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Biographical Summary
Mary Ann Elizabeth Crawford was born in 1901 in Girard, Illinois.
She was one of the first women architects in Illinois. When she
graduated in 1930 from the Massachusets Institute of Technology
with both a B.A. and an M.A. in architecture, jobs were scarce,
but Crawford found work with the Works Progress Administration,
Historic American Buildings Survey, and with the Century of Progress
International Exhibition, held in Chicago in 1933-34. In 1941
she obtained a license in architecture and in 1943 she was also
licensed in engineering. During her career she worked independently
for various architects, was the designer for Montgomery Ward stores,
and collaborated with an interior designer. In 1959 she returned
to private practice. In the 1980s, her early student Beaux Arts-style
renderings were exhibited to great acclaim. Crawford died in 1988
in Springfield, Illinois.
Interview Highlights
Crawford speaks about her family background; her education and
travels; schools in Boston: art school and MIT; her jobs after
MIT; working for Lindberg Engineering Company; the role of color;
working for Earl Reed; more about Lindberg Engineering; obtaining
licenses; the Historic American Buildings Survey.
MIT student project: Shelter under a Terrace, c.1927. Department
of Architecture, The Art Institute of Chicago.
MIT student project: Monument, c. 1929. Department of Architecture,
The Art Institute of Chicago.
Interview Excerpt
"Well, we had to do these color problems on Monday morning
[at MIT]. It didn't matter whether you were a sophomore or what
you were, you had to hand in a color problem. Sometimes they specified
whether they wanted flowers, or sometimes they didn't even bother
to specify....And the girls always placed first. These boys that
came in from outside offices as special students complained. They
didn't see why the girls always placed first. Finally, they jumped
on the professor. He was standing there and he said, 'You boys
don't need to bother. The girls will always be first. They know
color from their first dress. They know how to pick out color.
Besides that, most of you are color-blind anyway.'" (pp. 22-23)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural drawings may be consulted by appointment in the
Department
of Architecture.
Also see the oral history of two other Chicago woman architects:
Natalie de Blois and Gertrude
Kerbis; see also the oral histories of other MIT graduates:
Gordon Bunshaft, Christopher
Chamales, William Hartmann, Matthew
Rockwell, Walter Netsch, Bertram
Weber, and Harry Weese.
Funding for this oral history was provided by the Graham Foundation
for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
About the Chicago Architects Oral History Project
Department of Architecture • Ryerson & Burnham Archives
Send questions or comments to:
Ryerson & Burnham Archives, Chicago Architects Oral History Project
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