Architect Bertha Yerex Whitman (1892-1984) received her degree in architecture from the University of Michigan in 1920. At the time, fewer than 1% of practicing architects in the U.S. were women. Whitman began practicing architecture in Evanston in 1926, eventually designing dozens of homes, churches, schools and apartment buildings in Evanston and the North Shore. She was employed at Perkins, Fellows, and Hamilton, and a founding member of the Women’s Architectural Club of Chicago.
Significance
Architect Bertha Yerex Whitman (1892-1984) received her degree in architecture from the University of Michigan in 1920. At the time, fewer than 1% of practicing architects in the U.S. were women. Whitman began practicing architecture in Evanston in 1926, eventually designing dozens of homes, churches, schools and apartment buildings in Evanston and the North Shore. She was employed at Perkins, Fellows, and Hamilton. At Michigan, she was a member of the T-Square Society of women architecture students. Whitman was more significantly one of the nine founding members of the Women’s Architectural Club of Chicago, which began in 1928 and ran until 1940, when it became a part of the AIA Chicago chapter and turned into a group for members’ wives. The group was inspired by the Woman’s World Fair in 1927. She was the first female draughtsman at many architectural firms and had her own firm for many years. She also designed the Woman’s Booth at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago.