Gabrielle Esperdy
Contributing Writer
Gabrielle Esperdy is professor of architecture and interim dean of the Hillier College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a contributing writer for Places. Esperdy focuses on the intersection of architecture, consumerism, and modernism in the urban and suburban landscape, especially in the U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries. She is particularly interested in minor or everyday buildings and how social, economic, and political issues shape the built environment. Her books include Modernizing Main Street and, most recently, American Autopia: An Intellectual History of the American Roadside at Midcentury, which examines how architectural discourse absorbed the ideals and concerns of commercial sphere after World War II. On her website American Road Trip she writes about built and natural landscapes in the U.S., and sometimes about food.
Esperdy’s work has appeared in the Journal of Architectural Education, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Perspecta, and Architectural Design, among others. She is chief editor of the series Buildings of the United States and of Archipedia, both projects of the Society for Architectural Historians.
