Warfield, James P. (1942-2019) | University of Illinois Archives

James ("Jim") Perry Warfield (1942-2019), Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Distinguished Professor, held positions as lecturer (1972-73); assistant professor (1973-76); associate professor (1976-86); professor (1986-2003); and professor emeritus (2003-19) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) School of Architecture. He specialized in vernacular architecture and studied sites around the world, including Yangtze water towns in China, Mediterranean villages in Europe, round barns in the American Midwest, and Zinacantan dwellings in Mexico.

Warfield was born on March 20, 1942, in Granite City, Illinois, to parents Vivian and Eldon Warfield. He earned a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering (1965) and a master's in architectural history (1972) from UIUC. He went on to teach at UIUC for forty-six years (1972-2018), including fifteen years after his 2003 retirement as professor emeritus. Warfield was appointed to the UIUC Honors Faculty in 1995, and he held a number of visiting positions, including as visiting critic at California Polytechnic State University's School of Architecture and Environmental Design (1977, 1980 and 1984); visiting tutor at Glasgow University's Mackintosh School of Architecture (2003 and 2005); and advisory professor at Tongji University's College of Architecture and Urban Planning (2012-19). He lectured widely and his academic publications include "The Vernacular as a Source of Linguistic Enrichment" (Language in Architecture, 1980); "The Yangtze Watertowns" (Landscape Design, 1990); and multiple contributions to the Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World (1997).

Travel was an important part of Warfield's research and teaching practice throughout his career. As an undergraduate in 1963, he accompanied Harvard professor and cultural anthropologist Evon Z. Vogt on a research trip to Chiapas, Mexico. Warfield's descriptions and drawings of the local vernacular architecture were cited in Vogt's book Zinacantan: A Maya Community in the Highlands of Chiapas (1969). In 1966, Warfield undertook US Peace Corps training at the University of Washington and was stationed in Bolivia in the late 1960s. During 1971 and 1972, he researched vernacular architecture in Western Europe as a Francis J. Plym Travelling Fellow. At UIUC, Warfield was known for bringing students on vernacular architectural tours to local sites in Illinois and Indiana and on study abroad programs to places such as Turkey, Scotland, and Greece. He established the UIUC Summer Program in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, in 1988. Warfield received the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Distinguished Professor Award for 1997-98.

Warfield was also a practicing architect, draughtsman/sketch artist, and photographer, who designed 65 built structures over the course of his career. His artwork was exhibited locally on the UIUC campus and around the world. He also published written accounts of his travels, including his 2009 memoir, Roads Less Traveled.

Warfield married Rochelle Wilson in 1964 and they adopted four children: Joseph Glennon, Mark Alan, Anna Martina (McQuillan), and Christina Lee (Fisher). He died on January 14, 2019.

Sources:

James Warfield website, accessed March 2021, https://www.jameswarfield.us/.

"James P. Warfield" (obituary), The News-Gazette, January 27, 2019, accessed April 16, 2020, https://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/james-p-warfield/article_e3851618-370f-5621-bee9-2b428abac90b.html.

"The School of Architecture Mourns the Passing of Emeritus Professor James Warfield," January 29, 2019, accessed December 16, 2020, https://arch.illinois.edu/node/856.

ACSA Awards Archive, accessed December 16, 2020, https://www.acsa-arch.org/awards/awards-archive/#dp.