Mark Edmond Humphreys

While Humphreys greatest passions were architecture and flying, his greatest loves were his wife Emily Riggins Humphreys and his children. He is survived by his wife Emily, his daughters Jessica Humphreys Baxter, Cassandra Humphreys Guerrero and Stephanie Humphreys and stepchildren Mary Elizabeth Hastings and Joseph Hastings. He is also survived by his brothers Larry and Dave Humphreys and sister Kay Osborn. His father Robert and mother Virginia are deceased.

After marrying Emily in 2017, Humphreys moved to Nashville, while his company Humphreys & Partners Architects (HPA) maintained its headquarters in Dallas. Like he had done in Dallas, Humphreys made a significant positive impact on the Nashville community. A champion for the performing arts, Humphreys was well respected for his financial contributions to the Nashville Ballet, where he previously served as a board member, the Nashville Symphony, Cheekwood and the Harpeth Conservancy. He was the Cornerstone Sponsor of the Swan Ball for many years.

In Lubbock, Texas, Humphreys was a respected benefactor, establishing the Mark E. Humphreys AIA Chair in Urban Design at the Texas Tech School of Architecture. He previously established a scholarship endowment at Texas Tech in the name of HPA. Humphreys also donated additional funds to create a graduate fellowship in the name of Dudley Thompson, a former interim dean of the College of Architecture.

Humphreys grew up in an aviation family, often spending after-school time with his father while he designed, tested, and flew planes. Humphreys was there during the development of the first Learjet for aviation pioneer Bill Lear, and was on the tarmac in in his cowboy hat when the first Learjet took off in 1964. Those experiences as a child took hold of his heart and his imagination. Later in life, he received his pilot’s license, like his brothers and father, following the family tradition.

At a young age, Humphreys showed a keen eye for home design, winning his first design award in high school. While working his way through college as an architecture student, Humphreys started his first business designing homes and apartments on the side and soon had 13 other Texas Tech students working for him.

After graduating with an architecture degree in 1978, Humphreys worked at firms in Lubbock and Dallas before launching Humphreys & Partners in 1991. The small start-up took on multiple types of projects, from retail and office to industrial and hotels, but Humphreys noticed the apartment market did well in both up and down economies.

While many firms concentrated on suburban office and residential projects, HPA set its sights on becoming the expert on multifamily design, focusing on innovation and efficiencies to reduce costs and carbon footprint. In 1995 HPA introduced the Big House®, a two story, six-unit apartment building that looked like a large single-family home. While developers and renters embraced the concept, it struck a chord with city planners, who recognized the unique “home like” structures would be more acceptable to affluent communities and single family homeowners. Since 1995 the firm has designed over 400 Big House projects.

The design also changed the way Humphreys approached the business. Instead of starting from scratch on every project, Humphreys created base products that could be tweaked to fit in various markets. It simplified the design process and lowered costs, giving HPA a competitive advantage. Since then, HPA has developed a half dozen trademarked “signature designs” that improve the performance and efficiency of multifamily projects, including the E-Urban®, E-Senior®, E-Max®, E-StaksTM, Stak HouseTM, and Home Rise®.

Humphreys was also a pioneer and ambassador for environmental causes. In 2008 he was the first architect to urge developers to add Tesla charging stations to all new plans. And In 2018, HPA was selected as a finalist by UBER Elevate for its sky port concepts for electric powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (known as eVTOLS).

Humphreys was a member of the AIA, NAHB’s Multifamily Leadership Board, NMHCs Chairman’s Circle and Board of Directors, Urban Land Institute, ICSC and the US Green Building Council.

As an architect, Humphreys made a meaningful and lasting imprint on the horizons and landscapes of cities across the country. His spirit and vision will forever be at the core of HPA, the firm he founded.

Visitation will be held Friday, January 14th, at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 2:30 pm with the service to begin at 3:30 pm in the sanctuary.

In Lieu of Flowers, please consider donations to The Nashville Ballet and Texas Tech University School of Architecture.