Laying the Groundwork: Women in American Architecture, Spring 1977

In 1977, a cavernous, rarely used sculpture gallery in the Brooklyn Museum was filled with drafting tables, their tops tilted to display collages of the work and under-told stories of women working in architecture in the United States.

We revisit this first significant effort to publicly tell the little known stories of American women in architecture: “Women in American Architecture: A Historic and Contemporary Perspective.” On view at the Brooklyn Museum from February-April of 1977, the groundbreaking exhibition and simultaneous book, curated and edited by Susana Torre, clearly defined the state of play for women in the architecture profession. Alienated by the profound hostility expressed by the AIA, women architects came together and found an accepting cohort at the Architectural League of New York. They organized. They canvassed. They raised their consciousnesses. The project team identified subjects so previously obscured as to be unknown, and then with the energy and drive of a furious mob, they broke through and laid the groundwork for scholarship, social change, and recognition of women architects for the next fifty years.  

Produced by Brandi Howell, for the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation's podcast New Angle Voice.

Special thanks to Susana Torre, Andrea Merrett, Suzanne Stephens, Cynthia Rock, Deborah Nevins, and Robert AM Stern. 

Editorial advising from Alexandra Lange and production assistance from Virginia Eskridge and Aislinn McNamara. Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Graham Foundation.

The Kitchen Sisters Present, part of PRX's Radiotopia network, is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. For more stories and information visit kitchensisters.org.