Women in Architecture

British architecture has historically been a male-dominated profession, but women have played a major, though often overlooked, role in commissioning and designing buildings.

Top Euro Bri E Derbyshire Hardwick HallLIFE Photo Collection

Patron

Architecture as a regulated, professional vocation did not emerge in Britain until the 19th century. Before then, wealthy patrons would often collaborate on designs with architects or master masons.

Hardwick Hall: the High Great Chamber (1965) by Photographer: Bedford Lemere & Co. and Architect: Robert SmythsonRoyal Institute of British Architects

Bess of Hardwick

A wealthy and powerful Tudor woman, used her fortune to build grand houses like Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall, both in Derbyshire. Hardwick Hall, designed with Elizabethan architect Robert Smythson, showcases Bess of Hardwick's influence and keen eye for design as an original patron of architecture.

Wotton House, Wotton Underwood, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire (2016-07-06) by Damian Grady, Historic EnglandHistoric England

Elizabeth Wilbraham

Another significant patron, Elizabeth Wilbraham was closely involved with the building projects she commissioned, including Wotton House in Buckinghamshire. It is even speculated that she directly designed hundred of buildings around England.

Title page to a translated edition of Palladio's Four Books of Architecture (1668)Royal Institute of British Architects

Little documentation survives to support or refute this, but Wilbraham was certainly highly interested and knowledgeable in the design of buildings. She owned a translated copy of Andrea Palladio's architectural treatise I Quattro Libri, which she heavily annotated.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1872)Original Source: LSE Library

Interior designer

As architecture became gradually more regulated, women were routinely excluded from formal routes into the profession.  

Cousins Rhoda (1841-1882) and Agnes Garrett (1845-1935) established the first interior design company run by women in Britain.

Activist

Rhoda originally aspired to become an architect, but struggled to find a practice willing to hire a woman when she moved to London in 1868. She is pictured here at a women's rights meeting in Hanover Square, London, in 1872.

Elspeth Douglas McClelland (1909)Royal Institute of British Architects

Elspeth Douglas McClelland

Elspeth Douglas McClelland (1879-1920) was an architect, writer and suffragist. She was best known for being delivered as a 'human letter' to Downing Street, and also wrote newspaper columns about architecture and interior design, after training at the Royal Polytechnic.

RIBA nomination papers of Ethel Mary Charles: candidate statement (1898)Royal Institute of British Architects

Chartered Architect

In 1898, Ethel Charles (1871-1962) made history as the first woman to become a member of the RIBA. She was closely followed by her sister, Bessie Charles (1869-1932), in 1900.

Design for a block of three labourers' cottages named 'Wykehamica' (1895) by Architect: Ethel CharlesRoyal Institute of British Architects

Excluded from the major commissions that remained largely the preserve of male architects, Ethel Charles' work mainly included small-scale domestic projects such as these designs for labourers' cottages. 

Elisabeth Scott (1928)Royal Institute of British Architects

Competition winner

Shortly after receiving her diploma from the Architectural Association, young architect Elisabeth Scott (1898-1972) triumphed over 71 other entrants to win the commission for the new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre nearing completion (1927) by Architects: Scott Chesterton & Shepherd and Photographer: Alfred Edward HendersonRoyal Institute of British Architects

The theatre opened in 1932, but not everyone was impressed. The composer Edward Elgar refused to be its musical director, criticizing the design and Elisabeth Scott herself: "that awful woman".

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon: the stage door (1987) by Photographer: Martin Charles and Architect: Elisabeth ScottRoyal Institute of British Architects

But the theatre's Scandinavian-inspired design was praised in the Architectural Review and became influential in the development of modernist architecture in the UK.

Scott rejected characterisation as a "female architect", preferring to be known simply as "an architect".

C.I.A.M Conference, Bridgwater, Somerset (1947) by Architects: Wells Wintemute Coates (1895-1958), Dame Jane Drew (1911-1996), Edwin Maxwell Fry (1899-1987), Ernö Goldfinger (1902-1987), Le Corbusier (1887-1965)Royal Institute of British Architects

Delegate

By the mid-20th century, the traditional "boys' club" of British architecture began to open up. By the 1947 Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), conference delegates included Sadie Speight, Barbara Randall, Monica Pidgeon, Jane Drew and Minnette de Silva.

Portrait of Monica Pidgeon (1982) by Photographer: Ian DobbieRoyal Institute of British Architects

Photographer + Editor

Born Monica Lehmann in Chile to a French father and Scottish mother, Pidgeon studied architecture at the Bartlett School, UCL. Her global background and links to bodies like CIAM and UIA helped her become joint editor of Architectural Design (1946-1975), a rare role for women then.

Looking towards Temple Mount from outside the old city, Jerusalem (1978) by Photographer: Monica PidgeonRoyal Institute of British Architects

A very talented photographer, Pidgeon used the camera extensively from the 1960s onwards, capturing both people and architecture. Her photo-journalistic approach produced memorable images that convey very strongly a sense of time and place, and have an almost cinematic feel. 

Advertising signs, Monterrey (1960) by Photographer: Monica PidgeonRoyal Institute of British Architects

Monica Pidgeon’s archive is one of the little-known gems of the RIBA Photographs Collection.

Zaha Hadid (1988) by Photographer: Monica PidgeonRoyal Institute of British Architects

Practice director

Zaha Hadid launched her own architectural practice in 1980, cementing her course to become one the world's most famous architects.

Student design for a reimagined Trafalgar Square (1974) by Designer: Zaha HadidRoyal Institute of British Architects

Hadid made this design for a reimagined Trafalgar Square as a student at the Architectural Association. She gifted it to a fellow student, Anthony Feldman, for his birthday.

Portrait Professor Lesley Lokko (2024) by Architect: Professor Lesley LokkoRoyal Institute of British Architects

Educator and Curator

Professor Lesley Lokko, acclaimed Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, author and curator, received the Royal Gold Medal in 2024. Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work to a person who has had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture. 

Advocate

Professor Lesley Lokko is a key advocate for decolonising architecture, pushing for diverse representation within the field.  Through her leadership in education and global advocacy, she promotes inclusive design, inviting different art forms to redress colonial legacies.

Credits: Story

Explore more from RIBA Collections here. 
All images are from RIBA Collections unless listed. 


Shakespeare Memorial Theatre: the stage door. Rights: Martin Charles / RIBA Collections

Temple Mount from outside the old city, Jerusalem. Rights: Monica Pidgeon / RIBA Collections

Advertising signs, Monterrey. Rights: Monica Pidgeon / RIBA Collections

Contact sheet of architects' portraits. Rights: Monica Pidgeon / RIBA Collections

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