Description: The trailblazing story of the life and career of Louise Blanchard Bethune, America's first professional woman architect.
Brief description: Kelly Hayes McAlonie is Director of Campus Planning at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Review Quotes:
"As a humanistic biography, Louise Blanchard Bethune: Every Woman Her Own Architect presents Louise as a pioneering professional, but also in her multiple roles as a mother, a spouse, a property owner, and a person with hobbies (wheeling, history and genealogy). In this sense, the book is an intimate and timely portrait that speaks to the continuing need for architects--of all genders--to espouse a moral compass, to pursue work-life balance, and to provide a professional standard of care--all pressing topics for the practice of architecture today." -- Canadian Architect
"...McAlonie presents a readable and well-researched study of the first woman to be recognized as a professional architect in the United States." -- Nineteenth Century
"Kelly Hayes McAlonie has written a vital work of recovery to change the historical record about the life and career of Louise Blanchard Bethune. As the first professional woman architect in the United States and a trailblazer, Bethune believed women should have opportunities equal to men and developed pathways to pursue architecture for women who would follow. One of the most prominent and prolific architectural practices in Buffalo at the time, her firm profoundly shaped one of the largest and most industrial, wealthy, and progressive cities in the country. Although she encountered extreme sexism and misogyny during her career, her success speaks volumes about her tenacity and strength to persevere in a system where few women were present and remains an inspiration to us all." -- Lori A. Brown, FAIA, School of Architecture, Syracuse University
"McAlonie has written a lively and much needed account of the first woman recognized as a professional architect in the United States. The book provides a well-researched overview of Louise Bethune's personal and professional life, and discusses a range of projects from residences and schools to Bethune's best-known building, the Hotel Lafayette. But McAlonie's key contribution is placing Bethune firmly into the cultural milieu of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era when women were challenging social norms and questioning their traditional roles. McAlonie allows us to see how this trailblazing designer helped shape New York's Western metropolis." -- Gabrielle Esperdy, Interim Dean and Professor of Architecture, Hillier College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology