Architect
Cynthia Weese. Courtesy of Chicago Women in Architecture.
Name: Cynthia Weese
Date of Birth / Location: 1940 / Des Moines, Iowa
Education: Bachelor's in Science and Applied Science, Washington University in St. Louis, 1962; Bachelor of Architecture, 1965. Also took classes at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Date of Death / Location: Founded the firm of Weese Langley Weese with her husband.
Professional Organizations & Activities: Founding member of Chicago Women in Architecture and Chicago Architectural Club; Professor at Ball State and Miami University; Played a role in AIA development; was the first female Dean of School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, a position she held for 12 years; credited with contributing to affordable housing construction; worked with her husband to save the Glessner House in Chicago, according to 1994 article from the St. Louis-Post Dispatch.
Awards & Honors: Society of Architectural Historians Award for Architectural Excellence, 2018.
Jane Jacobsen- courtesy of Chicago Women in Architecture Archive
Name: Jane M. Jacobsen
Date of Birth / Location: 1929
Education: Bachelor of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,1952
Date of Death / Location: U.S. Dept. of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Regional Office (1974–1992); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1973–1974); U.S. Army Engineer District in Chicago (1954–1970)
Professional Organizations & Activities: Was one of the founding members of CWA. Worked with the Federal Aviation Administration for 18 1/2 years and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 16 1/2 years. Worked with the EPA and Federal Highway Administration as well as in private industry. She did master planning/site planning for individual buildings up through full military bases the size of small communities.
Awards & Honors: FAA Sustained Superior Performance Award for work on Carbondale and Milwaukee control tower facilities. Was awarded SAH Award for Architectural Excellence in 2010, together with the other founders of CWA.
Harriet May Steinmesch- Courtesy of Landmarks Association of St. Louis, inc.
Name: Harriet Mae Steinmesch
Date of Birth / Location: 1893
Date of Death / Location: 1979
Education: Bachelor's in Architecture from Washington University in Saint Louis, 1916.
Professional Organizations & Activities: Founded the Association for Women in Architecture (AWA) in 1934, the first professional organization for women architects. Steinmesch worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Illinois during World War II and later for the Navy in St. Louis. Later in her career, she served as the associate building director for the western division of USO building services and a planner for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.
Beverly Loraine Green circa 1937. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Archives.
Name: Beverly Loraine Greene
Date of Birth / Location: October 4, 1915 / Chicago, Illinois
Date of Death / Location: August 22, 1957 / New York, New York
Education: Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, 1936; Master's degree in City Planning and Housing, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, 1937; Master’s in Architecture, Columbia University, June 5, 1945.
Date of Death / Location: Chicago Housing Authority, 1938-45; Firm of Isadore Rosefield, ca. 1945-1955; Worked with Marcel Breuer on the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and with Edward Durrell Stone on the Sarah Lawrence College Arts Complex at the University of Arkansas.
Professional Organizations & Activities: First documented African American Woman architect licensed in United States. Licensed in Illinois December 28, 1942. She was the first African-American woman to earn her degree in architectural engineering from the University of Illinois. Served on the Council for the Advancement of the Negro in Architecture.
Sophia Gregoria Hayden. Courtesy of Harper Magazine.
Name: Sophia Hayden
Date of Birth / Location: October 17, 1868 / Santiago, Chile
Date of Death / Location: February 3, 1953 / Winthrop, Massachusetts
Education: Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1886-1890. Hayden was the first woman to complete the MIT architecture program, according to a profile written of her by the Boston Globe in 1892.
Professional Organizations & Activities: Served as a teacher of "mechanical drawing" at a manual training school in Jamaica Plain, Boston after graudating from MIT.
Name: Sue Ann Conover
Date of Birth / Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Date of Death / Location: 2017 (Rockford, IL)
Education: Bachelor's of Architecture, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1979
Professional Organizations & Activities: American Institute of Architects (AIA); Chicago Women in Architecture (CWA)
Gundez Dagdelen Ast. Courtesy of the Illinois Alumni News (1978)
Name: Gunduz Dagdelen Ast
Education: Bachelor's of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1962; Master's of Architecture, Washington University, 1963.
Date of Death / Location: Ast Dagdelen Architects
Professional Organizations & Activities: Founding Member, Chicago Women in Architecture (CWA)
Awards & Honors: Received a State Service Award Citation in 1972 for contributions to architecture through research in the use of accepted standards for the handicapped. The award was given by the Illinois Council of the AIA.
Jean Wehrheim from the Chicago Daily Tribune 30 October 1955
Name: Jean Wehrheim
Date of Death / Location: September 22, 1977
Education: Bachelor's of Architecture, University of Illinois, 1948.
Date of Death / Location: Ran an architectural practice with her husband, John Wehrheim, in Lombard, Illinois.
Awards & Honors: Jean joined AIA in 1969.
Bertha Louise Yerex Whitman (1920). Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library
Name: Bertha Yerex Whitman
Date of Birth / Location: 1892 / Newaygo, Michigan
Date of Death / Location: 1984 / Cass City, Michigan
Education: Bachelor's of Architecture, University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design, 1920. Bertha was the first woman to graduate from that College, earning her degree in 1920.
Date of Death / Location: Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton. In 1934, she took a job as a social worker for the State of Illinois. While in that position, she helped remodel state offices.
Professional Organizations & Activities: Whitman received her license in 1926. Whitman, Juliette Peddle, and Ruth Perkins produced an exhibit at the Women’s World’s Fair of 1928 for the Chicago Woman’s Architectural Club. She co-founded the Chicago Women's Architectural Club (CWA), which would merge into AIA. She was vice-president of Chicago Women’s Architectural Club (CWA) in 1930.
Awards & Honors: Winner of a Better Homes contest sponsored by a contractor’s association in 1931 for her design of the B.G. Lawrence House in Evanston, Illinois.
Name: Olga Edith Petters
Date of Birth / Location: Margate, New Jersey
Date of Death / Location: 1995
Education: Bachelor's of Architectural Engineering, University of Michigan, 1950
Professional Organizations & Activities: Member of the AIA since 1955.