Ashley Wilson, FAIA, ASID, is an architect with thirty years of experience in historic preservation, specializing in the modernization and stewardship of significant historic buildings to make them relevant within the contemporary environment. For nine years, she served as the Graham Gund Architect of the National Trust for Historic Preservation where, as chief architect, she provided broad oversight for the conservation and preservation of the buildings and landscapes comprising the Trust’s historic sites. Prior to her work at the Trust, she was a founding professor of the College of Charleston/Clemson University Graduate Program in Historic Preservation in Charleston, South Carolina. She has previous work experience in architecture and preservation practice, including in the Office of the Architect for Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village at the University of Virginia, and at Oehrlein & Associates Architects in Washington, D.C., where she was the project architect for work at public and private institutions including Dumbarton Oaks, Tudor Place, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Lincoln Memorial kiosks on the National Mall.
Wilson earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame. She is a frequent speaker and contributor on preservation topics in forums such as Docomomo, the Southeast Society of Architectural Historians, the Texas Historic Commission, the Maryland Historic Trust, and the Smithsonian Press. She has served on the board of the Southeastern Society of Architectural Historians, as a member of the South Carolina State Review Board for the National Register, and as an advisor for the Rubenstein Initiative at James Madison’s Montpelier. She currently serves on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Preservation Committee, the board of trustees of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association, and the United States Senate Curatorial Advisory Committee. She has been chair of the Historic Resources Committee of the American Institute of Architects, and she was named a Fellow of the Institute in 2020.