Background
Hooker, Van Dorn was born on September 22, 1921 in Carthage, Texas, United States. Son of Van Dorn and Anne (Wylie) Hooker.
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book
Only in New Mexico: An Architectural History of the University of New Mexico. The First Century, 1889-1989
(The campus of the University of New Mexico, blending New ...)
The campus of the University of New Mexico, blending New Mexico’s characteristic Pueblo style architecture with regionally sensitive modernist forms, is unique among American college campuses, most of which have been modeled on European architectural styles. Since UNM’s early days its leaders have wanted the state’s flagship university to be a distinctly New Mexican place, what one writer called a “pueblo on the mesa.” Now Van Dorn Hooker, who served for many years as the university architect, has written a history of the architecture and planning of this beautiful campus. UNM’s third president, William George Tight, fell in love with New Mexico in the late nineteenth century. His visionary appreciation of the creative genius of Hispanic and Pueblo architects, artists, and craftsmen led him to hire an architect to remodel UNM’s first building along the lines of the mission churches that dominate New Mexico’s Indian pueblos. This decision set the tone. In the mid twentieth century many UNM buildings were constructed in the Pueblo style, some of them designed by John Gaw Meem, the greatest practitioner of Pueblo-style architecture. Hooker’s account will appeal to anyone who has ever studied, taught, or worked at UNM. But its significance goes far beyond nostalgia. New Mexico was still a territory when the university was founded. And because the founding of UNM coincided with the arrival of the railroad in New Mexico, the growth of the university coincides with Albuquerque’s transition from small town to city as well as with the territory’s attainment of statehood and the changes it has experienced in the course of the twentieth century. To read Hooker’s inside account of the ways decisions were made, buildings were funded, and the university interacted with federal, state, and local governments and events is to understand the ways institutions grow and change and the interaction of wise planning with the inevitability of unintended consequences. Winner of the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Award from the State Office of Cultural Affairs, 2001.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0826321356/?tag=2022091-20
Van Dorn Hooker
Edit ProfileEducation
Student, College of Marshall, Texas, 1940. Bachelor of Architecture, University Texas, 1947. Postgraduate, University California-Berkeley, 1951.
Doctor in Fine Arts (honorary), University New Mexico, 2010.
Career
Architect, partner McHugh & Hooker-Bradley P. Kidder & Associates, Santa Fe, 1956-1963. University architect University New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1963-1987, associate professor architecture, 1971-1987. Consultant renovation New Mexico state capital New Mexico Legislation Council Service, 1987—1991.
With United States Army Air Force, 1943-1945.
Achievements
Works
book
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Only in New Mexico: An Architectural History of the University of New Mexico. The First Century, 1889-1989
(The campus of the University of New Mexico, blending New ...)
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Only in New Mexico: An Architectural History of the University of New Mexico. The First Century, 1889-1989
Membership
Trustee Albuquerque Academy, 1972-1982. Board directors Corrales Land Trust, bd.Corrales History Society. Fellow American Institute of Architects (president Albuquerque chapter 1971, Silver medal We.
Mountain region), Association University Architects (president 1971, Distinguished Service award). Member New Mexico Architecture Foundation (president 1987), Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival (board directors), Archoiocese Santa Fe Building Committee, New Mexico Society Architects (honor and merit awards, president 1973, Appreciation award 1987, New Mexico Medal Lifetime Achievement award 2006, named to Carthage Independent School District Hall of Fame, 2007).
Connections
Married Marjorie Mead, June 14, 1947. Children: Ann, Van Dorn III, John Hardy.
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Born
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Nationality
American
Education
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1940
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1947
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1951
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2010
Career
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1956 - 1963
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1956 - 1963
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1963 - 1987
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1987 - 1991
Awards
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Recipient Regents Recognition medal University New Mexico, 1985, Fergusson award University New Mexico Alumni Association, 2000, Heritage Preservation award State New Mexico, 2000, John Hugh Hill award for Scholarship Achievement College Marshall, 2001, award for publications The Albuquerque Conservation, 2002, Fray Dominguez award, Research New Mexico History Society.Recipient Regents Recognition medal University New Mexico, 1985, Fergusson award University New Mexico Alumni Association, 2000, Heritage Preservation award State New Mexico, 2000, John Hugh Hill award for Scholarship Achievement College Marshall, 2001, award for publications The Albuquerque Conservation, 2002, Fray Dominguez award, Research New Mexico History Society.