Sylvia Reay

Name

Reay, Sylvia

Variant Names

Shimberg, Sylvia

Personal Information

Birth/Death:    AIA notified of decease 3/21/1984
Gender:    Female
Occupation:    American architect
Location (state):    CA

This record has not been verified for accuracy.

AIA Affiliation

Member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 1968-decease

Biographical Sources

American Architects Directories:
Biographical listing in 1970 American Architects Directory
Biographical information:
Contributed by the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley:
Born in New York City on March 7, 1916, Sylvia Shimberg graduated from Barnard College with a degree in mathematics. She went on to earn graduate degrees in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University. At Columbia School of Architecture she met her future husband Donald P. Reay, a Commonwealth Fellow from England. After marrying in 1942 the couple lived and worked in Canada and the UK, settling in Berkeley in 1955 where Don taught at the University of California. Sylvia earned her California architect's license and embarked on a successful career mostly designing private residences. She was a corporate member of the American Institute of Architects, where she served as Secretary-Treasurer of the East Bay Chapter from 1974-1976. She was also affiliated with the Organization of Women Architects and Design Professionals and served on the Board of Directors of Berkeley's Civic Art Foundation for many years. She served three years on the Berkeley Board of Adjuctments and was a 1975 founding member of the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Sources: Biographical clip files, Environmental Design Archives

Related Records

Wife and partner of Donald Patterson Reay

Archival Holdings

The American Institute of Architects Archives
      Membership file may contain membership application, related correspondence. Contact the AIA Archives at archives@aia.org for further information.

Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley

Collection Number: 2005-20. Extent: 8 cartons, 6 manuscript boxes, 2 flat file drawers, 104 tubes. The Donald and Sylvia Reay Collection spans the years 1938 to 1999, and includes the Reays' personal papers, records from private practice and professional careers, and materials generated by the firms DeMars & Reay, Reay Associates, and Reay-Tsuruta Associates. The collection is organized in six series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Office Records, Project Records, and Sylvia Reay's papers.
The collection is extensive and contains a wide range of materials documenting primarily Don Reay's long career as a designer and planner. The Personal Papers series contains his biographical material, personal correspondence, and photographs. The Professional Papers series includes correspondence with other architects, writings and presentation notes, awards, and records related to professional organizations. Research and reference files are extensively represented. The Faculty Papers contain material related to Don Reay's professorship at the College of Environmental Design. Primarily, this series contains official correspondence with other members of the UC Berkeley Architecture faculty, committee work documentation, and course materials such as syllabi and lecture notes from classes he taught.
The Office Records series documents administrative operations, public relations efforts, financial transactions, and correspondence. The majority of the Projects Records series documents DeMars & Reay, and Reay-Tsuruta Associates, and Reay Associates projects spanning the years 1955-1998, and document the firms' work through drawings, photographs, and administrative files. Projects undertaken by Sylvia Reay solely are noted in the Project Index. The Sylvia Reay series includes biographical records and some of Sylvia Reay's student work.
Link to online finding aid: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7n39r9rj

Publications