United States: Louise Blanchard Bethune
Born in 1856 in Waterloo, New York, Louise Blanchard Bethune is considered the first woman to practice as a professional architect in the United States. She was also the first woman admitted as a member to the Western Association of Architects (1885), the first woman admitted as a member to the American Institute of Architects (AIA, 1888), and the first woman to be named an AIA Fellow (1889). Bethune did not have a formal education in architecture. She worked as an apprentice with Richard Waite (c. 1876–1881) and with F.W. Caulkins (c. 1876-1881), both in Buffalo, New York. She established the architectural firm Louise Bethune Architects in Buffalo (1881). When she married Robert Bethune, he became a partner of the firm, and they changed the firm’s name to Bethune and Bethune (1881–1891). When William L. Fuchs joined the firm as a partner, they changed the name to Bethune, Bethune, and Fuchs (1891–1910). Bethune was a co-founder, vice-president, and treasurer of the Buffalo Society of Architects (c. 1886), and she was a member of the Buffalo Historical Society. She was honored in the Trailblazing Women of Western New York monument project, affiliated with the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women; her monument was located at the Old County Hall in Buffalo. The AIA also established a Louise Blanchard Bethune Fellowship to honor retiring members of the AIA Strategic Council (2016). Bethune died in 1913 in Buffalo.
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