Lilian Bridgman
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Lilian "Lillie" Belle Bridgman (1866–1948) was an American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, educator, writer, and scientist. After working first as a science teacher and writer, she changed her profession in mid-life and followed her dream of becoming an architect.


First career as a science teacher and writer

Bridgman was originally from
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. A childhood accident resulted in a broken leg and contributed to a lifelong impairment that required her to use a crutch. She obtained her science degree in 1888 from
Kansas State Agricultural College Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public insti ...
. She was impressed by a textbook by professor
Joseph LeConte Joseph Le Conte (alternative spelling: Joseph LeConte) (February 26, 1823 – July 6, 1901) was a physician, geologist, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, early California conservationist, and eugenicist. Early life Of Huguen ...
of the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
and decided to study science under him, earning a master's degree in 1893. After graduation, she taught
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
and
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
at several schools in California, including the
California School of Mechanical Arts Lick-Wilmerding High School is a private college-preparatory A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to pu ...
, between 1893 and 1910. She was also a writer, authoring short stories and poems which were published in popular journals. In 1898, she enrolled for further graduate studies at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
but fell seriously ill and had to drop out. During her recovery, she dreamt of building her own house and was encouraged by her friend, architect
Bernard Maybeck Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect. He worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, designing public buildings, including the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and also private houses, ...
, to sketch her ideas. After buying a small property near Blackberry Canyon in Berkeley with an inheritance, she hired an architect, William Knowles, to prepare the construction drawings. The House focuses on natural light and views of the San Francisco Bay. The home's exterior is clad with brown
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as typical for First Bay Tradition houses. The interior featured local unpainted
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paneling and built-in window seats that could be transformed into beds for visitors. In 1908, she added a studio on the upper part of the property which would later serve as her architectural office. For many years, Lillian Bridgman lived with her sister, Irene, a nurse, sometimes staying in the studio and renting out the front house to boarders.


Second career as an architect

After this first architectural experience and being frustrated with her low-paying job as a female science teacher, Bridgman started her second career and, at the age of 44, quit her job and enrolled from 1910 to 1912 at the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
to study
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
. After having gained practical experience as a draftsperson in the office of Walter Ratcliff, she became a certified architect in California in 1915 and opened her own office in downtown Berkeley in the First National Bank building. Not uncommon for beginning practitioners, her clients were family members, friends or word-of-mouth referrals, often women of her large circle of friends. She received one of her first major commissions, the Orchard Cottage for
Milicent Shinn Milicent Washburn Shinn (April 15, 1858 – August 13, 1940) was a writer, editor, and child psychologist. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She entered the State University in September 187 ...
in Niles, California (today Fremont) in 1916. Her early work is strongly influenced by the philosophy of the ''Hillside Club'' of which she was a founding member. The Club promoted a rustic architecture to enhance the natural setting of the North Side of Berkeley. The ideas were published in 1904 by Charles Keeler in a booklet ''The Simple Home.'' After the
1923 Berkeley Fire The 1923 Berkeley, California, fire was a conflagration that consumed some 640 structures, including 584 houses in the densely built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California, on September 17, 192 ...
, Lilian Bridgman was among the architects involved in the rebuilding of Berkeley. She used the Hotel Whitecotton as a meeting place with clients. The Fire led to a change in building materials from shingled walls and cedar shake roofs to the use of stucco and tile roofs which can also be observed in the architecture of Bridgman. Lilian Bridgman not only contributed to the environment of Berkeley with her simple and harmonious houses, but was also involved in the community and lectured to educate the public about building homes. One example is her lecture ''Art in House Building in Relation to the Community and to Purposes of a Home'' which she presented to the College Women's Club. She was also active in the Association of Collegiate Alumnae (now the Association of American University Women AAUW) and the National Housing Association and served on their national committees.


Bridgman's Work

Some of her houses, a few with built-in furniture, are: * Lilian Bridgman House, 1715 La Loma Avenue, Berkeley (with architects Bernard Maybeck and William Knowles, 1899-1900) * Lilian Bridgman Studio, 1715A La Loma Avenue, Berkeley (1908) * Mary Blossom Davidson House, 1404 Le Roy Avenue, Berkeley, (1918) * Milicent Washburn Shinn House, 1119 Mowry Avenue, Fremont (1918) * Professor and Mrs. Frederic T. Bioletti House, 2440 Martinez Avenue, Berkeley (1920) * Kate Rawlinson Gompertz, M.D. House, 1236 Bonita Avenue, Berkeley, (1920) * Jennie Vennerstrom Cannon Studio, 1629 La Vereda Avenue, Berkeley (1922) * J.C. Dort House, 2511 Hill Court, Berkeley, (1922) * Mr. and Mrs. Frederic T. Bioletti, 1020 Cragmont Avenue, Berkeley, (1922–23) rebuilding of the original house destroyed in the 1923 Fire. * Mary Blossom Davidson House, rebuilding of the original after the 1923 Fire,(1924) * Hill House, Jewelry Workshop for Susan L. Hill, 3132 Eton Avenue (near Garden), Berkeley, (1924) * LeRoy Stephens ranch house, 13581 Robleda Road, Los Altos Hills, (1925) * Dr. Clarence Wills hunting lodge (now Rancho Diablo), Upper Valley Happy Road, Lafayette, (early 1930s) * Mrs. J.H. Barker House, 3872 Cerrito Street, Oakland, (1931) * Bioletti Studios, 2661-63 LeConte Avenue, Berkeley, (1939) There are more houses, additions, workshops and other accessory buildings shown on architectural drawings and photographs in the Lilian Bridgman papers of the Bancroft Library which could not be located, dated or determined whether they were actually built. Some of her writings are: * Various pieces of prose in the ''Overland Monthly'', August 1892, pp. 206–213; September 1894, pp. 311–14; January 1895, pp. 77–88; March 1895, pp. 301–09; April 1896, pp. 402–11; February 1898, pp. 137–141. * "Lost Prairie."
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, ca. 1910. * "Spirit and Flesh."
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, ca. 1899. * "To A Wayfarer."
Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...
, February 1906.


References


External links


Lilian Bridgman Photograph Collection, ca. 1881-1940
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...

Guide to the Lilian Bridgman Papers, 1881-1977
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library is the primary special-collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. ...
* Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Lilian Bridgman papers, 1899-1983 https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/lilian-bridgman-papers-6456; and Olive Thompson Cowell papers (ca. 1950-1982) https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/olive-thompson-cowell-papers-6455; * Museum of Local History, Fremont, California
"Shinn Family Contributions"

Historic American Landscape Survey HALS CA-12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgman, Lilian 1866 births 1948 deaths American women architects Kansas State University alumni Artists from Berkeley, California Architects from the San Francisco Bay Area Architects from Kansas University of California, Berkeley alumni Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumni