Channel, Mary Brown, 1907-2006

Mary Ramsay Brown Channel was born December 8, 1907 to William Ambrose Brown and Mary Ramsay Brown of Portsmouth, VA.

She attended Randolph-Macon’s Woman's College earning a bachelor of Mathematics in 1929. Channel wanted to follow her brother to the University of Virginia to study architecture, but women were not accepted into the University's graduate programs at the time. She instead applied and was accepted to Cornell University School of Architecture.

Graduating second in her class in 1933, she was also the first woman to win the Baird Prize Competition Medal. The Baird Prize was a six day design competition held by Cornell for architecture students in their junior and senior years. Channel was awarded the second prize medal for her design of a “monumental aeration fountain for the city reservoir.”

Channel returned to Portsmouth, VA after graduation and began her career with the Norfolk architecture firm Rudolph, Cooke and Van Leeuwen. She drew no salary for her two years but gained valuable experience working with the team that designed the main post office in Norfolk as well as several other civic and organizational buildings. In 1935, Channel was one of three candidates in a class of five to pass the Virginia Examining Board’s licensing exam becoming Virginia’s first licensed female architect.

Following her licensure she opened her own practice. In October, 1941 she married local businessman Warren Henry Channel. After the birth of her first child she limited her practice to residences and churches. Channel retained her license until 1990 and was actively drawing plans into her eighties.

Channel designed structures throughout southeastern Virginia. Some of her projects include the Lafayette Square Arch housing the main entrance of the demolished American National Bank, the old Virginia Power Company Building on High Street, Channel Furniture Store in Greenbrier, numerous houses, church additions, and renovations.

She was recognized in October, 1987, at an occasion honoring Portsmouth’s local and statewide notables.

Mary Ramsay Brown Channel died on January 21, 2006. She was 98 years old.

From the guide to the Mary Brown Channel Architectural Collection, 1936-1978, bulk 1936-1950, (Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)