Margo Grant Walsh

Margo Grant Walsh is a 1987 Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee[1] and connoisseur of Silver serving pieces, mostly English and American. She graduated from the University of Oregon Summa Cum Laude honors with a Bachelor of Interior Architecture in 1960.[2] She followed her education with 13 years at design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in San Francisco. At the time the world’s largest architecture firm, Grant Walsh quickly rose through the ranks at SOM, and became the highest-ranking executive in the firm’s burgeoning interiors business. She later took a position with Gensler and Associates in 1973, eventually becoming one of its vice presidents. Since retirement in 2004, Walsh has spent her time curating her vast silver collection.

Personal Life

Marjolaine (Margo) Grant Walsh was born in 1936 to late Alfred and Ann Grant, on Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Fort Peck, Montana. Shortly after her birth, the Grants moved home to Belcourt, North Dakota, a Chippewa Indian reservation near the Canadian border where Grant spent her childhood. After the start of World War Two, the Grant family moved to the Portland, Oregon area, to assist in the war effort at the Kaiser Shipyards. Grant resided in Portland until beginning her college career at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, OR. On February 20th 1994, Margo Grant married John Perry Walsh, becoming Margo Grant Walsh, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, NY.[3][4] Mr. Walsh - a class of 1950 Yale graduate with an MBA from New York University - was a private investor and former president of Florence Walsh Fashions Inc., his late mothers company. Mr. Walsh lost his battle with cancer on September 5th 1998.[5]

Education

Margo Grant graduated the University of Oregon Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in 1959 and a Bachelor of Interior Architecture in 1960.[2]

Professional Career

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Post-graduation, Walsh spent thirteen years at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in San Francisco, climbing though the ranks and garnering the title of associate/director of interior design. Initially the firm's partners were hesitant to go after interiors projects, and only sought to do projects in buildings also designed by the firm. Walsh Grant eventually convinced them to aggressively market their interiors studio.[1]

Gensler and Associates

In 1973 Walsh took a position at Gensler and Associates. When she first spoke with Art Gensler, the firm, which eventually became the largest interiors firm in the world, only had three employees. She became Director of Interior Design in their Houston office with a staff of 35–in 1979 she opened Gensler’s New York City offices – where she was promoted to founder and managing principal of the eastern region division. Later, she opened offices in Washington D.C. and Boston, before taking Gensler global to London in 1988. Before leaving Gensler in 2004, Ms. Walsh became one of four on the board of directors, and left the company with a staff of nearly 2,000.[1]

Notable Projects

Retirement

Since her retirement from Gensler in 2004, Walsh has focused her time on her immense silver collection that started in 1981. Known as one of the largest in the world, clocking in at just over 800 pieces. Walsh’s “Collecting by Design” exhibition displayed over 450 pieces in 40 showcases and has been featured in 11 museum exhibitions since 2002, spanning from New York to San Francisco.[6][7][8][9][10]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Interior Design. "Margo Grant Walsh: 1987 Hall of Fame Inductee." Interior Design. May 31, 2014. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.interiordesign.net/articles/8371-margo-grant-walsh/.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 A&AA Communications. "School of Architecture and Allied Arts." Margo Grant Walsh. n/a. Accessed September 20, 2016. https://aaa.uoregon.edu/100stories/alumni/margo-grant-walsh.
  3. ↑ The New York Times. "Margo Grant, John P. Walsh." The New York Times. February 19, 1994. Accessed September 20, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/20/style/weddings-margo-grant-john-p-walsh.html.
  4. ↑ New York Times. “WEDDINGS; Margo Grant, John P. Walsh.” New York Times, February 20th, 1994.
  5. ↑ Grant Walsh, Margo. “Paid Notice: Deaths WALSH, JOHN PERRY.” New York Times, September 7th, 1998.
  6. ↑ Watkins, Eileen. "Living Heroes." : Personalities : Publications : IIDA. September 2005. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.iida.org/content.cfm/living-heroes.
  7. ↑ Burstyn, Dorothea. "Margo Grant Walsh: Collecting by Design: An Article for ASCAS - Association of Small Collectors of Antique Silver Website." Margo Grant Walsh: Collecting by Design: An Article for ASCAS - Association of Small Collectors of Antique Silver Website. 2007. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.ascasonline.org/articoloMAGGI83.html.
  8. ↑ By Contract Staff • April 15, 2010. "Industry Icon Perspectives: Looking Back 50 Years in Design." Contract Magazine. April 15, 2010. Accessed September 20, 2016. http://www.contractdesign.com/practice/Industry-Icon-Perspe-1555.shtml.
  9. ↑ Kirkham, Pat. Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference: Jacqueline M. Atkins. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
  10. ↑ 2008. "Collecting by Design: Silver & Metalwork of the 20th Century From the Margo Grant Walsh Collection." Interior Design 79, no. 10: 239. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 29, 2016).

Bibliography

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