Elizabeth Wright Ingraham (1922 – September 15, 2013) was an American

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 ...

and educator. A granddaughter of American architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, she studied under his tutelage at his

Taliesin Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the '' Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts ...

studio at age 15. She later established an architect's practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with her husband, Gordon Ingraham, which adhered to Wright's architectural styles. In 1970 she formed her own architectural firm, Elizabeth Wright Ingraham and Associates, which she led until her retirement in 2007. She is credited with the design of approximately 150 buildings in Colorado Springs and other western locales. She also founded and directed the Wright-Ingraham Institute, which invites students and visiting faculty to conferences and workshops on environmental issues. She was posthumously inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted. History There was a short-lived recogniti ...

in 2014.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Wright was born in 1922 in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated ...

, to

John Lloyd Wright John Lloyd Wright (December 12, 1892 – December 20, 1972) was an American architect and toy inventor. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Wright was the second-oldest son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. John Lloyd Wright became estranged from hi ...

, an architect, and his second wife Hazel (nee Lundin). She was a granddaughter of

. She decided to pursue a career in architecture at age 14. The following year, she studied at her grandfather's studio,

, under his tutelage. She went on to study architecture under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the

Armour Institute Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and also took courses at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. She was a

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in World War II. She gained her architect's license in 1947.

Career

In 1948, she and her husband, Gordon Ingraham, also an architect, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to establish their own practice. They chose the city for its design opportunities and dearth of competition. Ingraham & Ingraham, Architects adhered to Frank Lloyd Wright's

Usonia Usonia () is a word that was used by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to refer to the United States in general (in preference to ''America''), and more specifically to his vision for the landscape of the country, including the planning of ...

n and

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

styles, producing "modest homes affordable to the upper middle class". Their partnership produced more than 90 home designs in the 1950s, including the Beadles House in Colorado Springs. They also designed one home in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

(the George and Beth Anderson House, entered into the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2017), and two homes in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. By 1970, Wright Ingraham wanted to move away from her grandfather's styles and develop new architectural approaches. That year she founded her own firm, which she called Elizabeth Wright Ingraham and Associates. She went on to design approximately 150

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

s in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, including the Vista Grande Community Church (1987), an expansion of the Fountain Branch of the El Paso Country Library (2006), an upper story addition to the All Souls Unitarian Church, and the Solaz, La Casa, Kaleidoscope, Beadles, and Vradenburg private homes. Wright Ingraham retired at the age of 85.

Architectural style

Following her grandfather's lead, Wright Ingraham designed homes that had "low-slung" exteriors, integrated into the landscape, incorporated natural light, used organic building materials, and offered exceptional outdoor views. Her design for the Vista Grande Community Church used an "energy-efficient, easy-to-maintain, insulated concrete called Thermomass", being one of the first buildings in the country to do so. Her plan for the Kaleidoscope house included a skylight.

Other activities

In 1970, the same year she founded her architectural practice, Wright Ingraham established the non-profit Wright-Ingraham Institute for the study of land use and natural resources. The institute invites students and visiting faculty to conferences and workshops on environmental issues. Wright Ingraham directed the institute for its first 20 years; it is now governed by a board that includes two of her daughters. Wright Ingraham also founded Crossroads, an international exchange program affiliated with Colorado College, and was a cofounder of the Women's Forum of Colorado. She also engaged in community activism, at one point participating in a peace march in Colorado Springs.

Affiliations and memberships

Wright Ingraham was a fellow of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

and served as president of its Colorado chapter in 2002. She was a member of the State Board of Examiners of Architects (1980–1990) and the advisory board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy, among other advisory boards and task forces.

Awards and honors

Wright Ingraham received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in 1999. She was posthumously inducted into the

in 2014.

Personal life

She met her husband, Louis Gordon Ingraham (1915–1999), while both were studying at Taliesin. The couple had one son, Michael Lloyd Ingraham, and three daughters, Catherine Ingraham, Christine Ingraham and Anna (Ingraham) Grady. They divorced in 1974. One daughter,

Catherine Ingraham Catherine Ingraham is a professor of architecture in the graduate architecture program at Pratt Institute in New York City, a program for which she was chair from 1999 to 2005. Biography Ingraham was born to Gordon Ingraham and Elizabeth Wright Ing ...

, became a professor of graduate architecture and urban planning at the Pratt Institute in New York. She is a visiting professor at Harvard University. After residing in Colorado Springs for 65 years, Wright Ingraham moved to her son's home in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, in January 2013. She died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

on September 15, 2013, aged 91. Coincidentally, her grandfather Frank Lloyd Wright had died at the same age.

References

External links

*
Wright-Ingraham Institute home pageSlide show of Wright Ingraham house designsDesign photos"Elizabeth Wright Ingraham ... In Her Own Words"
2012 video interview, AIA Colorado History Committee
"Elizabeth Wright Ingraham – Award-Winning Architect, Businesswoman"
2014 video,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingraham, Elizabeth Wright 1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American architects American women architects Architects from Illinois Architects from Colorado Frank Lloyd Wright People from Oak Park, Illinois People from Colorado Springs, Colorado United States Navy personnel of World War II University of California, Berkeley alumni