Aaron Wunsch, an associate professor of landscape and architectural history in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, died on September 20 after a battle with gastric cancer. He was 53.

Dr. Wunsch’s academic career focused on architecture and historic preservation. He earned his BA from Haverford College in 1992, a master’s degree in architectural history with a certificate in historic preservation from the University of Virginia in 1996, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2009.

In 2008, Dr. Wunch joined Penn’s department of historic preservation as a visiting assistant professor. He lectured in the graduate program in historic preservation and later became an associate professor. He regularly taught two core courses in the historic preservation department: Documentation I and Introduction to Public History. His seminars addressed various aspects of the American built environment, including therapeutic landscapes, cemeteries, suburbs, and commercial architecture. He also co-taught interdisciplinary classes on topics such as the history of epidemics and 19th-century Paris and Philadelphia.

Dr. Wunsch’s research focused on historic preservation, with a particular interest in abandoned industrial buildings, old cemeteries, Quaker meeting houses, unique row houses in South Philadelphia, and churches throughout the city. He highlighted the urgency of preservation efforts, stating in a 1998 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, “the great American industries of the 20th century are fast disappearing. Buildings are being knocked down all the time.” His research has also been published in local publications such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, Hidden City Philadelphia, The Guardian, and Plan Philly, among others.

Dr. Wunsch’s publications covered topics such as America’s rural cemetery movement, Charlottesville’s park system, and the architecture of early electric utilities. His book Palazzos of Power (Princeton Architectural Press, 2016), illustrated with photographs by Joseph E. B. Elliott, explored the latter topic in depth. Dr. Wunsch received various awards for his contributions to preservation. In 2020, he was awarded the Peterson Fellowship from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia for his work Parceling the Picturesque: Landscape, Literature, and Urban Life in Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery. In 2023, he received the Henry J. Magaziner Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Dr. Wunsch also received multiple fellowships, including recent ones from Dumbarton Oaks and the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. 

Dr. Wunsch is survived by his wife, Jillian Galle; son, Elias; mother, Lydia Vickers; his mother’s partner, Mark White; father, A. David Wunsch; his father’s wife, Mary Morgan; brother, Oliver Wunsch; sister-in-law, Rose Levine; and nephew, Felix. His family requests that donations in his memory may be made to The Keeping Society of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies, or the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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