Christine G. H. Franck

Christine G. H. Franck is the founding Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Traditional Architecture (CARTA) at the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture & Planning, and a designer, educator, and author. With degrees in architecture from the University of Virginia and University of Notre Dame, Ms. Franck has developed a diverse body of work encompassing award-winning residential design, teaching, writing, speaking, and institutional leadership.

Her work has been published in Architecture, The Classicist, The Guardian, New Old House, Period Homes, and Residential Architect; and exhibited at shows in America and Europe such as Buildings Made by Hand, The Art of Building Cities, A Decade of Art and Architecture, New Palladians, and the RIBA’s Palladian Design: The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected. She has been honored with awards as diverse as a Palladio Award for new residential design, a Historic Fort Worth award for preservation, New York City’s Carnegie Hill Neighbors Enrichment Award for her Madison Avenue shopfront renovation, and the inaugural Baldwin Hardware Prize. Early in her career, HRH The Prince of Wales awarded her his first and, to date, only Public Service Award of The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment for her “outstanding contribution to the study of architecture and design.” In 2016 she was recognized with Traditional Building Magazine’s Clem Labine Award, a lifetime achievement award for “fostering human values in the built environment.

Franck’s award-winning work in residential design includes the design and decoration of houses, the renovation of historic houses and apartments, and residential design for new urban developments. Complementing her design work, Franck’s practice includes teaching, the development of educational programs, and non-profit leadership. She has held teaching appointments from the schools of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Colorado Denver. She has developed, directed, and administered programs for the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA), The Prince of Wales’s Foundation, and the University of Colorado Denver.  She is co-author of Winterthur Style Sourcebook: Traditional American Rooms and author of José M. Allegue, A Builder’s Legacy.

Before establishing her practice to focus on design and education, she worked with the offices of Allan Greenberg, Architect and Duany Plater-Zyber & Co., and served as the first Executive Director of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. Ms. Franck currently serves as President of the American chapter of the International Network of Traditional, Building, Architecture, and Urbanism (INTBAU), member of the inaugural Baldwin Hardware Design Council, and trustee of the National Civic Art Society (NCAS). She has also served as trustee of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) National and Rocky Mountain Chapter and on the Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture.

All aspects of her work are ethically focused on improving the built environment and quality of life of all individuals. Her design sensitivity was developed at an early age in her hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia and the cities she has been fortunate to call home: Denver, New York, Washington, Bath, Carthage and Rome.