MARIA E CURRY HAS DEVOTED HER LIFE TO PRESERVING THE PLACES THAT CONNECT US TO OUR PAST. Through her work as an architectectural engineer and preservationist, she has helped protect not only important buildings, but the cultures, communities, and shared history of two nations.
For more than forty years, Maria has been an advocate for historic preservation throughout Mexico and the United States, building bridges between the two countries while reminding us that history does not stop at an international border.
Her journey began in Mexico City. The devastating 1985 earthquake forever changed the course of her life. Witnessing the destruction of beloved historic neighborhoods and monuments—and seeing ordinary citizens unite to save them—awakened a calling that would define her career. Inspired by both the tragedy and the extraordinary power of community action, Maria chose to dedicate herself to protecting cultural heritage for future generations.
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After receiving her degree in architectural engineering from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Maria earned a master's degree in the Restoration of Monuments from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she was awarded the prestigious Gabino Barreda Medal for academic excellence.
One of her earliest preservation successes involved the restoration of a nineteenth-century home in Mexico City's Colonia Guerrero. Maria served as academic researcher, preservation expert, and advocate who championed the social, community-centered approach to the restoration of the Casa Rivas Mercado. Threatened with demolition due to earthquake damage, the building became the focus of a collaborative effort of neighborhood residents, university students, and government agencies. The project not only saved an important historic structure but also helped protect a community from displacement, demonstrating Maria's lifelong belief that historic preservation must serve both places and people.
In 1989, Maria moved to the United States with her young daughter for doctoral studies in Historic Preservation Planning at Cornell University. Her research focused on preserving Mexico's railroad heritage following privatization, reflecting her enduring passion for transportation history and the cultural landscapes that connect communities across borders.
Returning to the San Diego–Tijuana region, Maria embarked on a career unlike any other—combining scholarship, public service, grassroots activism, and international collaboration.
Today she serves as director of the Department for Monitoring Tangible Cultural Heritage within Baja California's Secretariat of Culture, where she oversees the identification, evaluation, preservation, and protection of cultural resources throughout the state. She also teaches historic preservation and architecture at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, helping to educate the next generation of preservation professionals.
Her own professional experience has included preservation positions with Mexico's federal government, consulting work throughout Baja California, and service in the United States as a preservation specialist with FEMA, protecting historic resources following natural disasters.
Maria currently represents Baja California on Mexico’s national committee of ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites and an advisory body to UNESCO. The group advances international preservation standards throughout the Americas while fostering cooperation on cultural resources shared by Mexico and the U.S.
Throughout her career Maria has championed the preservation of historic railroad depots, ships, wineries, neighborhoods, civic buildings, and cultural landscapes throughout Baja California and San Diego County. She has served on the boards of numerous preservation organizations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, including Save Our Heritage Organisation (during the 1990s and again since 2026), the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, and other groups dedicated to protecting our shared heritage.
Few individuals have done as much as Maria to strengthen the preservation partnership between San Diego and Baja California and she shows no sign of slowing down, with her current efforts focused on protecting Kuchamaa Mountain.
Since 2001, she has served as SOHO's binational correspondent, contributing over fifty articles from 2001 through 2024 to our publications that document preservation successes, challenges, and emerging issues throughout Baja California. For twenty-four years, her thoughtful reporting has introduced SOHO members to remarkable places, inspiring people, and important preservation efforts that many would otherwise never have known.
Maria’s work reminds us that the history of our region has always spanned the border and that the cultural heritage of the two Californias is richer because it is shared.
Through scholarship, advocacy, education, public service, and dedication, Maria E Curry has demonstrated that historic preservation is about preserving identity, strengthening communities, and building understanding across cultures.
A Quarter-Century of Binational Storytelling - Highlighting the 50+ SOHO articles that Maria has authored from 2001 through 2026.
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