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Olive Frances Tjaden
Olive Frances Tjaden (/ˈtʃɑːdən/; November 24, 1904 – March 15, 1997) was a pioneering woman architect, one of the first female architects of her generation. Early life and educationBorn November 24, 1904 in New Utrecht, New York. Her father was John G. Tjaden, a structural engineer.[2] Tjaden graduated from Jamaica High School at the age of 15.[3] Rejected from Columbia University's architectural program because she was too young, Tjaden waited a year to meet the age requirements for Cornell University's School of Architecture.[3] Tjaden completed the five-year course in four years and graduated from Cornell University in 1925 with a bachelor's degree in architecture at the age of 19.[3] She was the only woman architect in her graduating class.[4] CareerIn 1929, at the age of 24, Tjaden became the youngest registered architect in New York State.[5] In 1938, she became the first woman admitted to the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects[4] and for many years was the only female member of the organization.[6] She specialized in residential architecture,[4] and was chosen to design a home for the 1939 World's Fair.[4] She designed more than two thousand buildings in her career.[7] On the recommendation of a Cornell dean, Tjaden was hired by a Mineola, New York, architecture firm and began designing “distinctive homes for people of both significant and moderate means.”[3] From the 1920s to 1940s, Tjaden supervised the design of more than 400 homes in the Garden City area of Long Island, New York.[3] Tjaden's designs included flourishes such as formal breakfast rooms and sweeping staircases.[3] One of her most admired elements was her use of stained glass windows, particularly a colorful peacock door designed by her and constructed in England.[3] The homes were meant to sell for around $12,000.[3] According to Nassau County Historical Society member Millicent Vollono “She would sometimes do a whole block of homes using five or six kinds of styles. When you go through those neighborhoods now, the homes look different, but they all fit together.”[3] A Tudor mansion Tjaden designed in Woodmere, New York, for a distiller was featured in a 1935 edition of “Good Housekeeping” magazine.[3] Tjaden's former home on 11th Street in Garden City is marked with a weather vane representing her career- a young woman holding a caliper and sitting astride a T-square.[3] Tjaden often hosted social events for women at her home and the house served as an advertisement for her work.[3] In 1943, she moved to Florida to capitalize on the building boom of the era.[7] Once in Florida she ceased working on individual homes, but wrote a column for an architectural journal and designed garden apartments.[3] She also served as program director and member of the board for the Museum of Fine Arts in Fort Lauderdale.[1] Personal life and legacy Tjaden married Carl G. Johnson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1945.[2] At the time, Tjaden was reported to live in Garden City, New York. Tjaden died at the age of 92 and left most of her $12 million estate to Cornell.[3] A building housing part of Cornell's College of Architecture, Art and Planning was named in her honor in 1981.[3][8] References
External linksTjaden's entry in the International Archive of Women in Architecture Biographical Database at Virginia Tech
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