Bethune, Louise Blanchard

Bethune, Louise Blanchard

 orig. Jennie Louise Blanchard

(born July 21, 1856, Waterloo, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 18, 1913, Buffalo, N.Y.) First professional woman architect in the U.S. She opened an independent office in Buffalo in 1881. Her firm designed several hundred buildings throughout New York state, many of them in the Romanesque revival style popular in the late 19th century. In 1888 she became the first woman elected to the American Institute of Architects.

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Bethune, Louise Blanchard (1856–1913) architect; born in Waterloo, N.Y. Showing an early aptitude for designing structures, after graduating high school and two years of teaching, travel, and study, she became an apprentice in a Buffalo, N.Y., architectural firm. There she met a Canadian architect, Robert A. Bethune; they opened their own firm, then were married in the fall of 1881. As the first professional woman architect in America, she designed a variety of buildings—domestic, commercial, and some 18 schools—mostly in the Romanesque Revival style, all in western New York. When a third partner joined the firm in 1890, she went into semi-retirement to have more time for her child and her genealogical research.