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Marsha Maytum is an understated local architect whose work illustrates how design can foster a more humane society. She died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on February 10 in San Francisco. She is 69 years old.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, a firm she co-founded in 2001, focuses on buildings that serve diverse populations in a variety of ways—from more than a dozen affordable housing units to municipal buildings and the Bay Area Discovery Museum tucked away in the San Francisco Bay Area and other cultural destinations. Marin Headlands near the Golden Gate Bridge.
As important as any single building is, Maytum is a staunch champion among other architects of themes such as sustainable design, and the model she presented for female co-headed offices was so highly regarded that in 2017 she was named the most successful architect of the year. Best Company designed by the American Institute of Architects.
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“You can build buildings one at a time and, of course, they have an impact,” Maytum commented on the podcast Designing the Future in 2022. “We believe the impact you have is just as significant, if not more severe, outside the property line of a building.”
Colleagues praised the friend and colleague for never seeking the limelight but for working tirelessly to help young architects and listening to the concerns, legitimate or not, raised by neighbors concerned about the changes taking place in their midst.
“She radiated kindness,” recalled Stacey Williams, executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “She was generous with her time, her guidance and her kindness…Everything she did was gracious and thoughtful.”
In an industry where the term “starchitect” has only recently fallen out of fashion, such generosity has not always been the case.
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“She was always encouraging, always supportive,” recalls Vanna Whitney, principal of Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, who joined the firm in 2005 after being impressed by the idealistic work of Maytum and her partners. “She was always the one who said, ‘We can build a new kind of company.'”
The ever-affable Mettum downplayed the conflicts that could be part of local decisions as a new library branch she designs in North Beach on Columbus Avenue comes under fire from opponents who seek to claim its humble predecessor is a treasured Architectural landmark. “That’s one of the challenges of working in the Bay Area. We call it super democratic because everyone has a say,” she told Architectural Record last year. “But understanding all the different perspectives and seeing how they are related or not related is what makes this work so interesting.”
The library, which opened in 2014, demonstrates the humanistic spirit underlying all Maytum’s works. With its long wedge shape, this contemporary flatiron has a simple exterior, but inside, it offers light-filled cable car views on one side and the scenic Joe DiMaggio Playground on the other. Patrons immerse themselves in the city, although Mettum dedicated the glass prow on the south side to a reading nook, where they can also immerse themselves in books.
Mettum also has a special feel for historical restoration, bringing old buildings into use for a new era.
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Back in the mid-1990s, before Leddy Maytum Stacy was founded, she led the design effort to convert 12 1890s hospital buildings into shuttles at the Presidio in San Francisco. The Lowe Center for Sustainability, a consummate historic preservation effort that far exceeded so-called “green building” era standards, now houses 60 nonprofit organizations, many of them ecologically inclined.
“We always try to have each design solution solve multiple problems simultaneously,” Metum said of another restoration project that transformed Fort Mason’s 1912 pier into the San Francisco Art Institute (now closed) A modest yet inviting residence.
That goes back in part to the University of Oregon, where Maytum was born in San Francisco in 1954 and raised in Los Altos. She enrolled in the school’s architecture school after developing a love for the craft after a chance glimpse of the Taj Mahal bathed in moonlight. Family trip at age 15. Several of her professors were architects and began to explore the implications of designing to protect the planet. In a 2017 interview, Metum commented on how she gained a “deep understanding of environmental design and the importance of working with nature” from her studies.
Mettum gained something else from Oregon State: a lifelong personal and professional relationship with architecture student Bill Leddy. The couple married in 1978, moved to the Bay Area, and found jobs at different firms, but eventually merged at the small firm of Tanner VanDine and decided in 2001 to join forces with fellow architect Richard Stacy ) together to create a firm dedicated to what Maytum calls “mission.” Driven work. “
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Stacey put it another way this month: “Quite frankly, we decided we would prefer community-based and non-profit customers over developer customers.”
Stacy first met Maytum in 1982 when she was hired by Tanner Vandine, where he already worked.
“How do I Together She is very organized and efficient,” Stacey said. “That’s not what the old office was like.”
Over time, the accolades piled up: Maytum was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2001, a coveted title, and she has won so many awards for her work in sustainable architecture that in 2019 It is no surprise that she received so many awards in 2011 that she was elected as chair of the Institute’s Environmental Committee. The Company of the Year award was awarded in 2017, which is even more impressive considering the company has never grown larger than 38 people.
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Throughout the process, Mettum patiently wrestled with clients and contractors while being open to any requests for assistance that came her way: “Any[design]jury that anyone asked her to sit on, she would do it,” William said. Ms. recalled.
That all changed in late 2020, when Maytum was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating disease that slowly takes over a person’s body, slowly losing their ability to move or The ability to speak, and eventually the ability to breathe.
She continued in the early years, but in 2022 she moved to the role of Honorary Principal. Even so, Mettum offered design tips and advice to colleagues while battling the disease—even cheering on other company employees from her wheelchair during a fundraising bike ride in Napa Valley last year .
“This disease was really the ultimate test of her character, and as always, she brought out the best in herself,” Stacey said. “The spark is still there.”
Marsha Maytum is survived by her husband, Bill Leddy; daughter Anna Mettum Leddy; and son Andrew Mettum Leddy; their spouses; and two grandchildren.
Contact John King: jking@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
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