Episode 106: Isabel Roberts & Ida Annah Ryan
Isabel Roberts was born on March 7, 1871 in Mexico, Missouri. Her parents were James and Mary Roberts and she had an older sister named Charlotte. The family moved around and eventually settled in South Bend, Indiana where her father worked at a machine shop. In 1899, at 28 years old, Isabel went to New York City to study architecture at the Atelier Masqueray-Chambers which had just opened the school to women. In 1901 she finished her studies and moved to Illinois where she got a job in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio. Over the years her contributions have been disputed but several employees and Frank himself have noted that she was working as an architect at the firm. She worked on the K.C. DeRhodes House in South Bend, Indiana, and the Isabel Roberts House in River Forest, Illinois for her and her mother. In 1909, Frank went to Germany and left the employees to finish up his projects and shut down the studio. After this Isabel worked for a few other firms in Chicago before moving with her mother to St Cloud, Florida in 1916.
Ida Annah Ryan was born on November 4, 1883 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Her parents were Albert Morse Ryan and Carrie S. Jameson. She had four siblings. Ida graduated from Waltham High School in 1892 and started taking classes at the Massachusetts Normal Art School. In 1894 she received a diploma in Elementary Drawing and Constructive Art and Design. She then enrolled at MIT to study architecture and did quite well, earning awards and winning competitions. She graduated with an M. Arch in 1906. In 1907 she applied for membership to the AIA and was denied because she was a woman. In 1909 she started her own architecture firm in Waltham with a fellow MIT grad Florence Luscomb, and in 1915 did work in Nashua, New Hampshire with Harriet F. Locke. In 1917, there was a downturn in building during the war so Ida moved to Central Florida.
We don’t know how they met but in 1920, the architecture firm of Ryan and Roberts opened in Orlando, Florida. Isabel and Ida were business partners and life partners, working out of their home in Orlando as well as their office in St Cloud, Florida. They worked on many projects in the area including the Veterans Memorial Library, the Amherst Apartments, the Eola Bandstand, and the Ross E Jeffreys Elementary School to name a few. Ida received her Florida architecture license and was accepted into the AIA in 1921. Isabel also applied, but was denied, despite many letters of support, because she was not licensed in Florida which was a new requirement the state had put in place. The Great Depression hit central Florida early, and their firm didn’t receive any commissions after 1927. They stayed open until 1945, but there are no recorded projects during those years. Ida passed away on February 17, 1950 at 76 years old and Isabel passed away on December 17, 1955 at 84 years old.
Caryatid: Natalye Appel & Stephanie Millet
Natalye Appel is an architect in Houston. She got her Bachelors of Architecture from Rice University and her Masters of Architecture from University of Pennsylvania. In 1987 she opened her own firm in Houston. In 2000 she was made a fellow in the AIA. The firm Natalye Appel and Associates works on a wide variety of project types: civic, institutional, commercial, and residential. In 2005, Stephanie Millet joined the firm and she became a partner at the firm in 2010. Stephanie has a B Arch from Cal Poly and a M Arch from Rice University.
References
“About.” Appel Architects, www.appelarchitects.com/about.
Fernández, Lorena. “Ryan and Roberts 1926-c. 1950.” Un Día | Una Arquitecta, 24 Mar. 2015, undiaunaarquitecta.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/ryan-roberts-1926-c-1950.
Freundt, Rachel. “International Women’s Day: Isabel Roberts.” Architecture and History of Chicagoland, 8 Mar. 2022, chicagolandarchitecture.substack.com/p/international-womens-day-isabel-roberts.
“ISABEL ROBERTS and IDA ANNAH RYAN.” OFA, 10 Mar. 2021, www.orlandoarchitecture.org/post/isabella-roberts-ida-annah-ryan.
“Isabel Roberts Helped Shape Early Orlando Architecture.” OFA, 25 May 2015, www.orlandoarchitecture.org/post/isabel-roberts-helped-shape-early-orlando-architecture.
“Isabel Roberts House.” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, flwright.org/explore/isabel-roberts-house.
Rifkind, David. “Isabel Roberts.” Pioneering Women of American Architecture, pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/isabel-roberts.
“Ryan, Ida Annah.” Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, dna.bwaf.org/architect/ryan-ida-annah.
Stock, Gregory. “First Female US Architect Practiced Here in Central Florida.” Orlando Foundation for Architecture, 18 Aug. 2014, orcadblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/first-female-us-architect-practiced-here-in-central-florida.
Wikipedia contributors. “Ida Annah Ryan.” Wikipedia, 19 Feb. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Annah_Ryan.
---. “Isabel Roberts.” Wikipedia, 25 June 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Roberts#:~:text=Isabel%20Roberts%20.
“Women in Architecture: Isabel Roberts.” Optima, 16 Nov. 2022, www.optima.inc/women-in-architecture-isabel-roberts.
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