September 3, 2010

Nyberg left a legacy as architect, activist

Seattle architect and activist Folke E. Nyberg died at home on Aug. 15 from prostate cancer. He was 76.

A service for him will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the University of Washington Club.

Nyberg worked for the city of Seattle from 1967 to 1971, and headed the urban design section that wrote the ordinance preserving Pioneer Square. He worked closely on the issue with his friend Seattle architect Victor Steinbrueck.

Art Skolnik, Washington state's former historic preservation officer and now a consultant, said in the late 1960s the Downtown Seattle Association was pushing to have buildings in Pioneer Square demolished for parking.

Pioneer Square became the first historic district in Washington state to be placed on the register, which led to the ordinance preserving that section of the city, Skolnik said.

“Had that not happened in Seattle, Pioneer Square could have been threatened with demolition. Lost,” he said.

Nyberg also worked with Steinbrueck to preserve Pike Place Market in the early 1970s. And he worked with Steinbrueck and others in the early 1980s, pushing for a large open space at what is now Westlake Center.

Skolnik said Steinbrueck and Nyberg were a “knockout team that created historic preservation as a public policy in the city of Seattle.”

Born in Sweden on Aug. 20, 1934, Nyberg emigrated with his family to Seattle in 1947. He attended Lincoln High School, where he played football and was co-valedictorian of his graduating class.

Nyberg attended Yale University on an academic scholarship, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture. His graduate thesis was on Pike Place Market.

Following graduation, he worked for several architects on the West Coast, including Paul Thiry, Joseph Esherick and Henry Klein, and then established his own firm, partnering with other local architects and working on mixed-use projects.

Skolnik said Nyberg was a champion for housing people of all ethnicities and income levels in the urban center.

“He was always active in the discussion — and usually the argument — of how to integrate affordable housing with market-rate housing,” Skolnik said.

Nyberg was a professor of architecture and urban planning at the University of Washington for many years, retiring as a professor emeritus.

“He was a real mentor,” said Skolnik. “I think he challenged his students on issues that were not popular to come up with real solutions — sensitive solutions — that sometimes defied normal practices.”

Nyberg loved to travel and in his later years spent his spare time designing and constructing family properties.

He is survived by his wife, Lisa, three children: Carl, Thea (Jeremy Burris) and Ingrid, two grandchildren (Max and Lillian Burris), his sister Berit (Robert) McAlister, cousins Stanley Nyberg and Christine Nyberg Huffstetter (Russ) and nieces and nephews.