Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect

The Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design presents Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect.

Minerva Parker Nichols (1862–1949) was the first woman in the United States to practice architecture independently, with an office in Philadelphia and commissions nationwide. Working during the suffrage movement, she had numerous clients who were women. Her commissions included dozens of private residences, large and small, the New Century Clubs of Philadelphia and Wilmington, as well as the unbuilt Queen Isabella Association Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The opening of her Philadelphia office in 1888 drew the attention of the Philadelphia press, and her death in 1949 warranted a headlined obituary in The New York Times.

Despite this legacy, Nichols is rarely included in the story of Philadelphia’s built environment or broader historical assessments. Her archival record is even more elusive, as only a handful of her drawings survive and a large body of her work remains unknown. Of her surviving commissions, most are private residences; one of her residential designs has been converted to a nonprofit retreat center, and her only surviving women’s club is now a children’s theater in Wilmington, Delaware.

Featuring a newly-commissioned series of photographs by Elizabeth Felicella documenting over 30 of the architect’s extant buildings, the exhibition reflects more than a decade of research by architectural historian and preservation planner Molly Lester. The curatorial team was led by William Whitaker, curator at the Architectural Archives at Penn. He has curated or co-curated exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Philadelphia, and the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Heather Isbell Schumacher, archivist at the Architectural Archives, brings over a decade of experience in stewarding archival collections and critically examining the gaps in the historical record. A companion publication, featuring a catalogue raisonné and biographical and critical essays, is forthcoming.

The Architectural Archives at Penn preserves the works of more than 400 designers from the 17th century to the present. Major collections include the comprehensive archives of a number of the twentieth century’s most significant designers, including: Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown; Lawrence Halprin; Ian L. McHarg; Edmund N. Bacon; Anne Griswold Tyng; and Louis I. Kahn. The research collections in the Archives are available to faculty, students, and scholars for independent study as well as to support teaching at Penn.

Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect will be on view from March 21–June 17, 2023 at the Harvey & Irwin Kroiz Gallery, 220 South 34 Street, Philadelphia. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm. Admission is free and open to the public.

Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.