Milford Wayne Donaldson

Milford Wayne Donaldson, (born in August 13, 1943) is a well-regarded preservation architect. He presently serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Originally appointed to the position in 2010, President Barack Obama reappointed him in August 2013 for another four-year term. Formerly the State Historic Preservation Officer of California, Donaldson has been practicing preservation architecture for over 35 years.

Milford Wayne Donaldson, Jr.
Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Personal details
Born	Milford Wayne Donaldson Born August 13, 1943 Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Residence	Sacramento
Alma mater	− Cal Poly San Luis Obispo − University of Strathclyde in    Glasgow,Scotland − University of San Diego
Profession	Historic Preservation Architecture

Early life and family

Donaldson was born in August 13, 1943 at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to Milford "Don" Donaldson, a U.S. Navy corpsman and Jean Donaldson, a Navy nurse. Immediately after his birth Donaldson's parents were ordered to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The Donaldsons lived in a Quonset hut on base for three years before moving to Oceanside, California, in San Diego County, where Wayne grew up with his younger brother, Robert "Bob" Calvin Donaldson. By 1950 Wayne Donaldson knew he would be an architect.^[1]

Education

After high school, Donaldson earned his Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, in 1967; a Master of Science in Architecture from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and a Master of Arts in Public History and Teaching from the University of San Diego. From 1966 to 1968, he attended undergraduate studies at Uppsala University in Sweden.

In 2007, Donaldson received an honorary Master of Architecture from the New School of Architecture in San Diego, which in 1980, he founded with Dick Welsh.^[2]

Professional career

Donaldson architectural knowledge unites nineteenth-century building methods with state-of-the-art twenty-first century construction technologies.^[1]

Licensed to practice architecture in California,^[3] Nevada^[4] and Arizona,^[5] Donaldson began his professional career as an associate for the San Diego architectural firm of Robert Mosher and Roy Drew, "Architects Mosher Drew Watson", from 1972 to 1978. He and his first wife Nancy founded his own firm, "Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA" (Fellow of the American Institute of Architects) in 1978, specializing in historic preservation and renovation and adaptive reuse of existing structures. In 2004 before his appointment as California State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), Donaldson renamed and sold his firm "Heritage Architecture & Planning" which is still located in San Diego.^[6] The same year Donaldson began and incorporated a new architectural firm, "Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, Inc., A Professional Corporation", which is also still an active corporation.^[7]

In 1991, the California Council of the American Institute of Architects (CCAIA) acknowledged Donaldson for his statewide leadership in the interpretation of the State Historical Building Code which allowed the rehabilitation of historic buildings for affordable single room occupancy hotels. In 1992, Donaldson was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows.^[8] Later, following the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes and 1994 Northridge earthquake, Mr. Donaldson lent his expertise to save historic buildings from unwarranted demolition. His efforts continue today as a 'Trainer in Emergency Response' for the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) Service Worker Volunteer Program.^[9]

Donaldson has also instructed classes in architecture, first at his alma mater from 1969 to 1970, and later at Southwestern Community College from 1976 to 1984. Donaldson continues to lecture on preservation architecture at various schools, colleges and universities.^[10]

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

In June 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Donaldson to be Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), the independent agency that works with federal, state, local, and tribal governments to address the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), which mandates consideration of historic preservation values when planning development, and is also the primary policy adviser to the President and Congress on historic preservation issues.^[11] In August 2013 Donaldson was reappointed Chairman of the ACHP by President Barack Obama.^[12]

California Office of Historic Preservation

Donaldson served as California’s State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) from April 2004 until his retirement in September 2012. The first architect to serve as a California SHPO, Donaldson was appointed by the governor in April 2004. The SHPO serves as chief administrative officer of the California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) in Sacramento and also as Executive Secretary of the State Historical Resources Commission (SHRC). Meeting four times a year, the SHRC is a nine-member state review board, appointed by the governor, responsible for identifying, registering, and preserving California’s cultural heritage.^[13]

Throughout his tenure at OHP, Donaldson took an initiative and moved forward to develop and maintain a working partnership with California's Indian tribes at both state and federal levels. Since all three, SHPO, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) share a responsibility to be active at the local, state and federal level it is important that all three work together towards the same goals - preserving those traditional cultural values important to Indian country. In 2011 Donaldson began the process to include the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) as voting members of the ACHP which gives then the same voting rights as the SHPOs.(http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1054/files/winter11.pdf)^[14]

In addition to his other duties as SHPO, Donaldson drove several preservation projects he felt a personal connection with. He first discussed Trestles Surf Break at San Onofre State Beach in his article "Wipeout at San O."^[15] The article brought to light serious impacts on a traditional cultural property should proper project mitigation not be in place when highway construction began. Trestles is in process to be nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.^[16]

During Donaldson's tenure other notable designations were made. In January 2010, under his leadership, the SHRC designated the objects left behind at the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site, to the California Register of Historic Resources.^[17]

Affiliations

Donaldson has been associated with other historical preservation organizations: the National Trust for Historic Preservation, California Historic State Capitol Commission, US/ICOMOS. Donaldson is a former president of the California Preservation Foundation; "a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of California’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage,"^[18] and also chaired the California State Historical Building Safety Board (SHBSB). In 1985, while serving with the SHBSB, Donaldson visited Mexico City after its devastating earthquake and has continued to develop unique seismic strengthening retrofit methods for historic buildings, specializing in adobe, sod, earthen and stone structures.^[6]

Personal

Futuro after being placed on mountain top - photograph by John Eng, courtesy of CA Modern

the San Jacinto Mountains. Placed on a mountain top by a large crane Donaldson's Futuro was designed and is representative of a time period when use of plastics was expanding and used as portable inexpensive housing development.

Donaldson Futuro, photograph by MW Donaldson Aug 20, 2012

In December 2004, Donaldson restored and relocated a Futuro, a flying saucer-shaped home built in the 1960s. He had the 10,000-pound Futuro transported from the westernmost part of San Diego up to the top of the San Jacinto Mountains. Placed on a mountain top by a large crane Donaldson's Futuro was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen and is representative of a time period when use of plastics was expanding and portable inexpensive housing development was on the rise. "The Futuro House," Donaldson says, "is the first structural plastic house." The Futuro housing concept did not catch on, but is now an important part of 20th-century architectural history.^[19]

Donaldson's 1934 Stinson Reliant

1974 in the Icarus II at Torrey Pines

Plasticman in the Pregnant Pelican

Not always found on a mountain top in his free time, Donaldson restored and owns both a 1946 Stinson Voyager and a 1934 Stinson Reliant airplane. An avid aviator, Donaldson became interested in flying as a young child spending free time building model planes. In high school and then college he flew gliders, and in 1972 began to fly a hang glider. In 1974 Donaldson flew the Icarus II at Torrey Pines (pictured) and during the late 1970s he worked on several of his own designs of inflatable plastic hang-gliders. In 1986 Donaldson received his Single Engine Land (ASEL) pilot's license and in 1988 acquired his first plane, a 1946 Stinson 108-1 Voyager. In 1996 Donaldson flew back to Stinson Field, Texas to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the Stinson Aircraft; Donaldson was the only pilot that flew from California to attend.^[9] Still actively flying, Donaldson is a past president and the current secretary of the International Stinson Club.^[20]

Donaldson and his second wife, Laurie, live in Sacramento in a signature Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects 1963 mid-rise condominium. Their family includes one daughter, Erica Lynn Donaldson and two sons, Jaret Blankenship and Nevin Blankenship. Donaldson is a registered Democrat.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milford Wayne Donaldson.

"Architect Honored for Preservation" (by Dirk Sutro, Los Angeles Times, 03/26/1992)

• http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-26/news/vw-6198_1_wayne-donaldson

"Close Encounter" (by Ann Jarmusch, San Diego Union Tribune, 01/02/2005)

• http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050102/news_mz1h2futuro.html

"Falling for Futuro" (by Dave Weinstein, The Eichler Network: California Modern)

• http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/falling-futuro

"To California, Moon Junk Is State Treasure" (by Jesse McKinley, New York Times, 01/29/2010)

• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/science/space/30moon.html