Gertrude Leverkus (26 September 1898 – 8 November 1989) was a German-British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Early life and education

Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret Leverkus was born on 26 September 1898 in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

, Germany. She was the second of three daughters of Ida Christine Rosalia, ''née'' Schmidt and Otto Leverkus, an export merchant. Shortly after her birth, her family migrated to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, and moved to

Forest Hill, London Forest Hill is a district of the London Borough of Lewisham in south east London, England, on the South Circular Road, which is home to the Horniman Museum. History Like much of London, Forest Hill was only sparsely populated until the m ...

, in 1910. She attended Sydenham High School and subsequently

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL). She completed her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in architecture from 1916 to 1919 at UCL, and was the only woman among 500 men to take the final exams. She was articled to

Horace Field Horace Field was a London-born architect. His work was often in a Wrenaissance style, as well as other post-gothic English historical revival styles, with influences from the Arts and Crafts movement and Richard Norman Shaw. His commissions incl ...

from 1919 and his assistant from 1922. In that year, with Arthur Stratton and Professor A. E. Richardson, Field proposed her for associate member of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

(RIBA), making her one of the first three women to do so. She completed a certificate in

town planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

at UCL in 1925.

Career

In 1923, Leverkus was hired by the Women's Pioneer Housing Limited to convert its properties into flats for women. One of these projects was the conversion of 31 Gledhow Gardens, also known as the Gunter Estate, in

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

into flats to house women workers. In 1924 she was officially appointed as WPHL's architect. In 1930 she moved into a flat she converted from the former ballroom of one Women's Pioneer property, 65 Harrington Gardens in Earl's Court, and remained a tenant of the association until her retirement. She designed an extension of the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

in 1938 to create an outpatients department; the hospital is now a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. In 1928, Leverkus spoke alongside Laura Annie Willson, Ethel Wood,

Caroline Haslett Dame Caroline Harriet Haslett DBE, JP (17 August 1895 – 4 January 1957) was an English electrical engineer, electricity industry administrator and champion of women's rights. She was the first secretary of the Women's Engineering Society a ...

and Gladys Burlton at a careers event organised by the Union of Women Voters. In December 1931, Leverkus was elected a Fellow of

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

, only the second woman allowed to put the initials

FRIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

after her name. The first woman,

Gillian Harrison Edith Gillian Harrison (1898–1974), née Cooke, was a British architect. Early life and education After Roedean School, she trained at the Architectural Association School of Architecture from 1917 to 1922, where she was one of the first ...

, was only elected earlier that year. During World War II, Leverkus left private practice to work as an inspector of stately homes to use for the war effort and as an organiser of evacuees from London. From 1943 to 1948, she worked as a housing architect for the

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

Town Planning Office. From 1948 until her retirement in 1960, she worked for Norman and Dawbarn Architects. During this period, she designed a shopping parade and flats at Swiss Cottage tube station and worked on the

new towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

in both Crawley and Harlow. Leverkus was a member of numerous women's groups, and established the women's committee of the RIBA in 1932. She served as the committee Secretary in the 1930s and their work promoted the interests of women architects, encouraged and advised recent graduates as well as recording cases of discrimination. In 1935, Leverkus reported that almost thirty architect firms were "entirely run by women" whilst emphasising the increasing numbers of women architects working in municipal offices. She considered the greatest drawback for women architects at that time to be "the lack of precedent, which makes it an extraordinary thing for a woman to be entrusted with large important work." Leverkus was also involved in the Women's Provisional Club, alongside other professional women including MP Eleanor Rathbone, engineer

, Lady Rhondda and Dr

Louisa Martindale Louisa Martindale, (30 October 1872 – 5 February 1966) was an English physician, surgeon, and writer. She also served as magistrate on the Brighton bench, was a prison commissioner and a member of the National Council of Women. She served ...

. She was a member of the

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

, and the

International Federation of Business and Professional Women International Federation of Business and Professional Women (or BPW International) is a worldwide organization committed to networking among and empowering women worldwide. BPW International serves as a forum for professional business women with b ...

Later life

After retiring from architectural practice in 1960, Leverkus served as governor of the Brixton School of Building. In 1960 she moved to Brighton. She died at 26 Wilbury Villas,

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, Sussex, on 8 November 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leverkus, Gertrude 1898 births 1989 deaths British women architects People from Oldenburg (city) German emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at Sydenham High School Alumni of The Bartlett People from Forest Hill, London Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century British architects