Marion Mahony Griffin

Marion Mahony Griffin (Marion Lucy Mahony; February 14, 1871 – August 10, 1961) was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in the United States developed and expanded the American Prairie School, and her work in India and Australia reflected Prairie School ideals of indigenous landscape and materials in the newly formed democracies. The scholar Debora Wood stated that Griffin "did the drawings people think of when they think of Frank Lloyd Wright (one of her collaborating architects)." According to architecture critic, Reyner Banham, Griffin was "America’s (and perhaps the world’s) first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men."

She produced some of the finest architectural drawing in America and Australia, and was instrumental in envisioning the design plans for the capital city of Australia, Canberra.

Early life and education
Mahony was born in 1871 in Chicago, Illinois, to Jeremiah Mahony, a journalist, poet, and teacher from Cork, Ireland, and Clara Hamilton, a schoolteacher.

Her family moved to nearby Winnetka in 1880 after the Great Chicago Fire. In her memoir, Mahony vividly describes her mother carrying her as an infant in a clothes basket, as they escape from the fire. At age 11, Mahony's father committed suicide, which resulted in her mother taking on the job of a school principal to take care of her children. Growing up in Winnetka, she became fascinated by the quickly disappearing landscape as suburban homes filled the area. She was influenced by her first cousin, architect Dwight Perkins, and decided to further her education. She studied architecture and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in 1894. She was the second woman to do so, after Sophia Hayden, the designer of the Woman's building at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. Though highly talented, she sometimes struggled with her place in both society and the field. She was unsure of her ability to complete the thesis required for her bachelor's degree, but her professor, Constant-Désiré Despradelle, pushed her forward.

Work with Frank Lloyd Wright
After graduation, Mahony returned to Chicago, where she became the first woman to be licensed to practice architecture in Illinois. She worked in her cousin's architecture firm, which was located in Steinway Hall at 64 E. Van Buren in downtown Chicago. The space was shared with many other architects, including Robert C. Spencer, Myron Hunt, Webster Tomlinson, Irving Pond and Allen Bartlett Pond, Adamo Boari, Birch Long and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1895, Mahony, the first employee hired by Frank Lloyd Wright, went to work designing buildings, furniture, stained glass windows, and decorative panels. Her beautiful watercolor renderings of buildings and landscapes became known as a staple of Wright's style, though she was never given credit by the famous architect. Over a century later she would be known as one of the greatest delineators of the architecture field, but during her life, her talent was seen as only an extension of the work done by male architects. She was associated with Wright's studio for almost fifteen years and was an important contributor to his reputation, particularly for the influential Wasmuth Portfolio, for which Mahony has "contributed nearly half [of the drawings] which appear attributable." Architectural writer Reyner Banham called her the "greatest architectural delineator of her generation." Her rendering of the K. C. DeRhodes House in South Bend, Indiana, was praised by Wright upon its completion and by many critics.

Wright understated the contributions of others of the Prairie School, Mahony included. A clear understanding of Marion Mahony's contribution to the architecture of the Oak Park Studio comes from Wright's son, John Lloyd Wright, who says that William Drummond, Francis Barry Byrne, Walter Burley Griffin, Albert Chase McArthur, Marion Mahony, Isabel Roberts and George Willis were the draftsmen—the five men and two women who each made valuable contributions to Prairie-style architecture for which Wright became famous. During this time Mahony designed the Gerald Mahony Residence (1907) in Elkhart, Indiana for her brother and sister-in-law.



When Wright eloped to Europe with Mamah Borthwick Cheney in 1909, he offered the Studio's work to Mahony but she declined. After Wright had gone, Hermann V. von Holst, who had taken on Wright's commissions, hired Mahony with the stipulation that she would have control of the design. In this capacity, Mahony was the architect for a number of commissions Wright had abandoned. Two examples were the first (unbuilt) design for Henry Ford's Dearborn mansion, Fair Lane and the Amberg House in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Work with Walter Burley Griffin
Mahony recommended Walter Burley Griffin to von Holst to develop landscaping for the area surrounding the three houses commissioned from Wright in Decatur, Illinois. Griffin was a fellow architect, a fellow ex-employee of Wright, and a leading member of the Prairie School of architecture. Mahony and Griffin worked on the Decatur project before their marriage; afterward, Mahony worked in Griffin's practice. A Walter Burley Griffin/Marion Mahony designed development that is home to an outstanding collection of Prairie School dwellings, Rock Crest – Rock Glen in Mason City, Iowa, is seen as their most dramatic American design development of the decade. It is the largest collection of Prairie Style homes surrounding a natural setting.

Mahony and Griffin married in 1911, a partnership that lasted 26 years. Mahony's watercolor perspectives of Griffins' design for Canberra, the new Australian capital, were instrumental in securing first prize in the international competition for the plan of the city. Walter was oppointed Director of Design and Construction of Canberra. In 1914 the couple moved to Australia to oversee the building of Canberra. Mahony managed the Sydney office and was responsible for the design of their private commissions. Cafe Australia, Newman College, and Capitol Theatre were three architectural structures worked on by Mahony. In Australia, Mahony and Griffin was introduced to Anthroposophy and the ideas of Rudolf Steiner which they embraced enthusiastically, and in Sydney they joined the Anthroposophy Society. In Australia, they pioneered the Knitlock construction method, inexactly emulated by Wright in his California textile block houses of the 1920s. Following the completion of the construction of Capitol Theatre in 1924, Marion and her husband moved to Castlecrag and furthered its community development.

Walter was asked to create a design for a library for the University of Lucknow in India, and went to the college in September 1935, and soon gained several other commissions. Marion arrived in April 1936, and soon took charge of the office, where she oversaw the design of many buildings. While Mahony had been semiretired in Australia after the move to Castlecrag, the move to India had reinvirgorated her interest in architecture. Less than a year later, in Feb 1937. Walter died of peritonitis following a cholecystectomy. Mahony then wound up the office, leaving many projects unbuilt, and returned to Australia. Mahony and Griffin spread the Prairie Style to two continents, far from its origins. She credited Louis Sullivan as the impetus for the Prairie School philosophy. She thought Wright's habit of taking credit for the movement explained its early death in the United States.

Death and legacy


Marion Mahony Griffin did not stay long in Australia after Walter's death. By then in her late 60s, she returned to the United States and afterward was largely retired from her architectural career. "The one time she addressed the Illinois Society of Architects, she made no mention of her work, instead lectured the crowd on anthroposophy, a philosophy of spiritual knowledge developed by Rudolf Steiner."

She did however spend the next twenty years working on a massive volume of 1,400 pages and 650 illustrations detailing her and Walter's working lives, which she titled "The Magic of America", which has yet to be formally published in book form. A manuscript deposited at the Art Institute of Chicago in c1949 was digitized, and since 2007 has been available online. In 2006 the National Library of Australia acquired a large collection of the Griffins' work including drawings, photographs, silk paintings and ephemera from the descendants of the Griffins’ Australian partner Eric Milton Nicholls.

Marion Mahony Griffin died in 1961 aged 90, and is buried in Graceland Cemetery.

In 2015, the beach at Jarvis Avenue in Rogers Park, Chicago was named in Mahony Griffin's honor. When she returned to the United States in 1939, after her husband's death, she lived near the beach. The Australian Consul-General, Roger Price, attended the beach's dedication for the woman who was instrumental in the design the Australian capital.

Among the few works attributed to Mahony that survive in the United States is a small mural in George B. Armstrong elementary school in Chicago attributed to Mahony, and several homes in Decatur.

Aside from her architectural fame, she also explored poetry with themes related to the relationship between nature and architecture, the impact of the built environment on individuals, and her reflections on the role of women in the society of her time. Her poetry showcased her deep appreciation for art and her unique perspective on the world.

The Australian Institute of Architects, NSW Chapter, honored her work with an annual award, the Marion Mahony Griffin Prize, for a distinctive body of work by a female architect for architectural education, journalism, research, theory, a professional practice or built architectural work.

Exhibitions
1998–99: The Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in Sydney held an exhibition entitled "Beyond Architecture: Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin".

2013: An exhibition to celebrate the centenary of Canberra, held in the National Library of Australia and called "The Dream of a Century: the Griffins in Australia’s Capital", exhibited her drawings for the entire year.

2015: An exhibition of some of her work was held at the Block Museum of Northwestern University, Illinois, USA.

2016–17: An exhibition was held at the Elmhurst History Museum, Illinois, USA.

2020–2021: An exhibition at the Museum of Sydney entitled "Paradise on Earth".

2022: An exhibition at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra entitled "Marion: the other Griffin".

Architectural works

 * All Souls Church (demolished), Evanston, Illinois – 1901
 * The Gerald and Hattie Mahony Residence (demolished), Elkhart, Indiana – 1907
 * David Amberg Residence, 505 College Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan – 1909
 * Edward P. Irving Residence, 2 Millikin Place, Decatur, Illinois – 1909
 * Robert Mueller Residence, 1 Millikin Place, Decatur, Illinois – 1909
 * Adolph Mueller Residence, 4 Millikin Place, Decatur, Illinois – 1910
 * Niles Club Company, Club House, Niles, Michigan – 1911
 * Henry Ford Residence "FairLane" (unbuilt initial design; 1913)
 * Koehne House (demolished 1974), Palm Beach, Florida – 1914
 * Cooley Residence, Grand St. at Texas Avenue, Monroe, Louisiana
 * Design for a Suburban Residence Exhibit Plan 3.jpeg Room, Cafe Australia, Melbourne, Australia – 1916
 * Pholiota, 23 Glenard Drive, Eaglemont, Victoria (the Griffins own house) – 1920
 * Capitol Theatre, Swanston Street, Melbourne, Australia – 1921–1923
 * "Stokesay", residence of Mr. and Mrs. Onians, 289 Nepean Highway, Seaford, Victoria, Australia – 1925
 * Ellen Mower Residence, 12 The Rampart, Castlecrag, Sydney – 1926
 * Creswick Residence, Castlecrag, Sydney, Australia – 1926
 * S.R. Salter Residence (Knitlock construction), Toorak, Victoria, Australia – 1927
 * Vaughan Griffin Residence, 52 Darebin St., Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia – 1927

External links and additional readings

 * Pioneering Women of American Architecture, Marion Mahony Griffin
 * "Exhibit honors unsung architect Marion Mahony Griffin", Chicago Tribune, October 11, 2016
 * Marion Mahony Griffin, Digital Projects, New-York Historical Society
 * Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin architectural drawings, circa 1909–1937.Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
 * Biographical notes at MIT
 * Marion Mahony Griffin: Drawing the Form of Nature an exhibition of Mahony Griffin's graphic art at the Block Museum, Northwestern University, United States of America
 * The Magic of America: Electronic Edition online version of Marion Mahony Griffin's unpublished manuscript, made available through the Art Institute of Chicago
 * "Rediscovering a Heroine of Chicago Architecture", New York Times, January 1, 2008
 * [ CC-By-SA ]
 * National Archives of Australia
 * Willoughby City Council Heritage
 * Places Journal, Marion Mahony Griffin
 * National Library of Australia: Griffin and Early Canberra Collection
 * https://www.griffinsociety.org/marion-mahony-griffin/.
 * Kruty, Paul., and Paul E. Sprague. Marion Mahony and Millikin Place: Creating a Prairie School Masterpiece With the Help of Frank Lloyd Wright, Herman Von Holst, and Walter Burley Griffin. St. Louis, Mo.: Walter Burley Griffin Society of America, 2007.
 * Kruty, Paul., and Paul E. Sprague. Marion Mahony and Millikin Place: Creating a Prairie School Masterpiece With the Help of Frank Lloyd Wright, Herman Von Holst, and Walter Burley Griffin. St. Louis, Mo.: Walter Burley Griffin Society of America, 2007.
 * Kruty, Paul., and Paul E. Sprague. Marion Mahony and Millikin Place: Creating a Prairie School Masterpiece With the Help of Frank Lloyd Wright, Herman Von Holst, and Walter Burley Griffin. St. Louis, Mo.: Walter Burley Griffin Society of America, 2007.