Edith Northman (1893–1956) was one of Southern California's first woman architects, and the first woman registered architect in Los Angeles. She worked on a wide range of buildings in the region, ranging from residential to commercial.

Early life and education

Edith Mortensen Northman was born October 8, 1893, in

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to a Danish father and a Swedish mother. The family moved to Norway when she was nine and remained there through her high school years. She moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to study art at the Studio School of Arts. The family immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1914, and a couple of years later Northman moved to Brigham City,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, where she worked as a librarian. She became interested in architecture and in 1918 moved to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, where she got work as an architectural draftsman for Eugene R. Wheelon. For health reasons, Northman moved to Los Angeles in 1920, where she found work with the architect Clarence J. Smale and rose to the position of his chief draftsman. She opened her own firm in 1926 but then almost immediately enrolled at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

to study architecture. She received her degree from USC in 1930 and her state architectural license the following year.

Career

In a career that started during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and lasted a quarter century, the prolific Northman designed well over a hundred buildings in a wide range of types: single-family homes, multi-family dwellings and hotels, a church, a synagogue, factories, gas stations, and other commercial buildings. She designed residential buildings all over southern California, including in Beverly Hills, Hancock Park, Wilshire Park, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and Palm Springs. Stylistically, her work is eclectic, with elements of European traditional styles (e.g. in her Danish Lutheran Church and Normandie Mar Apartment Hotel) and American

Minimal Traditional Minimal Traditional is a style of architecture that emerged in mid 20th century America as a vernacular form that incorporates influences from earlier styles such as American Colonial, Colonial Revival, Spanish Revival, Tudor Revival, and American ...

modernism melded with

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

. Some of her clients were connected with the film industry, including actor

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. She also served as an adviser on the film ''

Woman Chases Man ''Woman Chases Man'' is a 1937 romantic comedy film directed by John G. Blystone and starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea. Plot B.J. Nolan tries to get his millionaire son Kenneth to invest $100,000 in a housing development called Nolan Heig ...

'', in which the heroine is an architect. One of her biggest contracts was with the

Union Oil Company Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

, for which she designed over 50 gas stations along the west coast from San Diego to Vancouver. The company received two patents for her gas station designs in 1934. Northman's two-story Normandie Mar Apartment Hotel in Fresno was inspired by French chateaux and features a steeply pitched roof, multi-paned windows with

muntins A muntin (US), muntin bar, glazing bar (UK), or sash bar is a strip of wood or metal separating and holding panes of glass in a window. Muntins can be found in doors, windows, and furniture, typically in Western styles of architecture. Muntins ...

, and decorative turrets and plaster reliefs. It is the only known work by Northman in the San Joaquin Valley. During World War II, Northman worked on fortifications, hospitals, latrines, and other building-related projects for the

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. After the war she went back to private practice, specializing in large apartment buildings and hotels in Los Angeles and Palm Springs. In the early 1950s, Northman developed

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and, unable to hold a pencil, was forced into retirement. She died in 1956 in Salt Lake City. The Washington, D.C–based columnist Jack Anderson was Northman's nephew.

Partial list of buildings

* Fernwood Arms apartments, Los Angeles (1929) * Sir Francis Drake Apartments, Los Angeles (1929) * Home Gardens Ward LDS Chapel, 9722 San Antonio Ave., South Gate (1928) * Berger Winston Apartment Building, Los Angeles (1937) * Danish Lutheran Church, Los Angeles (1937) * Insley House, Los Angeles (1940) * Normandie Mar Apartment Hotel, Fresno (1939) * Villa Sevilla apartments, West Hollywood (1931) * Laurel Manor Apartments, West Hollywood (1940)

Publications

* "The Small Concrete House of Today". ''California Arts and Architecture'', vols. 55–56, 1939.

References

External Links: * Bishop, Bob. “At a Time When Female Architects Were Especially Scarce, Two Worked in West Hollywood.” ''WEHOville'' (blog), November 25, 2018. https://wehoville.com/2018/11/25/time-female-architects-especially-scarce-two-worked-west-hollywood/. * Knauer, Henry. “PCAD - Edith Mortensen Northman.” Accessed October 27, 2021. http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/1296/. * Taylor, Billy. “Landmark Status for Miracle Mile Building Moves Forward: Larchmont Chronicle.” News, June 29, 2017. https://larchmontchronicle.com/landmark-status-for-miracle-mile-building-moves-forward/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Northman, Edith 20th-century American architects 1893 births 1956 deaths USC School of Architecture alumni American women architects Architects from California 20th-century American women Danish expatriates in Norway Danish emigrants to the United States

Early life and education

Career

Partial list of buildings

Publications

See also

References