The Preservationists: Marcel Quimby is The Go-To Gal For Historic Preservation in Dallas

Who are the people that help to ensure our historic buildings and residences remain intact for future generations? Preservation architect Marcel Quimby, FAIA, is one of them. Today I’m kicking off a series on preservationists with this amazing woman whose destiny was laid out early in life.

Quimby grew up in Libya and England courtesy of a father who was involved in the oil business. These experiences profoundly impacted her and served as the foundation of her passion for architecture and preservation.

“I loved having the freedom we had,” Quimby said. “I could ride my bike around London. I loved the old areas of town, the churches, everything. I’m curious by nature, and I was the one at 12 years old that knew where the water cut-off valves were before anyone else. I opened every door because I wanted to understand things and how they worked.’

Creating Opportunities in Architecture

By the time high school rolled around, the family was in Layfayette, Louisiana, and Quimby already knew she wanted to be an architect despite never having met one. She then attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Marcel Quimby holds a place of honor as the first woman to graduate before being licensed. She headed to Dallas and immediately landed at the venerable firm of HOK.

“I was interested in HOK because they had another woman on staff,” Quimby said. “I was tired of being the first woman at everything. They had an interior design firm as well with women, so it was a more normal atmosphere.”

Quimby was at HOK for 13 years. Although there was not much preservation work, there were projects with preservation components, and Quimby gravitated to them. During this time, she moved to Winnetka Heights and became more heavily involved in preservation, learning about landmark designations and The National register.”  

She worked at two other firms before, as she says, “I walked off the cliff and began my own company, Marcel Quimby Architecture, and Preservation.”

Quimby had by that time made plenty of connections and was known as a go-to gal in historic preservation. Her first significant project was the Sears Complex on Lamar.  

“It was a little Prairie-style building that had been a showroom for farm implements at one time,” Quimby said. “A tech company was renting that space and needed an architect to finish. Lang and Witchell were the original architects.”

This was at the beginning of the Southside on Lamar development, and that job netted Marcel Quimby her first Preservation Achievement Award from Preservation Dallas.  

Restoring The Hall of State

In 2007, Quimby teamed up with Nancy McCoy for the next 10 years and then worked at Gensler. During her Quimby McCoy years, she started working on The Hall of State at Fair Park.

While at Gensler, Quimby continued her work at The Hall of State, heading the preservation effort as the Historic Preservation Specialist. 

“It was wonderful to work on that project,” Quimby said. “It is one of my all-time favorite buildings. We did some restoration in the Hall of Heros and the auditorium, but our main focus was the mechanical systems. The big things need to happen first and if you don’t maintain the infrastructure, Think about what could happen if you did not replace the wiring. The entire building could burn down.”   

“So much of the interior finishes were bad,” Quimby said. “The bronze had gone from bright and shiny to dull, and no one remembered what it looked like in 1936. We wanted to bring the original appearance back. Now the building has so much more color than it did before. The last time it looked this way was probably in the 1940s. We had a conservatory as part of our team, and we did a ton of research. The whole investigation process took months. I love the investigative work, what the finishes were, why they were used and what it all means.”

Almost as soon as the work was finished, the Texas power grid failed, and the sprinkler system was damaged. The good news is that The Hall of State will be ready by the time The State Fair of Texas opens.

More Triumphs of Preservation

While that original Sears building project at Southside on Lamar remains a favorite of Quimby’s, she has a few others in her top 10. The Sharrock farmstead, The Kessler Theater, The Saigling House in Plano’s Haggard Park, and The Newton County Courthouse.

The 1903 Newton County Courthouse was one of her first large projects. It had an electrical fire and almost burned to the ground. The county judge stopped the bulldozers, and the firm working on the roof suggested Quimby for the job.

“It was really interesting,” Quimby said. “We were going through mounds of burnt items, trying to figure out what we could use to create replicas. We’d find a piece of the baseboard or a part of a handrail. It’s building forensics.”  

It was hard work but a lot of fun, and now it looks gorgeous.  

A Battle Between Property Rights And Preservation

There are always challenges in historic preservation, and Marcel Quimby has seen her fair share.

“We live in a community in which we are fortunate to have a lot of historic areas, both residential and commercial,” Quimby said. “We need to be active about preservation and consider how to help owners keep them occupied. That’s the piece that is missing. We need to make buildings easy for owners to save them and keep them because a building has to pay for itself. These historic buildings are what make our city and our neighborhoods distinctive.”

But of course, Quimby and her fellow preservationists are often faced with people who have a vision that isn’t preservation-friendly. They have different goals. There is a lack of education and, therefore, a lack of appreciation for historic structures.

“We have a tussle between property rights and preservation, and a lot of what we see is driven by property rights,” Quimby said. “People will come to us, and they love their homes, but they won’t go that extra step to landmark designation to prevent them from being demolished in the future.  

“I think there are several issues,” Quimby continued. “People are simply undereducated as to the value of preservation. They are getting misinformation or are simply not interested.”

But Quimby perseveres. After over 40 years in the business, she’s still knee-deep in projects, and retirement is not a word in her vocabulary.

“The best thing about my job is that each project is special, and you are learning something new every time,” Quimby said. “It’s fun, rewarding, intriguing, and always stimulating. You get to make some good things happen. The Hall of State looks better than it has in 80 years. The Saigling house looks great. The Newton Courthouse has a new life. Having the opportunity to improve a neighborhood or a community, it does not get much better than that!”

You can contact Marcel here.