Bethune, Louise, 1856-1913

BIRTHPLACE: Waterloo, New York

EDUCATION: Apprenticeship with Richard Waite, FAIA, Buffalo, N.Y., 1876–81; Apprenticeship with F. W. Caulkins, Buffalo, 1876–81

MAJOR PROJECTS: Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo, 1882–86; 74th Regiment Armory, Buffalo, 1886; Lockport High School, Lockport, N.Y., 1890; Hotel Lafayette, Buffalo, 1904

AWARDS AND HONORS: First woman admitted to architectural professional association (Western Association of Architects, in 1885); First woman admitted to AIA, 1888; First woman member of FAIA, 1889

FIRMS: Louise Bethune Architect, Buffalo, 1881; Bethune & Bethune, Buffalo, 1881–91; Bethune, Bethune & Fuchs, Buffalo, 1891–1910

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Buffalo Society of Architects (became AIA Buffalo/WNY), founder; Western New York State Association of Architects; American Institute of Architects; Western Association of Architects

LOCATION OF LAST OFFICE: 531 Main Street, Buffalo

Among the architectural greats who contributed to the landscape of Buffalo, N.Y. — among them Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson — there was one person who is lesser known but whose impact in shaping the city was just as important: Louise Blanchard Bethune.

Bethune, who is widely considered by historians to have been the first American woman to become a certified architect, designed 18 schools in western New York, as well as factories, hotels, churches, a baseball grandstand and a women's prison. Another of her firm's projects, housing the venerable Denton, Cottier & Daniels music store in Buffalo and completed in 1908, was among the first buildings in the country to utilize steel frame construction and poured concrete slabs.

Overall, she and her partners — William R. Fuchs and her husband, Robert Armour Bethune — contributed 180 buildings to Buffalo and New England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bethune supervised the construction of many of these projects, biking to and from the work sites each day.

It was a pivotal time for Buffalo, which had become a hotbed of construction in the wake of an economic boom that had been set off in the first half of the century by the opening of the Erie Canal.

"Buffalo was founded on a rich tradition of architectural experimentation," the architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote in The New York Times in 2008. "The architects who worked here were among the first to break with European traditions to create an aesthetic of their own, rooted in American ideals about individualism, commerce and social mobility."

Perhaps most notably, Bethune's firm contributed to the design of the Hotel Lafayette, a seven-story, French Renaissance-style building that opened in 1904. Lauded for its fireproof construction and size, the hotel, considered one of the most luxurious in the country at the time, was so successful when it opened that newspapers devoted entire pages to describing its interior and exterior details. The firm Bethune, Bethune & Fuchs worked on an expansion of the hotel in 1912.

Like many industrial plants and other large-scale buildings in the North, the Hotel Lafayette fell into disrepair in the late 20th century. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 and restored to its original grandeur two years later, spurring a revitalization of Buffalo's downtown.

Bethune was 57 when she died in Buffalo on Dec. 18, 1913. The cause was kidney problems, according to local news outlets.

Her success was borne of a determination to make it as a businesswoman and architect in a cramped field dominated by men. She opened her firm when she was just 25, refusing to focus solely on residential design — the worst paid work for an architect at the time, though female architects would remain mostly limited to it for decades to come.

"Professionally speaking, women architects have yet to get out of the kitchen," the architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote in The Times in 1977 in an article about women in the profession that cited Bethune's success. "They are chained, tied and condemned to the house."

Early on, Bethune preached that a woman should not shy away from any aspect of the profession. She advocated for women's rights and equal pay and closely tracked the admission of women to architecture schools, seeing them as a foundation for women of the future to emulate.

"The future of woman in the architectural profession is what she herself sees fit to make it," Bethune said in a speech to the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Buffalo in 1891. "It is often proposed that she become exclusively a dwelling house architect. Pity her, and withdraw the suggestion. A specialist should become so from intrinsic fitness, not from extrinsic influence."

Jennie Louise Blanchard was born on July 21, 1856, in Waterloo, N.Y., west of Syracuse, to Dalson and Emma (Williams) Blanchard, both schoolteachers. After living for a time in Alexander and Hanover, also in western New York, the family settled in Buffalo.

Bethune loved design from a young age. Her classmates at Buffalo High School teased her for constantly drawing houses. But their caustic remarks sparked her to go only deeper into the subject, and "in a spirit of playful self-defense" she soon made her hobby "an absorbing interest," according to an 1893 book, "A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life."

After graduating from high school in 1874, Bethune planned to attend Cornell University's four-year architecture program — the first of its kind in the United States — but instead she accepted an apprentice role under the architect Richard Waite. (At the time, it was common for young architects to receive formal training through hands-on experience.) She then worked part-time for F.W. Caulkins, another Buffalo-based practitioner, and studied architecture in her spare time.

Historians believe Bethune was welcomed into the profession more than most women in part because of her parents' status as well-respected teachers and educators in Buffalo, where her father became a school principal.

"Virtually all women that I've researched since Bethune had serious issues getting professional experience because of their gender," Kate Reggev, an architect and historian at the New York-based firm of Beyer Blinder Belle, said by email, "so the apparent ease of her finding these positions was very unusual." But, she added, "the assumption was that she would stop once she got married and started a family." Instead of putting her career on pause for domestic life, Bethune embraced both. She married Robert A. Bethune shortly after opening her firm in late 1881, and the couple joined forces, originally naming their firm R.A. & L. Bethune. They had their only child, Charles, in 1883.

In 1885, Bethune was elected unanimously as the first female member of the Western Association of Architects, championed by, among others, the influential Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. She then helped found the Buffalo Society of Architects (now the American Institute of Architects Buffalo/WNY), and at age 30 she became the A.I.A.'s first female fellow.

Of all the buildings that Bethune designed, educational facilities were her favorite. For several years in the 1880s, her firm was part of a cohort that helped design Buffalo's public schools, setting standards for educational architecture throughout the country. They incorporated indoor plumbing, stairs that served as a fire egress and smaller classrooms in which children could be separated by age.

One of the most decisive moments of Bethune's career came in 1891, when she was asked to enter a design competition for the Women's Building, an exhibition space planned for the forthcoming World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Though it was the type of commission that would have put her firm on the map, she refused to enter the competition, citing her disgust with the paltry winner's prize for women, $1,000, compared with the men's prize, $10,000. Furthermore, women were competing to design just one building while 13 buildings were reserved for men.

The opportunity, however, would have given her a chance at national recognition. "She was definitely angry, irritated and a little heartbroken over this decision," Kelly Hayes McAlonie, an architect and historian at the University at Buffalo who is writing a book on Bethune, said in an interview. "It stayed with her for the rest of her life."

Louise Blanchard Bethune was the first woman to practice as a professional architect in the United States. She participated in the design of approximately 180 buildings in the Buffalo and New England areas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first woman member of the AIA and the first woman to be honored as an AIA Fellow, Bethune founded the AIA Buffalo/ Western New York Chapter.

Jennie Louise Blanchard was born on July 21, 1856 in Waterloo, NY to a family of educators. Louise was taught at home until aged 11, when she attended school in Buffalo, NY, after her family moved to the city. From girlhood she had an interest in architecture and designing houses. She later stated that a “caustic remark” made to her while in high school directed her attention to the study of architecture and “an investigation, which was begun in a spirit of playful self-defense, soon became an absorbing interest”. (1) After graduating from Buffalo High School in 1874 she spent two years preparing to attend the newly opened Cornell University architecture program. However, in 1876 she was offered a position as an apprentice at the office of Richard Waite, the most prominent architect in Buffalo, which she accepted. After five years of hard work and self-directed study she was ready to break out on her own.</p> <p>In October, 1881 she opened her own practice. Former Richard Waite colleague, Robert Bethune, soon joined her and they were married in December of that year. In 1885, Louise Bethune applied for membership to the Western Association of Architects (WAA) and was unanimously elected. Bethune was immediately placed on the committee of the organization of State Associations, as the first and only member from New York State in the WAA. The following year, she and Robert organized the Buffalo Society of Architects (now AIA Buffalo/WNY), and she served as vice president and treasurer of the Chapter. In 1888, Bethune was the first woman elected to the American Institute of Architects. When the WAA and the AIA merged in 1889, Bethune became the AIA’s first woman fellow.

The firm designed houses, schools, police stations, factories and commercial buildings. Bethune took special interest in school design, probably because her parents were both teachers. Beginning in 1881, the Buffalo Public Schools District embarked upon an ambitious master plan under the direction of progressive Superintendent James Crooker. Bethune &amp; Bethune Architects successfully competed with other more established firms. They designed 18 schools during the history of the firm. In 1893, Bethune noted that although she particularly enjoyed educational design, she did not specialize because she felt that it was her duty as the first professional woman architect to demonstrate capacity in all facets of architectural practice. In 1891, William Fuchs, their protégé and longtime draftsman, became the third partner, and the firm was renamed Bethune, Bethune &amp; Fuchs Architects.</p> <p>In 1891, Bethune was asked to submit a design for the women’s competition for the Women’s Building of the Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Such a commission was expected to catapult the career of its architect. Bethune refused to submit an entry because the winning fee was much lower than the commission fee for male architects of the other Exposition buildings. She stated:</p> <p>“The idea of a separate Woman’s Board expresses a sense of inferiority that business women are far from feeling… It is unfortunate that it should be revived in its most objectionable form on this occasion by women and for women.” (2)

Bethune’s opportunity to create a nationally significant building came in the early 1900’s with the commission for the Lafayette Hotel. Located in downtown Buffalo, the seven story, 225 room Renaissance Revival hotel featured hot and cold water in all bathrooms and telephones in all rooms, was praised as “the best that science, art and experience can offer for the traveling public.” When it opened in 1904, it was considered one of the fifteen finest hotels in the country and was copied elsewhere. (3) An expansion was planned immediately after opening, which was also designed by Bethune, Bethune &amp; Fuchs, which opened in 1912. Bethune supervised the construction of both the original building and the addition.

Bethune discontinued her AIA membership in 1904. She devoted her spare time in the last decade of her on the Buffalo Genealogy Club, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the New England Historical Society. Louise Blanchard Bethune died on December 18, 1913 at the age of 57 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Her obituary stated that she was particularly proud of her work on the Lafayette Hotel in Buffalo.


(1) Frances E Willard &amp; Mary A. Livermore Woman of the Century (Buffalo: Moulton,, 1893), 81.

(2) Louise Bethune, “Women and Architecture,“ Inland Architect and News Record 17, no. 2 (1891).</p> <p>(3) Torre, Women in American Architecture, 62.</p>

Jennie Louise Blanchard Bethune was born on July 21, 1856, in Waterloo, NY, to a family of educators. Louise was taught at home until she was 11 when she attended school in Buffalo, NY. She later stated that a “caustic remark” made to her in high school directed her attention to the study of architecture, and “an investigation, which was begun in a spirit of playful self-defense, soon became an absorbing interest.”

Her independent nature and strength of character enabled her to overcome obstacles in achieving her goal of becoming an architect. After graduating from Buffalo High School in 1874, she spent two years preparing to attend the newly opened Cornell University architecture program. However, in 1876 she was offered a position as an apprentice at the office of Richard Waite, one of the most prominent architecture firms in Buffalo, which she accepted.

In October 1881, she opened her own practice. Former Richard Waite colleague Robert Bethune soon joined her, and they were married in December of that year. In 1891, William Fuchs, a longtime draftsman with the firm, became the third partner. Bethune &amp; Bethune (and later Bethune, Bethune &amp; Fuchs) were practicing during an auspicious time both for Buffalo. The city was rapidly growing because of the economic boom caused by the opening of the Erie Canal. The firm designed many types of buildings: institutional, commercial, industrial, hospitality, and residential, as required by their clients and the needs of the local market.

In 1885, Louise Bethune successfully applied for membership to the Western Association of Architects (WAA), becoming its first woman member. The following year, she organized the Buffalo Society of Architects (now AIA Buffalo/WNY) and served as vice president and treasurer of the Chapter. In 1888, Bethune was the first woman elected to the American Institute of Architects. When the WAA and the AIA merged in 1889, Bethune became the AIA’s first woman fellow.</p> <p>Bethune took a special interest in school design, probably because her parents were both teachers. Beginning in 1881, the Buffalo Public Schools District embarked upon an ambitious master plan under the direction of progressive Superintendent James Crooker. Bethune &amp; Bethune Architects successfully competed and designed many of these projects.

Bethune made national news when she refused to submit an entry in 1891 for the design competition for the Women’s Building of the Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Such a commission was expected to catapult the career of its architect. Even so, Bethune refused to submit an entry because the winning fee of $1,000 was much lower than the commission fee for male architects of the other Exposition buildings, which was $10,000. In her view, “complete emancipation lies in ‘equal pay for equal service.’”

Bethune’s opportunity to create a nationally significant building came in the early 1900s with the commission for the Lafayette Hotel. Located in downtown Buffalo, the French Renaissance Revival hotel was praised as the best that science, art, and experience can offer for the traveling public. When it opened in 1904, it was considered one of the fifteen finest hotels in the country.

Louise was a founding Buffalo Women’s Wheel and Athletic Club member. She was the first woman to own a bicycle in Buffalo at the cost of $150 in 1891. Women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony stated that “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”

Bethune was also a member of the Buffalo Genealogy Club, the Buffalo Historical Society, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Louise Blanchard Bethune died on December 18, 1913 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Her obituary stated that she was particularly proud of her work at the Lafayette Hotel in Buffalo.