Vincent Scully

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Vincent Joseph Scully, Jr. (b.1920) is a Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art in Architecture at Yale University, and the author of several books on the subject. Architect Philip Johnson once described Scully as the “the most influential architectural teacher ever.”

Born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Scully attended Hillhouse High School. At the age of 16, he entered Yale University. He earned his BA degree from Yale in 1940, and his Ph.D in 1949. Teaching classes at Yale since 1947, often to a full house, he is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami.

In 1952 he was awarded the Alice Davis Hitchcock Award. In 2004, Scully was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the United States' highest honor for artists and arts patrons. The award was given to him for "remarkable contributions to the history of design and modern architecture, including his influential teaching as an architectural historian." Yale Bulletin

Scully's early advocacy was critical to the emergence of both Louis I. Kahn and Robert Venturi as important 20th Century architects.

In 1999, the Vincent Scully Prize was established by the National Building Museum to honor individuals who have exhibited exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design.