Gavin E. Townsend (1956–2018)

Longtime SESAH member Dr. Gavin E. Townsend passed away on June 3, 2018. Gavin had been diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer only a few days earlier and died at his home in Chattanooga surrounded by his family. All who knew Gavin were stunned by the devastating news, particularly his students and colleagues at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where Gavin taught art and architectural history for over thirty years.

After spending the first part of his life in California and New York, Gavin landed in Tennessee in 1986. A member of SESAH since 1987, Gavin served as the Tennessee representative on the SESAH board of directors from 2007–2012 and as our treasurer and membership chair from 2013 until his death. Gavin chaired the 2010 SESAH conference in Chattanooga, which was remembered by many for the adventures of chasing down the elusive Richard Neutra-designed Livingston House. He presented scholarly, yet always entertaining, papers on his work at our SESAH conferences, chaired conference sessions, and published several articles in Arris. Gavin was also an advocate of historic preservation and served on the board of Cornerstones, Chattanooga’s local preservation nonprofit, from 1998–2003, and Tennessee Historical Commission’s State Review Board from 2000–2010. He led campaigns, often behind-the-scenes, to document and save architectural landmarks across his adopted hometown of Chattanooga.

Gavin on one of his many adventures of chasing architecture with his wife, Bonnie. (Source: Bonnie Townsend).

From 2014–2018, Gavin served as the Tennessee coordinator for the SAH Archipedia project, a labor of love that he completed on behalf of SESAH along with fellow SESAH board members Claudette Stager and myself. Together, we selected 100 architectural landmarks that best represented the Volunteer State and then set out to visit each one with cameras and notebooks in hand. As part of the SAH Archipedia project, Gavin traveled to Memphis, Knoxville, Jellico, and throughout southeast Tennessee—tracking down iconic and little-known architectural jewels that tell Tennessee’s story. Gavin often had his wife, Bonnie, in tow on his long road trips across Tennessee.

Gavin and I also served as co-authors of the Tennessee Green Book poster project, which documented over 200 historic African American roadside landmarks under the leadership of fellow SESAH members Catherine W. Zipf in Rhode Island and Susan Knowles at Middle Tennessee State University. ¹ All the while, Gavin simultaneously kept SESAH’s books, balanced our budget, maintained the membership roster, created the conference registration forms, paid the bills, grew our savings, and maintained a thousand other tasks that kept our little all-volunteer nonprofit organization up and running. A model example of service work in action, Gavin wore many SESAH hats. He always maintained his trademark wit, charm, and humble personality.

With the blessing of his family, SESAH has established the Gavin Townsend Memorial Fund, which, to date, has raised twenty-five hundred dollars for funding student travel grants to the annual SESAH conference. In 2018, we provided two travel grants for students from the University of Delaware and Texas A&M University to travel to the conference at Manhattan, Kansas. We will continue to provide student travel grants in Gavin’s honor as long as there are monies available in this fund—as a tribute to Gavin’s love of teaching students.

Gavin will be sorely missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

ARRIS ESSAYS BY GAVIN TOWNSEND

“The Tudor Houses of the Prairie School.”

Arris 3 (1992): 35–47.

“Frank Forster and the French Provincial Revival in America.”

Arris 6 (1995): 46–57.

“Mario Bianculli: Chattanooga’s First Modernist.”

Arris 21 (2010): 4–20.