Beverly Willis Sheds Light on Wright's Female Architects

The remarkable Beverly Willis is dedicated to recognizing vanishing
accomplishments by female architects of the 20th century. As one who helped crack the field's glass ceiling, Beverly presents  A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright empowering evidence with the documentary film on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Blackstone Library.

The free screening of her short documentary helps Beverly continue sharing new information she's uncovered on talented female architects Wright unhesitatingly employed and their myriad accomplishments.

Now a self-professed "accidental historian," Beverly was one of the few women architects practicing in the United States during the mid-20th century. Through the decades, she's forged a distinguished career and also founded the philanthropic Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (2002).

The foundation provides grants for research in its mission to expand the historical knowledge and cultural recognition of women architects of the 20th century. With that mission in mind, the foundation approached the Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in 2007.

"We were asked by the Guggenheim to do a women's program as it related to the 50th anniversary of the building and we were
excited about that," explains Beverly, interviewed in her serene Short Beach home, where she's lived since 2005.

But finding such women in books proved to be a stumbling block. Soon, Beverly began turning over stones herself, finding new information.

Although she found evidence of more than 100 women's working with Wright as architects, designers, and artisans, "there was such a dearth of material…It was slightly shocking, in a way…to find there was literally nothing written about the women that participated in his studio," Beverly says.

During a year's hunt, Beverly encountered fascinating primary research, including something uncovered at the American
Institute of Architects (AIA) in
Washington, D.C.

"I was talking to the archivist and she said, 'Would you like to see a letter written by Frank Lloyd Wright?' She showed me the letter and what stunned me, what I immediately noticed, was this letter recommended Isabel Roberts as an architect. In every history I had heard about or read, Roberts was referred to as a bookkeeper in Frank Lloyd Wright's first office."

Beverly incorporated that groundbreaking information and details on five other remarkable women to help build the documentary. Two women shared Wright's early working years; the others, his mythic Taliesin fellowship apprenticeship years in Spring Glen, Wisconsin.

One of the charter fellows, Read Weber (a designer, with Wright, of Taliesin's workspaces), went on to become an accomplished architect, heading a firm with many notable New York-area projects. Still, Weber, a woman, was listed as a man with the AIA until 2008, 18 years after her death, Beverly notes.

Beverly focused the documentary on women who established their own firms or who were principals. Also, she says, "I selected work that I really admired and that I thought was great work to include."

The notable female architects are Isabel Roberts, Read Weber, Marion Mahony, Jane Duncombe, Lois Davidson Gottlieb, and
Eleanor Petterson.

The film also shows images of women at Taliesin. In one shot, a female fellow works atop a hay wagon. Wright treated both men and women equally in tasks ranging from studio work to hauling rocks and pouring concrete. But that climate of equality wasn't mirrored in architectural culture, then or now, says Beverly.

Beverly says without question women are still ill-prepared for what they'll encounter as architects. It's due in part to a society in which women are primary caregivers and in part to a culture entrenched in an industry in which 80-hour weeks are the norm.

"At Yale University, we know well over half the class is female, but we also know only 14 to 15 percent will become active in the profession, due in great part to an architectural culture. Frank Lloyd Wright treated men and women equally. If we could only get the profession to do that, it would be wonderful."

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation presents a film screening of A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright featuring writer-director Beverly Willis on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Blackstone Library, 758 Main Street. Admission is free. To learn more about the distinguished career of Beverly Willis, visit www.beverlywillis.com. To learn more about her foundation, visit www.bwaf.org.