A University of Texas at Arlington architecture professor has been appointed a Mellon Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute affiliated with Harvard University that’s located in Washington, D.C.

Kathryn Holliday, architecture professor and founding director of UT Arlington’s David Dillon Center for Texas Architecture, is an architectural historian. She will be in residence at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks as a Mellon Fellow in the area of urban landscape studies for the 2022-23 academic year.

“I am grateful for the appointment,” Holliday said. “I plan to complete my in-progress book manuscript Telephone City: Architecture, Urbanism, and the Bell Monopoly.”

UT Arlington's Landscape Architecture program Director Diane Jones Allen is currently in residence as a garden and landscape studies fellow and is expected to return this summer.

Holliday’s book explores architecture and design as expressions of corporate monopoly that shaped American cities, revealing hidden connections among architecture, technology and the urban landscape. Related to this project is her essay on “Building a National Network: Telephone Buildings in the United States,” published in the Society of Architectural Historians Archipedia.

“This type of scholarly research helps us better understand the impact of corporate growth and telecommunications infrastructure on the urban and suburban landscape, which better informs future design and community development within and outside the North Texas region,” said Maria Martinez-Cosio, interim dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA).

Holliday has established a national reputation as an architectural historian whose research and teaching focuses on the built environment in American cities. Through the Dillon Center, she brings together scholars and experts across disciplines to discuss issues related to architecture and urbanism in North Texas pertaining to urban development and historic preservations, with a focus on social justice and equity.

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Holliday first joined SAH in 1999. She served as a session co-chair at the 2008 Annual International Conference, and as a speaker at the 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 conferences. She has also published articles and book reviews in JSAH.