Isobel Hogg Kerr Beattie (25 August 1900 – 13 July 1970) was possibly the first woman in Scotland to practice architecture on a regular basis.

Early life

Beattie was born in 1900 to Lewis Beattie and Alice Walker Kerr, who were farmers. She graduated from the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

(1921–1926), but some of the more technical courses were taken a
Heriot-Watt College
In the 1922 merit list she is noted as having taken Building Construction Stage III, gaining 57% in the exam, followed by Stage IV (71%). In 1923 she gained 79% in its Stage V exam and in 1924 took Mechanics and Strength of Materials, 2nd year – one of a number of courses put on specially for the College of Art students – gaining 51%.

Career

Beattie worked for a time in an office before practising independently from 1928 to 1929. She then returned to the College of Art where she obtained a further diploma. She was admitted as an

Associate 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 suppl ...

in 1931 while she was working in Edinburgh with the firm, Jamieson & Arnott. She later moved to

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, probably working there independently; she worked in a room in an architectural office in Castle Street, Dumfries.

Death and legacy

She died in Applegarth in 1970 after an illness. The National Monuments Record of Scotland has a collection of slides related to her work.

References

1900 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Scottish architects 20th-century Scottish women artists Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects British women architects {{Scotland-architect-stub