An Oak Park, Illinois native, Beeby received a bachelor's degree in architecture from
Cornell in 1964 and a master's degree in architecture from
Yale in 1965. In 1971, Beeby and James Hammond founded Hammond Beeby & Associates (now HBRA). After teaching for six years at the Illinois Institute of Technology and serving as Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, he served from 1985 to 1992 as dean of the
Yale School of Architecture, where he remains an adjunct professor. Beeby was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1991. As one of the "
Chicago Seven" architects who challenged modernist orthodoxy in the 1970s and 1980s, Beeby helped bring traditional architecture and urban design back into the public consciousness. Pulitzer Prize-winning
Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, reflecting on the group's influence in 2005, commended the "critical spirit that helped the Chicago Seven alter the course of the city's architecture." Chairman Emeritus of Hammond Beeby Rupert Ainge Architects (HBRA), Beeby spent over 40 years as the firm's Director of Design, leading projects such as the
James Baker Institute at Rice University,
Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, the
Bass Library at Yale University, and the United States Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Seven of Beeby's projects have received the National Honor Award, the highest design distinction, from the
American Institute of Architects, including the
Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for Paul Newman in
Ashford, Connecticut, the Rice Wing at the
Art Institute of Chicago, and the master plan for Paternoster Square in London with John Simpson and Terry Farrell. Progressive Architecture cited three of Beeby's public library designs, including the Sulzer Regional Library and the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago. ==Major projects==