Bethune, Louise Blanchard

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.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.