WOMEN ARCHITECTS AT WORK

Women who designed America.

In a profusely illustrated volume, architectural historians Hunting and Murphy offer a detailed group portrait of early- to mid-20th-century female architects, many educated at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Massachusetts. Established in 1915 for women’s professional education, the school continued until 1942, when women finally were allowed into Harvard’s architecture department. Although by 1928 at least 27 accredited schools of architecture accepted women, those students often felt unwelcomed by classmates and faculty. The Cambridge School, exceptionally, supported its students’ talents, providing an interdisciplinary perspective and an emphasis on collaboration. Besides benefiting from its pedagogy, students were immersed in the intellectual community of Cambridge, where European Modernism took root early. The school encouraged international connections; in 1935, for example, it sent 14 students on a summer study tour of modern architecture in Western Europe, and many made independent trips to Europe and Mexico. The women were as prepared as possible for a field “fraught with sexism in hiring practices, promotions, titles, assignments, salaries, and construction-site supervision.” As challenging as the field was, many attained positions through school connections; others established partnerships with one another, their husbands, or architects who emigrated from Europe. Excluded from all-male architectural societies, they forged their own social and professional networks. Besides designing houses throughout the country, the women, with an interest in fostering community, became involved in urban and suburban planning. Many extended their artistic talents to designing furniture, toys, jewelry, textiles—and even shoes, such as architect Alice Morgan Carson’s stunning pair of needlepoint heels that she likened to the art deco Chrysler Building. Although the authors found uneven archival sources, they have succeeded in reviving the work of scores of impressive women.

A well-populated, deeply researched history.