Jean Louise Emberly Wallbridge (October 25, 1912 – September 30, 1979) was a Canadian architect. In 1950, with Mary Imrie, she was one of the first Canadian women to form an architectural partnership.

Biography

She was born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, the third daughter of James and Mabel Wallbridge. Her father, James Wallbridge was a prominent lawyer. She was educated at private schools in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Switzerland and England and at Victoria Composite High School in Edmonton. Wallbridge went on to study architecture with

Cecil Burgess Cecil Burgess (1888–1956) was a Canadian architect. He was born in Walkden, Lancashire, England on 8 July 1888. He was educated Walkden, Lancashire, England. He articled to Henry Kirkby, an architect in Manchester, England. Cecil Burgess arrived ...

at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, receiving a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Applied Science in 1939. In February 1941, she became the third woman to be registered with the Alberta Association of Architects. She worked for an architectural firm in Edmonton and then for the town planning commission in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

. From 1946 to 1949, she worked in the Department of the City Architect in Edmonton. When that office closed in 1950, she worked mainly on residential projects in Edmonton in partnership with Imrie until her death in 1979. In 1957, they won the Canadian Housing Design Council award. Wallbridge and Imrie built their own home "Six Acres" in Edmonton where they lived as a couple. Wallbridge died in Edmonton at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallbridge, Jean 1912 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Canadian artists 20th-century Canadian women artists Artists from Edmonton Canadian women architects Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts alumni University of Alberta alumni