Elizabeth Schuler, co-founder of Palm Beach architectural award, dies at 91

Elizabeth Schuler, who with her husband, John, established an important annual architectural award for new Palm Beach residences, has died.

Mrs. Schuler, who was 91, died June 5 in Birmingham, Alabama, her hometown.

Mrs. Schuler was born Sept. 25, 1930, in Birmingham, where she graduated from Ramsay High School and Stratford Junior College. Her first husband, George Augustus Mattison III, died at 24 in 1953 while serving as an Army first lieutenant in the Korean War. She was married to John Hamilton Schuler, her second husband, for 67 years.

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A resident of Palm Beach for more than 40 years, Mrs. Schuler joined the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Board of Trustees in 1987. A Sotheby’s real estate agent in Palm Beach for over two decades, Mrs. Schuler chaired the Preservation Foundation’s annual Dinner Dance in 1989 and 1990; the proceeds of the 1989 event benefited the foundation’s Town Hall restoration campaign.

Mrs. Schuler and her husband, a business executive, established the Elizabeth L. and John H. Schuler Award in 2005, aiming to recognize new architecture that blends well with the town’s architectural history and also serves as an example of standout design.

“We want the Preservation Foundation to have a means to recognize the thoughtful architecture that is sometimes unnoticed with all of the new construction that we have seen in Palm Beach,” Mrs. Schuler said at the time.

The 2022 Schuler Award was given in April to Phillip James Dodd, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based architect, for a new Spanish Mediterranean house in the Estate Section near Mar-a-Lago.

The Schulers established a permanent endowment for the awards in 2021.

“Liz Schuler’s foresight in founding the Schuler Award with her husband John is all the more appreciated during this period of unprecedented growth,” Preservation Foundation CEO Amanda Skier said in a prepared statement. “The Schuler Award demonstrates to the community that the work of modern-day architects, who both respect and contribute to the architectural heritage of Palm Beach, is valued.

"The Preservation Foundation is grateful to Liz for her dedication to our mission and contributions to our town," Skier said.

Mrs. Schuler was a member of the Society of the Four Arts and the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. In Birmingham, she chaired the Birmingham Symphony Ball, was a member of the Junior League of Birmingham, the Little Garden Club and The Cathedral Church of the Advent.

Mrs. Schuler is survived by her husband; her four children, George Augustus Mattison IV, Elizabeth Schuler Ogburn, John H. Schuler Jr., and Robert Eustace Schuler II; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea and to The Cathedral Church of the Advent, 2017 Sixth Ave. N., Birmingham, Ala., 35203.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach architectural award co-founder Elizabeth Schuler dies