Remembering Hugh Clark Miller who formerly served on the Cultural Tourism Committee, on the US/ICOMOS Board of Directors, and as a Fellow.
HUGH CLARK MILLER, FAIA, FAPT, 95, passed away peacefully May 12, 2025 at Bon Secours/St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, VA after a brief illness.
Born in Lancaster, PA and educated at the Mercersburg Academy and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts, MILLER was an architect and educator, an internationally-recognized innovator and leader in historic preservation–especially technical preservation of buildings and structures–landscape preservation, and cultural tourism.
MILLER worked for the US National Park Service for much of his career. His years there were book-ended by restoration of American icons: from Independence Hall in the early 1960s to the Statue of Liberty in the late 1980s. He developed training programs for cultural resource management, preservation maintenance and related technical courses for historical architects. He initiated studies that led to an NPS manual on the preservation of cultural landscapes, organized field schools in cultural landscape management, and coordinated NPS national programs in landscape preservation. Following federal retirement, he was appointed State Historic Preservation Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governors Gerald Baliles and Douglas Wilder.
He served internationally as an advisor on cultural tourism, development of park systems, and preservation of cultural property in Jordan and Turkey, and made special studies in Lebanon, Greece, Iran, India, Singapore, Macau, Mexico, and England. He was active in the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), serving on its Cultural Tourism Committee, on the US/ICOMOS Board of Directors, and as a Fellow.
MILLER was a life-long educator. He and NPS colleagues pioneered a maintenance-focused approach to preservation taught to craftsmen and other practitioners throughout NPS. He taught seminars and workshops on building and landscape preservation at universities and to national audiences. He was Adjunct Professor of Preservation Technology at Goucher College for over twenty years in their Master of Arts in Historic Preservation program.
He was active in numerous professional organizations. He served the American Institute of Architects (AIA) on its Committee on Historic Resources and as a Fellow. He was a past director and Fellow of the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), and founder and past president of the APT Foundation. He was a founding member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance for the Preservation of Historic Landscapes and served on its Board. He was an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. In addition to fellowships, professional recognition for lifetime achievement included the Marcellus E. Wright, Jr. Award, James River Chapter AIA (2001), and the William C. Noland Medal, AIA Virginia (2003).
MILLER was preceded in death by his wife of over 60 years, STELLA HAWKINS MILLER. He is survived by his brother, Don, three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.