Anne Graham Rockfellow: Who was she? What was her contribution to the history of architecture?

Abstract

Anne Graham Rockfellow, virtually unknown to history, deserves a place worthy of scholarly attention. Rockfellow's significance to the histories of American architecture, of Tucson, and of professional women is explored. She was the first woman architect academically trained at M.I.T. (the first recognized school of architecture in the United States). In the mid-1890s she made her first move to Tucson, Arizona, a growing southwestern town that already had a long history. When Rockfellow permanently relocated to Tucson in 1915, she was hired by the H. O. Jaastad architectural firm, where she remained until her retirement in 1938. In order to put Rockfellow in a historical context, her biography is juxtaposed with the biographies of some of her female contemporaries who also chose to pursue careers in the field of architecture. Her contributions to the architecture of Tucson and to the development of the Spanish Colonial Revival style are also examined.