I recently came across an interesting article on about.com regarding women and architecture. Most famous designers have been men, but women have always played an important role in home design. Wives and mothers know what a home needs in order to be "liveable". Because of the amount of time they spend in the home, they can give excellent insight into how a kitchen needs to be designed in order to be time and space efficient, for example. Following is an excerpt from the article, as well as a link to the article.

"Architect and historic preservationist Donald Berg searched through thousands of 19th century plans for his book American Country Building Design. The homemade house plans Berg uncovered were certainly less elaborate than the professional designs of that time period. Yet, the plans were elegant in their efficiency -- and often more usable than houses created by city architects who did not understand the needs of farm families.

"And who could understand a family's needs better than the wife and mother?

"The house is at the heart of a farm wife's life. Historian Sally McMurry, author of Families & Farmhouses in 19th Century America, found that many home plans published in 19th century farm journals were designed by women. These women-designed houses were not the fussy, highly ornamented structures fashionable in the cities. Designing for efficiency and flexibility rather than fashion, farm wives ignored rules set down by urban architects.

"Kitchens were placed on the ground level -- sometimes even facing the road. How crude! "educated" architects scoffed. For a farm wife, however, the kitchen was the control center for the household. This was the place for preparing and serving meals, for producing butter and cheese, for preserving fruits and vegetables, and for conducting farm business.

"Dominant kitchens were only part of the picture. McMurry found that women-designed houses also tended to include a first floor bedroom. Sometimes called the "birthing room," the downstairs bedroom was a convenience for women in childbirth and the elderly or infirm."

Here's a link to the article. Forgotten Designers: Homes Built by Women.

Tags: architect, design, farm, farmhouse, women