Women of Steel and Stone: 22 Inspirational Architects, Engineers, and Landscape Designers
Every great dream begins with a dreamer Always remember you have within you the strength the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world Harriet Tubman What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything Vincent van Gogh
Introduction 1 PART ONE ARCHITECTS Louise Bethune Paving the Way 11 Anna Wagner Keichline Brick by Brick 21 Julia Morgan She Built a Castle 30 Marion Mahony Griffin Frank’s Right-Hand Man 42 Norma Merrick Sklarek The Rosa Parks of Architecture 52 Denise Scott Brown Husband-and-Wife Design Team 60 Natalie de Blois Builder of Buildings 71 Zaha Hadid Contemporary Architecture Star 81 Marilyn Jordan Taylor Building the Future 88 PART TWO ENGINEERS Emily Warren Roebling She Built the Bridge 103 Lillian Moller Gilbreth The Real Cheaper by the Dozen 111 Kate Gleason Concrete Pioneer 121 Margaret Ingels Ruler of the Slide Rule 131 Ruth Gordon Schnapp Making Buildings Safe 137 Judith Nitsch Engineering Girl 146 Aine Brazil Building Towers 157 CONTENTS
PART THREE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Beatrix Farrand Planting Seeds 167 Ellen Biddle Shipman Dean of American Landscape Architecture 176 Marian Cruger Coffin Covered All Grounds 184 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander The Art of the Possible 192 Carol R Johnson Nature and Culture 203 Martha Schwartz Modern Art and Landscape 212 Acknowledgments 221 Resources 225 Notes 231 Bibliography 243 Index 249
1 THE WOMEN WHO helped build the world we live in female architects engineers and landscape architects had strong wills that helped them break through into professions at a time when women were not welcome or sometimes were not even allowed These women had strengths passions and interests as they were growing up that led them to accomplish amazing achievements They were all determined women who wanted to create whether it was a building a bridge or a beautiful environment Most of these spirited women saw the problems they faced entering male-dominated fields more as stumbling blocks or challenges than as outright discrimination With a few exceptions the support of their families helped them reach their goals The women’s suffrage right to vote movement the civil rights movement social reform America’s industrial lead ers and the Roaring Twenties all influenced their diverse life stories Women have always played an important role in the creation of houses and buildings In the hunter-gatherer days women tended to the home while men went off to hunt From teepee INTRODUCTION
