An official U.S. government website 
- By Marcel Acosta
- April 02, 2025
NCPC Celebrates the Life and Career of Former Chairman David Childs
The National Capital Planning Commission recognizes the substantial contributions of David M. Childs to the agency and to Washington, DC. NCPC sends its deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, and friends. He will be missed.
David Childs had a profound impact on the nation’s capital through his influential work at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), including the master plan that reshaped the National Mall and monumental core for the nation’s Bicentennial. The SOM plan reinforced the open, formal design of the earlier McMillan and L’Enfant plans, and added new components, such as Constitution Gardens, that replaced the World War I temporary buildings.
David Childs served as the presidentially-appointed NCPC chair from 1975 to 1981 and later chaired the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 2003 to 2005. He thoughtfully guided reviews of major projects and plans that shaped the nation’s capital experienced today. He led NCPC at a pivotal moment following the establishment of Home Rule for the District of Columbia, and as the city was emerging from a time of local and national unrest and grappling with disinvestment.
As the designer of One World Trade Center, the American Embassy in Ottawa, and Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, his contributions are recognized globally. He worked in the SOM Washington, DC office from 1971 to 1984 on noteworthy projects in the region, including Metro Center development, the Four Seasons hotel, the Inter-American Development Bank, the National Geographic headquarters, and the Dulles International Airport main terminal expansion.
Above all, David Childs was a gracious, thoughtful, and strategic leader who reinforced the importance of architecture and urban design in the nation’s capital as a reflection of America’s history, aspirations, and democratic values.
