Elisabeth A. Martini (1886–1984) was an American architect who was a member of the second generation of women architects in Chicago. She was the first woman to be the sole owner of an architectural firm in Chicago, and she founded the Chicago Drafting Club, one of the first organizations for women architects and a precursor of the Women's Architectural Club founded by

Juliet Peddle Juliet A. Peddle (1899–1979) was an American modernist architect who was the first woman architect licensed by the state of Indiana and a cofounder of the Women's Architectural Club of Chicago. Early life and education Peddle was born on June ...

and

Bertha Yerex Whitman Bertha Yerex Whitman (1892–1984) was an American architect who was the first woman to graduate in architecture from the University of Michigan. She had a long career as an architect in Illinois, especially around Evanston and Glencoe. Early l ...

Early life and education

Not a great deal is known about Martini's family or formative years. She was born in Brooklyn in 1886 and went to high school in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She got her architectural training at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

in 1908 and also took some courses at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. After some travels in Europe, she moved to Chicago in 1909.

Architectural career

Martini was initially rejected by some ninety firms in her search for architectural work, on at least two occasions because the firms refused to have women in their drafting rooms. She then changed her approach: she went to business school and obtained a secretarial job at an architectural firm, a position she leveraged to shift into drafting. She ended up working as a draughtsperson for a number of Chicago-area architects including John B. Sutcliffe, who specialized in churches. In 1913, when she took and passed her Illinois licensing exam, she was the only woman of the 86 applicants; and, following the departure of

Marion Mahony Griffin Marion Mahony Griffin (; February 14, 1871 – August 10, 1961) was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in ...

in 1914, she would for some years be the only woman architect licensed in private practice by the state of Illinois. Martini opened her own office in 1914, becoming the first woman who was sole owner of an architectural firm in Chicago. The bulk of her work was commissions for residences, but she would also do rush work for other local architects. Her largest commission was a 1928 church complex, St. Luke's Lutheran in Park Ridge, Illinois, the design of which is an adaptation of

English Gothic architecture English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

. In lieu of a flat fee, Martini received $60 a month for life. In 1921, Martini put an ad in a paper reading: "Only girl architect lonely. Wanted—to meet all the women architects in Chicago to form a club." Out of this came the Chicago Drafting Club, which later merged with the Women's Architectural Club, which in turn merged with the still-extant organization Chicago Women in Architecture. In 1934, Martini moved her architectural practice to Bangor, Michigan, and became a member of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to ...

. Martini died in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee, at the age of 98.

References

20th-century American architects American women architects 1886 births 1984 deaths People from Brooklyn 20th-century American women {{US-architect-stub