Stuart Dixon, architectural historian

THE PEOPLE who guard Independence Square seemed to panic after 9/11.

They hastened to install security devices that any airport would have envied: magnetometer scrutiny of visitors' bags, bike-rack barriers to keep visitors and terrorists at bay, an ugly prefab hut around the Liberty Bell, and a plan to erect a 6-foot fence to bisect Independence Square.

A public outcry induced the National Park Service to rethink its plans - that and just possibly a study of the impact of the security measures on the ambience of the hallowed complex, prepared by an architectural historian and preservationist named Stuart Paul Dixon.

If Stuart Dixon's study helped induce the Park Service to alter its plans, you wouldn't have found that out that from him. He was modest almost to a fault, and despite his work on important projects all over the country for some 20 years, he was virtually an unsung hero.

He died Friday of cancer. He was 51 and lived in Roxborough.

Stuart was highly respected by associates and clients, but unknown to the public, even though his work resulted in the preservation of valuable historic and cultural sites and artifacts.

His job was to research and identify historically significant cultural resources that could be harmed by government-funded construction projects, including highways, urban redevelopment, prisons and the like.

He wrote numerous proposals for preservation under the National Historic Preservation Act.

Besides the Independence Square study, many of his researches concerned projects in the Philadelphia region.

In the late '80s, he was hired by Sara Jane Elk, a historic preservationist for the city, to do a study of Fishtown. It was an in-depth survey of the city's industrial history for the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

Stuart asked Sally for a date. She turned him down. It wouldn't be appropriate, considering their professional relationship, she figured. But Stuart was persistent, and she finally agreed. They were married in 1990.

They moved into a historic rowhouse in Roxborough, which Stuart, an excellent handyman, began to restore. It boasts a bright red dishwasher, which he gave his wife as a present.

Stuart was an excellent athlete in his youth, and pursued his passion for ice hockey long after his school days. He instilled his love of sports and learning in their daughter, Elizabeth Anne, now 14.

"He was devoted to the exploration of cultural resources, to the pursuit of athletic endeavors in his games and those of his daughter, and he was a devoted friend, father, son, brother and husband," said his wife, who is executive director of the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.

A list of the projects Stuart worked on would fill a large volume. In this area, they included the African-American cemetery in Byberry, the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, the Garden State Parkway interchange at Cape May, mapping projects in Lower Merion and Willistown Townships, and others.

He researched and wrote a report on the evolution and significance of the nation's interstate highway system to guide the Federal Highway Administration in future repairs to the roads.

Stuart was senior architectural historian for Rummel Klepper & Kahl, an engineering firm in Baltimore, at the time of his death. From 1998 through mid-2007, he held the same position with the Louis Berger Group Inc., an international environmental-engineering consulting firm in Washington, D.C., where he completed more than 100 historical survey, evaluation and documentation projects.

His historic analysis of farmsteads and railroad structures to be demolished by construction of a proposed federal penitentiary in Canaan Township, Wayne County, Pa., won several national awards for Berger.

"Stuart was one of the finest architectural historians I have had the pleasure to work with," said Kay Simpson, vice president of cultural resources for Berger.

"He had a vast knowledge of building styles and the broad pattern of historical events. He was a wonderful person to have on a project, and a dear colleague."

Said Marty Bowers, principal architectural historian of Louis Berger: "Stuart was an extraordinarily civil human being in a world that seems to get less so by the day. He is remembered with both professional respect and personal affection by many of us who had the privilege of knowing and working with him."

Stuart was born in Camden and grew up in Westfield, N.J. He received his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Delaware in 1980, and a masters in U.S. history from Delaware in 1990.

He played hockey in goal for the Fighting Blue Hens Hockey Club at the University of Delaware.

He was a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Society for Industrial Archaeology, the Society for Commercial Archaeology and the Vernacular Architecture Forum.

Besides his wife and daughter, he also is survived by his father, Wesley C. Dixon; three brothers, Wesley P. Dixon, Arthur R. Dixon and Donald E. Dixon; and a sister, Ellen M. Carey.

Services: Memorial service 11 a.m. Saturday at Plymouth Friends Meeting House, Germantown Pike at Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting. *