Thomas S. Marvel (1935-2015) was born in Newburgh, NY to Gordon Simis Marvel and Madeline Jova (1906-1982) and raised in Washingtonville, NY both on the Hudson River Valley in Orange County. His father was an architect as were previous generations of the Marvel family in one way or another involved in architecture and design. He once said; “I was born to be an architect, never did I wish to be anything else.” Regarding his life in the tropics he would also later say,

“Puerto Rico and I found each other early in my career, there was a sense of returning to the Caribbean as my mother’s family had roots in Guadeloupe and Cuba in the 19th century.”

In 1956 Marvel received a Bachelor in Arts degree from Dartmouth College, he continued studies in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design from where he obtained a master’s degree in architecture. After graduating from Harvard he moved to Raleigh, NC where he worked at the office of his father-in-law Richard Buckminster Fuller Jr., and then at Nelson A. Rockefeller’s International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC) in New York City. In 1959 he came to San Juan to design low cost housing, which was an IBEC specialty in many developing countries. At IBEC he was instrumental in the development of several housing developments among them Lomas Verdes in Bayamón, Altamesa in San Juan and Bairoa in Caguas. He stayed on the island and in 1960, with two fellow workers at IBEC named Antonio Torres and Pedro Beauchamp, established his first partnership to practice architecture on the island; Torres, Beauchamp & Marvel. In 1963 William Reed, another fellow worker at IBEC joined the firm.

Marvel’s practice was very successful, his modernist style emphasized natural ventilation over air-conditioning and the use of local materials including locally produced cement. He was very conscious of Puerto Rico’s tropical island setting and used natural light and incorporated gardens in his designs whenever possible. These concepts are evident in his 1962 design of the Salamanca Condominium in Condado, which was never built. As stated by Jesús M. Melendez Vazquez in his dissertation titled Marvel: Vida y Obra de Tomás Marvel, in this design Marvel “plays with the size and angle of the walls with the intention of controlling light and shadow, protecting the interior from direct sunlight and maximizing airflow inside.”

He is credited with the designs of notable buildings including the Santa Mónica Condominium in the Condado area of San Juan in 1963, the Beauchamp residence in Rio Piedras in 1964, the Marvel residence in Santurce in 1965, the West Indies Advertising building in Puerta de Tierra, the Busó-García residence in Miramar in 1987, the Shelley residence in Dorado in 1987 the Centro Europa in Santurce in 1988, the Caguas City Hall in 2009, the Bayamón City Hall in 1980 (for a long time the only building in Latin America built over an avenue), the Education Building at the University of Puerto Rico, the convent for Carmelite Nuns in Trujillo Alto in 1969, the U.S. Federal Courthouse in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and the U.S. embassies in Guatemala and Costa Rica.  He taught at the University of Puerto Rico School of Architecture established in 1966. His firm is also credited with the design of the the southern portion of the modernist, crescent-shapedEl Monte Apartments in Hato Rey in 1958 (the northern section was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in conjunction with local firm Reed, Basora & Menendez) and the 14-story Chase Manhattan Bank headquarters in Hato Rey in 1967.

Marvel authored three books and wrote many articles in local and regional publications. During thirty four years of his lifetime, Marvel researched to a great extent the life and work of Antonin Nechodoma. His research was published in one of his books titled Antonin Nechodoma Architect, 1877-1928 - The Prairie School in the Caribbean in 1993. In it Marvel makes it clear Nechodoma did not copy Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs but explains how he adapted and modified it to suit a completely different region, landscape and climate. In 1990, the Society of Architects and Landscape Architects of Puerto Rico awarded Marvel the Henry Klumb Award, its highest honor.

Current pictures of his work are forthcoming.