
About
John and Catherine have a combined 50 years of professional experience interpreting the people, places and things that shape world culture. By exploring great palaces like Versailles, iconic objects like the Liberty Bell and whole cities like Rome, a vibrant human story is revealed.
Together, they formed The Cultured Commuter to bring their specialized knowledge and passion to a broader audience. By connecting big ideas and small details, their collaborations put culture in context, and in reach of everyone.
John Tschirch is an award-winning Architectural Historian whose career in the preservation of historic sites has led him across the globe. His work has been featured in Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living and Antiques and Fine Arts. He writes both fiction and non-fiction inspired by art, culture and history, including Gods and Girls: Tales of Art, Seduction and Obsession (Amazon, 2019), Newport: The Artful City (Giles Ltd, 2020) and essays on world cultural and social issues in The Public Humanist (2016-17). He believes “every place has a tale to tell,” which guides his writing for podcasts and videos on architecture, urban design, and landscape.
Catherine Moran, Ph.D, is an Art Historian specializing in the history of art, design and the built environment. With experience as a gallery director, in art publishing, and as a professor of art and design history, Catherine has a unique perspective on making art, history, and cultural objects accessible to a broad audience. Historic places, and the art and design that fill them, come alive in her production of podcasts and art history videos. Catherine proposes that, “Every space reveals a model of thinking, through which the world of human endeavor is revealed.”