Gertrude Sawyer

Gertrude Sawyer (April 2, 1895 – February 11, 1996) was one of the earliest American women architects to practice in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., area.[1][2]

Gertrude Sawyer
Born(1895-04-02)April 2, 1895
Tuscola, Illinois, U.S.A.
DiedFebruary 11, 1996(1996-02-11) (aged 100)
California, U.S.A.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Illinois
Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture for Women
OccupationArchitect

Early life and education

Sawyer was born April 2, 1895, in Tuscola, Illinois.[3] She knew she wanted to be an architect from an early age.[3] After high school in Missouri and Indiana, she got a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Illinois in 1918 and went on to become one of the first women students at the Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture for Women, where she met landscape architect Rose Greely.[1][3]

Architectural career

After graduating in 1922 with a master's degree in architecture, Sawyer worked for an architectural firm in Kansas City, Missouri, for a few months and designed her first house.[3] In 1923, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked for architect Horace W. Peaslee (for whom Greely also worked around the same time).[1][3]

In 1925, Sawyer traveled around Europe.[4] On her return, in 1926, she became registered to practice architecture in the District of Columbia. In subsequent decades, she would become licensed in the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida.[3]

Sawyer taught architecture at Vassar College in the summers of 1930 and 1931.[4] She opened her own architectural practice in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., in 1934, specializing in historic restoration and buildings in the Colonial Revival style, although she also built at least one building in the Streamline Moderne style.[3][5][6] She became especially admired for her eye for detail.[3]

Starting in 1932, Sawyer designed over two dozen residential and farm buildings for Point Farm, the estate of career diplomat Jefferson Patterson in Calvert County, Maryland.[1] Her designs include a main house in Colonial Revival style with such elements as a formal pillared entry, side porch, and classical moldings in the interior.[7] She enlisted Rose Greely to design the landscaping.[7] The Patterson estate was later given to the state by Patterson's widow and turned into the 560-acre Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum.[3]

During World War II, from 1943 to 1945, Sawyer served in the navy's Civil Engineer Corps (the Seabees), with the rank of lieutenant commander.[4] Among her wartime tasks was designing housing from some 14,000 people. After the war, she was the only woman to be designated a reserve Seabee officer.[3]

Sawyer became a member of the American Institute of Architects in 1939.[1]

Sawyer retired in 1969. She moved to California, where she died on February 11, 1996, two months short of her 101st birthday.[3]

Partial list of buildings
  • Country Club Plaza, Kansas City (ca. 1922?)
  • Sarah Louisa Rittenhouse Memorial in Montrose Park (ca. 1923–24)
  • Jefferson Patterson Point Farm (from 1932 on)
  • 2001 Massachusetts Ave., Washington, DC: office/apartment building, now Kossuth House (1935)
  • Tudor Hall, Leonardtown (restoration, 1950)
  • Gertrude Sawyer house, Washington, DC (ca. 1920–1950)
  • 1640 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC (1969)

[3][8]

References
  1. "Gertrude Sawyer & Rose Greely: Homage to Maryland’s Early Women Architects". AIABaltimore website.
  2. Basham, Christine. "Jefferson Patterson Park volunteers attempting to restore gardens' original look". The Calvert Recorder, August 26, 2010.
  3. "Gertrude Sawyer, AIA". AIAWAM.com.
  4. American Architects Directory. R.R. Bowker, 1955.
  5. Goldchain, Michelle. "10 Kickass Female Architects Who Practiced in D.C." Curbed website, March 16, 2015.
  6. Striner, Richard, and Melissa Blair. Washington and Baltimore Art Deco: A Design History of Neighboring Cities. JHU Press, 2014.
  7. "Point Farm". Maryland Department of Planning, Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum website.
  8. "Montrose Park; Sarah Rittenhouse Memorial". National Park Service, List of Classified Structures.
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