Lucy M. Maulsby is an architectural historian whose research focuses on architectural responses to modernization with a special emphasis on the relationships between architecture, urbanism, and politics. She is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.
Maulsby’s published work includes Fascism, Architecture and the Claiming of Modern Milan, 1923–43 (University of Toronto Press, 2014), which chronicles the architectural transformation of Milan, the commercial and financial capital of Italy, during the nearly twenty years of Fascist rule. Her research on inter-war Italian architecture has been published in edited collections and scholarly journals including Urban History, Journal of Architectural Education, and The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Her current book project entitled Empire, War, and Reconstruction: The Architecture of Late Fascism and Its Postwar History considers the nexus of ideology, politics, and architecture in final years of Mussolini’s regime and in the decades following the end of World War II through the case of Fascist Party headquarters (case del fascio). Research related to this project has been published in Future/Anterior, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, and in A Difficult Heritage. The Afterlife of Fascist-Era Architecture, Monuments and Works of Art in Italy.
In addition, she is working on a co-authored book Urban Repair: The Southwest Corridor and the Transformation of Boston, 1970-89. This work has been supported by a NEH collaborative research grant and was the subject of an exhibition at Northeastern University (“Ruggles in Dialogue,” 2024) has been presented at scholarly conferences held by DoCoMoMo, Society of Architectural Historians, and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
Research/Publication Highlights
Recent scholarly essays
“Muzio” and “Ca’Brutta” in The Italian Debate. Milan 1920s and 30s, ed. Chiara Baglione, Architectural and Design History, dir. Federico Bucci (Milan: Franco Angeli), in process.
“Architecture and Empire: Palazzo del Littorio in Rome and fascism’s material legacies,” in A Difficult Heritage. The Afterlife of Fascist-Era Architecture, Monuments and Works of Art in Italy, Carmen Belmonte ed., part of the series Römische Studien der Bibliotheca Hertziana (Munich: Hirmer with the American Academy in Rome, 2023).
“Material Legacies: Italian modernism and the postwar history of case del fascio,” Modern Italy, special issue, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2019): 159–177.
“Modernism in Italian Architecture,” in Arti in Italia. 1918–1943, ed. Germano Celant (Fondazione Prada, spring 2018).
“Case del Fascio and the Making of Modern Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 5 (December 2015): 663–685.
“Drinking from the River Lethe: Case del Fascio and the Legacy of Fascism in Postwar Italy,” Future/Anterior, Vol. XI No. 2 (Winter 2014): 18–39.
Recent book reviews
“Review of Paolo Nicoloso, Mussolini, Architect: Propaganda and Urban Landscape in Fascist Italy, Sylvia Notini trans., in Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 30:1 (2024): 115–116.
“Review of David Escudero, with forward by Andrew Leach, Neorealist Architecture: Aesthetics of Dwelling in Postwar Italy, in Quaderni d’Italianistica, in process.
“Review of Brian McLaren, Modern Architecture, Empire, and Race in Fascist Italy, in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 80:4 (December 2021): 245–247.
“Review of Hans Lamers and Bettina Reiz-Joosse, The Codex Fori Mussolini, A Latin Text of Italian Fascism,” in Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 22:4 (2017): 535–537.
“Review of Stephanie Zeier Pilat, Reconstructing Italy: The Ina-Casa Neighborhoods of the Postwar Era,” in Italian Culture, Vol. 70 No. 2 (May 2015): 286–287.
Departments
Architecture
Education
- PhD, Department of Art History and Archaeology (2007),Columbia University, New York, NY
- MPhil, Department of Architecture,Cambridge University, Clare College, Cambridge, England
- BA, Art History (1995),Smith College, Northampton, MA
Research Focus
- Architectural history
- Modernism
- Modernization
- Urban history
- Architecture and politics
- Modern Italy
- Cultural heritage
- Difficult histories
Courses Taught
- ARCH 2340 Modern Architecture
- ARCH 2335 Architecture and Politics
- ARCH 6330 Seminar in Modern Architecture: Topics in Postwar Architecture
- ARCH 2370 Renewal to Repair: Strategies for Reimagining the Postwar American City