Teaching

Professor, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, 1958-1992. For 26 years, Makinson served as the Director of the Gamble House in Pasadena, CA. He was instrumental in insuring the preservation of this "ultimate bungalow," convincing the Gamble family to deed the property to the City of Pasadena and USC in 1966. His operation of the Gamble House as a house museum has been seen as a model for others interested in making historic preservation financially and culturally successful.

Makinson wrote the main early books (six in all) on the Greenes, and developed significant exhibits educating the public about their significance. His obituary stated: "Another initiative undertaken by Makinson was the establishment of The Huntington Library's permanent Greene and Greene Exhibit and Archives. He also worked on important arts and crafts and architecture exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art, among others." (See Allison Engel, Pasadena Now.com, "Randell Makinson, Gamble House Savior and Director, Dies," published 08/13/2013, accessed 01/04/2018.) Any student of architectural history in the 1970s and 1980s would know his books that introduced many to the work of these great designers.

Professional Awards

Recipient, Millennium Recognition Design Award, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Pasadena/Foothill Chapter.

Recipient, Key to the City, City of Pasadena, Pasadena, CA, 1992.

Recipient, Distinguished Alumnus Award, USC Architectural Guild, 1997.

Honorary Member, AIA, c. 1998.

College

B.Arch., University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, c. 1953.

Relocation

Born in Los Angeles, Randall Makinson grew up in Glendale, CA. He attended the University of Southern California (USC), and gained a teaching job there in 1958.

He passed away from cancer in 2013, and was interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

Parents

At his death, he was survived by a sister.

• Los Angeles, CA (Architect's Birth)
  Los Angeles, CA

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• Pasadena, CA (Architect's Death)
  Pasadena, CA

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