Description
Albums of clippings, letters, photographs and ephemera, as well as brochures, company newsletters and related materials collected
by MacDonald Becket, document the work of the successive architectural firms of Wurdeman and Becket, Welton Becket and Associates,
and the Becket Group.
Background
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, MacDonald Becket received his B.Arch in 1952 from the University of Southern California
(USC). While still a student, Becket began to work part-time at Wurdeman and Becket, the Los Angeles architecture firm of
his uncle, Welton Becket. From the summer of 1948, which he spent operating a blueprint machine, MacDonald Becket progressed
through the ranks of the firm. Upon his graduation from USC, he became a project manager for Welton Becket and Associates,
the new firm his uncle formed after the death of Walter Wurdeman. His first assignment involved a parking structure for one
of the firm's highest profile projects, Bullock's Pasadena. In the following years, MacDonald Becket led a broad range of
projects, helped develop the firm's New York office, and progressively expanded his role within the firm; all of which culminated
in his being named as president of the firm shortly before Welton Becket's death in January 1969. In this position and then
as chief executive officer and chairman of the board, MacDonald Becket oversaw the expansion of the firm into a global architectural
giant. With growth, the structure of the firm also changed. By the early 1980s, the Becket Group headed by MacDonald Becket
operated several subsidiaries, including Becket International, Welton Becket Associates, Becket Construction Administrators
and Becket Investments. In 1987, the Becket Group merged with Ellerbe, a Minnesota-based firm, to form Ellerbe Becket.