Milford Wayne Donaldson

Early life and family

Donaldson was born in August 13, 1943 at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to Milford "Don" Donaldson, a U.S. Navy corpsman and Jean Donaldson, a Navy nurse. Immediately after his birth Donaldson's parents were ordered to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The Donaldsons lived in a Quonset hut on base for three years before moving to Oceanside, California, in San Diego County, where Wayne grew up with his younger brother, Robert "Bob" Calvin Donaldson. During his early life Donaldson, a Boy Scout in Troop 739, San Diego-Imperial Council, Oceanside, eventually to become an Eagle Scout. By the middle of the 20th century Milford Wayne Donaldson knew he would be an architect.

Education

After high school, Donaldson earned his Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, in 1967; a Master of Science in Architecture from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and a Master of Arts in Public History and Teaching from the University of San Diego. From 1966 to 1968, he attended undergraduate studies at Uppsala University in Sweden. In 2007, Donaldson received an honorary Master of Architecture from the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in San Diego, which in 1980, he founded with Dick Welsh.

Professional career

Donaldson’s architectural knowledge unites historic building methods and archaic materials with state-of-the-art twenty-first century construction technologies. His architectural specialty is adobe, sod, stone, and earthen structures.

Licensed to practice architecture in California, Nevada and Arizona, Donaldson began his professional career as an associate for the San Diego architectural firm of Robert Mosher and Roy Drew, "Architects Mosher Drew," from 1972 to 1978. He and his former wife and partner Nancy founded their own firm, "Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA" (Fellow of the American Institute of Architects) in 1978, specializing in historic preservation and renovation and adaptive reuse of existing structures. In 2004, before his appointment as CA SHPO, Donaldson renamed and sold his firm Heritage Architecture & Planning which is still located in San Diego. In 2007, Donaldson began and incorporated a new architectural firm, "Architect Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, Inc., A Professional Corporation," which is still an active.

In 1991, the California Council of the American Institute of Architects (CCAIA) acknowledged Donaldson for his statewide leadership in historic preservation and in the interpretation of the State Historical Building Code which allowed the rehabilitation of historic buildings. In 1992, Donaldson was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows. Later, following the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes and 1994 Northridge earthquake, Donaldson lent his expertise to save historic buildings from unwarranted demolition. His efforts continue today as a “Trainer in Emergency Response” for the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) Service Worker Volunteer Program. Donaldson has also instructed classes in architecture, first at California Polytechnic State University from 1969 to 1970, and later at Southwestern Community College from 1976 to 1984. Donaldson continues to lecture on preservation architecture at various schools, colleges, and universities.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

In June 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Donaldson to be Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. In August 2013, Donaldson was reappointed. Donaldson is the first architect to be appointed ACHP Chairman.

The ACHP is an independent federal agency established through the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of our nation's historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy.

The goal of the NHPA is to have federal agencies act as responsible stewards of our nation's resources when their actions affect historic properties. As directed by the NHPA, the ACHP serves as the primary federal policy advisor to the President and Congress; recommends administrative and legislative improvements for protecting our nation's heritage; advocates full consideration of historic values in federal decision making; and reviews federal programs and policies to promote effectiveness, coordination, and consistency with national preservation policies.

Under Donaldson’s tenure, the ACHP has undertaken many historic preservation initiatives and moved forward the preservation ethic in all sectors of society. He advocated for and saw passage of legislation authorizing the general chairman of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers to be a voting member of the ACHP. Also, in the bill, it authorized a full-time Chairman, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, for the ACHP.

Chairman Donaldson also signed a ground-breaking agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida authorizing historic preservation rules on tribal lands to substitute for Section 106; he wrote White House blog entries and other publications about tribal relations , youth in historic preservation, and many other topics. The issues of climate change also are a focus of Donaldson’s tenure.

Donaldson issued the ACHP’s official comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the Pawtucket Dam project in Massachusetts and to the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture on the Badger-Two-Medicine project in Montana. With the loss of historic post offices across the country, the ACHP, under Donaldson, responded with a report to Congress on preservation that should be considered regarding post offices. As well, he organized a Rightsizing Task Force to understand the issues America’s legacy cities have experienced, which has resulted in a comprehensive report about rightsizing in America and a policy statement. Donaldson expanded the Preserve America program and promoted its use through his article “Preserve Preserve America.”

In promoting underserved communities and celebrating their contributions, many Preserve America Communities were recognized such as Little Tokyo, Koreatown, Thai Town, Chinatown and Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles as well as Japantown in San Francisco, Little Italy in San Diego, and Solvang], a Danish community, in central California.

While CA SHPO, Donaldson recognized the importance of place and how many groups in America’s heritage had stories not being told. His article “To Whom Does Cultural Heritage Belong?” spearheaded ACHP’s goals to build a more inclusive historic preservation program. He also focused on outreach to youth, promoting their involvement in discovering places that matter to them, and supported service learning programs. He issued letters to the Army Corps of Engineers about the Dakota Access Pipeline project currently in litigation in North Dakota.

California Office of Historic Preservation

Donaldson served as California’s State Historic Preservation Officer from April 2004 until his retirement in September 2012. The first architect to serve as a CA SHPO, Donaldson was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2004. The SHPO serves as chief administrative officer of the California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) in Sacramento and also as Executive Secretary of the State Historical Resources Commission (SHRC). Meeting four times a year, the SHRC is a nine-member state review board, appointed by the governor, responsible for identifying, registering, and preserving California’s cultural heritage.

Throughout his tenure at OHP, Donaldson took an initiative and moved forward to develop and maintain a working partnership with California's Indian tribes at both state and federal levels—preserving those traditional cultural values important to Indian country. Several initiatives to achieve those goals were begun as outlined in Donaldson’s articles “The Children of Haudenosaunee Confederacy,” and “Common Ground: SHPOs and THPOs.”

Donaldson also led other causes to help citizens change the way the National Park Service views living persons and their work as nominated to the National Register of Historic Places with his article “Countering the Dead Architects’ Society.”

In addition to his other duties as CA SHPO, Donaldson drove several preservation projects he felt a personal connection with and began the 'Preservation Matters' newsletter. He first discussed Trestles Surf Break at San Onofre State Beach in his article "Wipeout at San O." The article brought to light serious impacts on a traditional cultural property should proper project mitigation not be in place when highway construction began. Trestles is in process to be nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

During Donaldson's tenure other notable designations were made. In January 2010, under his leadership, the SHRC designated the objects left behind at the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site, to the California Register of Historic Resources. Donaldson's published works continued with his promotion of the preservation of military cultural resources so seldom seen by the general public. A collection of the CA SHPO newsletter "Preservation Matters" articles are available here.

While acting as California SHPO, working on Governor Schwarzenegger’s initiatives to address climate change and California’s renewable energy programs, Donaldson directed the CA SHPO staff to become stewards of various programs advocating for adaptive reuse as well as renewable energy. At the same time, while trying to save many important resources in California Donaldson's publications included emphasis on assuring that the review process was carried out by governmental agencies.

Finally, knowing that preservation is important at all levels of governments Chairman Donaldson has emphasized all three leaders; the SHPO, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), and the ACHP share a responsibility to be active at the local, state, and federal level. The importance that all three work together toward the same goals—preserving those traditional cultural values important to all citizens.

Affiliations

Donaldson has been associated with other historical preservation organizations: the National Trust for Historic Preservation, California Historic State Capitol Commission, US/ICOMOS. Donaldson is a former president of the California Preservation Foundation; "a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of California’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage," and also chaired the California State Historical Building Safety Board (SHBSB). In 1985, while serving with the SHBSB, Donaldson visited Mexico City after its devastating earthquake and has continued to develop unique seismic strengthening retrofit methods for historic buildings, specializing in adobe, sod, earthen and stone structures.

Personal

In December 2004, Donaldson restored and relocated a Futuro, a flying saucer-shaped home built in the 1960s. He had the 10,000-pound Futuro transported from the westernmost part of San Diego up to the top of the San Jacinto Mountains. Donaldson's Futuro was designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen and is representative of a time period when use of plastics was expanding and portable inexpensive housing development was on the rise. "The Futuro House," Donaldson says, "is the first structural plastic house." The Futuro housing concept did not catch on, but is now an important part of 20th-century architectural history.

Not always found on a mountain top in his free time, Donaldson restored and owns both a 1946 Stinson Voyager and a 1934 Stinson Reliant airplane. An avid aviator, Donaldson became interested in flying as a young child spending free time building model planes. In high school and then college he flew gliders, and in 1972 began to fly a hang glider. In 1974, Donaldson flew the Icarus II at Torrey Pines (pictured) and during the late 1970s he worked on several of his own designs of inflatable plastic hang-gliders. In 1986, Donaldson received his Single Engine Land (ASEL) pilot's license and in 1988 acquired his first plane, a 1946 Stinson 108-1 Voyager. In 1996, Donaldson flew back to Stinson Field, Texas, to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the Stinson Aircraft; Donaldson was the only pilot who flew from California to attend. Still actively flying, Donaldson is a past president and the current secretary of the International Stinson Club. As CA SHPO he tried to save the continuance of glider operations at the Torrey Pines Gliderport as the result of a mid-rise building project by the University of California San Diego with his article “You’re Nominating Air? Torrey Pines Gliderport National Register Boundary Increase.”

Donaldson also led the way as CA SHPO to save the 1933 Hangar One at the Naval Air Station, Moffett Field in Sunnyville, California, with his article “Save Hangar One !!” The ACHP also did work with Hangar One including a council member visit and public hearing.

His work with the National Navy Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, led to the salvage of a rare Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver in Otay Lake in southern California, and he wrote about the experience “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Helldiver 19866.”

Donaldson and his wife Laurie live in a signature Architect Carter Sparks-designed 1959, Streng Brothers-built, mid-century home in Fair Oaks, California. Their family includes one daughter, Erica Lynn Donaldson, and two sons, Jaret Blankenship and Nevin Blankenship, and two grandchildren. Donaldson is a registered Democrat.