Thomas Spight Hines Jr., a professor emeritus of history and architecture at UCLA whose scholarship and teaching helped recast how we view modern architecture, especially the architecture of Southern California, died July 26. “Few historians have had a comparable impact on how architects, scholars, and the public understand modern American architecture,” Architect magazine observed in its remembrance of Hines. “Through landmark biographies of figures including Daniel Burnham, Richard Neutra, and Irving Gill, Hines reshaped architectural history from a discipline centered on style into one equally concerned with reform, culture, urbanism, and ideas.” Last year, alumna Mary Melton shared with UCLA Magazine that Hines “challenged everything I thought I knew about my hometown of Los Angeles — and determined my future in the process.” Amanda Friedman / UCLA Magazine Mary Melton and Hines in 2025, photographed at Hines’ apartment in Westwood.