The Preservationists: Architect Nancy McCoy Was Destined to Save History

If we’re highlighting the people who preserve, protect, educate, and keep the bulldozers at bay so we may continue to have a city with character and history, we have to profile Nancy McCoy of McCoy Collaborative Preservation Architecture.

McCoy has touched almost every significant building you can think of in and around Dallas, from those at Fair Park to the Kessler and Forest Theaters, The Wilson Building, The Joule, and Dilbeck’s Paigebrooke Farm.

Candys Dirt: When did you know you wanted to be an architect?

Nancy McCoy: I knew I wanted to be an architect when I was in third grade. I drew a floor plan one day for fun and my mom, who worked in drafting, said, “Now Nancy, you have to put the rooms on the outside, so they have windows!”

CD: When did you first consider preservation?

NM: I went to Texas A&M then studied in Strasbourg, France, for a semester where I was exposed to much older architecture. It struck me that the buildings in the small town where we lived were made of simple materials like clay blocks and stucco. They were hundreds of years old and still used. Even new buildings were built with the same materials. They were built to last hundreds of years.

I was a critical thinker, and I still am. So I thought about our wasteful society and the landfill and the oceans being polluted. It came together, and I did not at that point know the term historic preservation. When I got back to school in the Fall, they had a course at A&M in historic preservation, but I was too late to take it.

One of the professors at A&M, David Woodcock, was an inspiration to me. He let me take a graduate course, so I did get some exposure in undergrad. I did a technical writing course and focused my topics on preservation, and it all came together. This was when I decided I wanted to work in preservation architecture. To me, there was only one choice for grad school, Columbia University in New York, and I luckily got in because I applied nowhere else!

CD: When did you make your way to Dallas?

NM: I stayed in New York for about 16 years and had incredible opportunities there. If you are going to be in preservation, there are not too many places better than New York. I was working for one of the oldest preservation firms in the country. They had pioneered a lot of preservation practice. We were lucky to get great projects. One of the first was the US Customs House at 1 Battery Park. It is a beautiful Beaux-Arts building by Cass Gilbert. It was a high profile exciting project that I spent four years on. I traveled a lot, and it was an exciting time. But I wanted a project I could really put my arms around, not one that required a large staff. I wanted to be more holistic about it. I thought it was time for a smaller firm with smaller projects.

So, I came back to Dallas, where my family was, and began the interview process. I realized there was enough preservation work here to make me happy.

CD: What was that first firm?.

NM: I started at Architexas because they were working on a plan for the esplanade part of Fair Park in 1997. I had experience with art conservation from my years in New York, which lent itself well to Fair Park. I was there for nine years and became a principal at Architexas, working on 14 projects at Fair Park. 

CD: What was another highlight of your work at Architexas?

NM: I did the Paigebrooke Farm, a home built for Ted Dealey by architect Charles Stevens Dilbeck. Pagiebrooke Farm was one of the first projects I worked on in Texas. It was so Texan to me, and I was enthralled with it. It was fun, complex, and such an important project for me, one of those career projects that stand out. It turned me into a Dilbeck fan.

CD: What was the next step?

NM: In 2007, I started a firm with Marcel Quimby, one of the first people I met here. I had known her the entire time I was at Architexas. We were both on the board at Preservation Dallas together. Marcel and I worked together for ten years. It was great because we are both strong preservationists with complementary strengths. We were both fellows of the AIA. We did many projects, including work at my alma mater Texas A&M. That was a passion project! My former professor was still there! I continued at Fair Park. She also worked on projects at Fair Park. We worked on the Hall of State interior and the interpretive signage, among others. I could work on Fair Park for the rest of my career.

CD: When did you start your firm?

NM:  In 2017, Marcel had an opportunity to work with Gensler.

I changed the name of our firm from Quimby McCoy to McCoy Collaborative Preservation Architecture.

CD: What are you working on now?

NM: I’m working on the Old Red Courthouse, which will be a court building again. Another project, The Harwood Street Park, has historic buildings we’ve been working on, and the ground-breaking is coming up on 28th of September at 4 p.m.  

CD:  What do you love about preservation architecture?   

NM: Every new project is a new lesson. You do the research, write, and draw. The way it all interconnects is so much fun. I love that every project is a new topic and a new challenge. It’s a very collaborative community, and it’s grown a lot.

I’m still motivated by the same thing that inspired me in my teens. The environment is still a motivator for me. The idea of reusing buildings regardless of age, in particular, I think about when modernism hit architecture, we built specific, purpose-built structures. They were suitable for their purpose, and they don’t translate as easily into another use. Older buildings are more straightforward in their plans, so more easily reused. The whole idea of building flexibly is one of the most important things we can do for the future because we know things change. We need to design new buildings for flexible use. Architects have a responsibility to the planet.