One of the women who began pioneering the architectural field before being able to cast a vote was Marion Mahony Griffin. Griffin was likely the first female licensed architect in the U.S. and spent much of her early career working for Frank Lloyd Wright, who was on his way to becoming one of the most famous architects of all time.
âMarion was essential to his practice, his illustrations, and the way he presented them, which became one of his defining characteristics.â Lavender says. âI learned that Marion developed that iconic style of drawing, inspired by Japanese art. It hit me that there are probably all kinds of women in the background that you donât or didnât hear about.â
Griffin didnât get recognized for what is now known as her greatest work at Wrightâs firm, known as the Wasmuth Portfolio, until much later. Architecture critic Vincent Scully referred to this portfolio as âone of the three most influential architectural treatises of the twentieth centuryâ in his 1986 book, Studies and Executed Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright, where she produced half of the portfolioâs content.
Griffin met her husband, Walter Burley Griffin, when they were both working together for Wright, and the pair went on to start a firm together that took them to three continents, most notably Australia. The couple designed communities, cafes, theaters (shown here), and had big plans for the entire town of Canberra, the latter getting derailed due to bureaucratic red tape. Even so, the city was laid out very similarly to her original plans. It is believed that Griffinâs impressive talent and body of work isnât well known in the States due to her shifting focus to projects in Australia and India in the second half of her career.