David B. Brownlee

Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of the History of Art
University of Pennsylvania

Mr. Brownlee is a historian of modern architecture and urbanism who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania since 1980. He is the Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of the History of Art. His interests embrace a wide range of subjects in Europe and America, from the late eighteenth century to the present. His eight authored and co-authored books include studies of English Victorian architecture, German neoclassicism, the architecture and city planning of Philadelphia, and the work of Louis Kahn, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. His most recent book (May 2012) is a history of the two buildings of the Barnes Foundation, in Merion and Philadelphia. Mr. Brownlee’s scholarship has won the book, article, and exhibition catalogue prizes of the Society of Architectural Historians (USA) and the book prize of its British counterpart, and his teaching has been recognized by the University of Pennsylvania’s Lindback Award. He has served the Department of the History of Art as chairman and as director of both graduate and undergraduate studies, and for five years he directed the university's College House residential system.

1683: Philadelphia Plan: William Penn and Thomas Holme's grid plan for Philadelphia