The Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation Annual Visionaries Gala

Paul L. Whalen, FAIA, Partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, has announced that the Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation will celebrate its annual Visionaries Gala at the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room in New York City on October 23, 2019. Mr. Whalen has been Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2018.

This year the foundation will honor Thierry Despont and The Athenaeum of Philadelphia:

• Thierry Despont elegantly embodies the spirit of Sir John Soane. With a passion for architectural history combined with a deep understanding of materials and furnishings, Mr. Despont produces masterful works across the classical-modernist spectrum. Work by Mr. Despont’s firm includes the restoration of the Cartier Mansion; the Safra Synagogue on 63rd Street; the restoration and conversion of the Woolworth Building; the conversion of the Stanford White mansion on 44th Street; and the renovation of the Carlyle Hotel.

• Founded in 1804, The Athenæum of Philadelphia houses one of the most significant collections of architectural drawings and books in the nation, beginning with the works of America’s earliest professional architects, such as Thomas Ustick Walter, William Strickland, and Robert Mills. The Athenæum and its drawing collection from that period intriguingly parallels the life and times of Sir John Soane.

The Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation was established in 1991 as a forum for architecture, design, museum studies, art, and the decorative arts within the Soanian tradition. Each year the Foundation celebrates Sir John Soane’s singular contributions as an architect and educator by bestowing Soane Foundation Honors on present day innovators, leaders, and visionaries in the fields of architecture, design, urban planning, museums, architectural education and philanthropy.

The Soane Foundation offers a variety of enriching lectures and programs in New York and throughout the United States; in addition, it organizes foreign study tours focused on architecture and design, both classical and contemporary, and sponsors fellowships for outstanding graduate students and others to pursue studies at Sir John Soane's Museum in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The core mission of the Foundation is the raising of funds to support the Soane Museum in London and its extraordinary collections.