Airport, each of which received numerous awards.

In 1972, he was recruited to teach in the University of Virginia's School of Architecture, which remained his academic home until his retirement in 2000. He was a legendary professor who combined a profound grasp of the history of architecture, studio instruction, and historic preservation with an enthusiasm, eloquence, and sense of humor that were contagious for all who were privileged to work with him. His knowledge of architecture was so vast that to experience buildings and landscapes through his eyes was to enter upon an entirely different level of appreciation and understanding. As a teacher he was both devoted and demanding, working his students hard and calling them "troglodytes" if they failed to measure up to his expectations. He was a mentor to a generation of students, many of whom he welcomed into his home and family and who remained lifelong friends. His numerous achievements in teaching and scholarship were recognized by his election to the University of Virginia's oldest and most prestigious honor society, the Raven Society. After retiring, he continued his service to the School of Architecture as a board member of its Foundation.

A strong advocate for historic preservation, both nationally and internationally, he served as a Trustee of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and chaired its Advisory Committee for the restoration of Wright's most important residential commission, Fallingwater.

He also supervised the restoration of Villa Almerico Capra "la Rotonda", which is owned by the Valmarana family. The City of New Orleans made him an Honorary Citizen for his preservation work in that city. He was a member of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the Tudor Place Foundation, the Preservation Alliance of Virginia, the United States Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As a director of the National Council for Preservation Education and a member of the National Trust's Advisory Council for Historic Houses, he further served the cause of historic preservation.

His enthusiasm for the influence of the great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio led him to found the Center for Palladian Studies in America to sponsor historical studies of Palladian architecture and its American legacy. The Italian government granted him a Knighthood for his efforts to establish and promote cultural links between Italy and the United States.

He is survived by his wife, Betty; and two sons, Francesco and Alessandro; two brothers, Lodovico and Alberto; and two sisters, Lodovica Grimani and Maria Catalano Gonzaga, as well as three grandchildren. He will be remembered for his love of family and friends, his generosity and boundless energy, and his grace, kindness, and eloquence. He loved life's beauty and bounty, whether in the form of good wine, delicious food, rare books, fine art, or outstanding architecture. He imparted that spirit to those who knew him, and they have never forgotten it. He was a deeply cultivated man.

The family requests that, if desired, any contributions be made through the UVa School of Architecture Foundation to safeguard the funding for the Vicenza and Venice Programs that Professor di Valmarana founded 35 years ago.

Please direct your contribution to the Mario di Valmarana Memorial Fund payable to the UVa School of Architecture Foundation, Campbell Hall, P.O. Box 400122, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, or visit online at www.arch.virginia.edu/alumni, Phone: 434-924-7149.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.