BY FRANCA TRUBIANO, PhD., OAQ.
EDUCATING WOMEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA (1950-1977):
THE ‘OTHER’ PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL
MIMI LOBELL, STANISLAVA NOWICKI, AND BLANCHE LEMCO
Some stories are well-known because they are often repeated. One such local story reminds us of the passing of architect Louis Kahn who on March 17th, 1974, in transit between India and Philadelphia, suffered a fatal heart attack at Penn Station in New York City. One can only imagine how arduous his travel must have been from Ahmedabad to Mumbai to London, and to New York. Sadly, his body was identified by police using his passport, and the news of his passing made the front page of the New York Times. Obituaries written by Paul Goldberger and Ada Louise Huxtable memorialized his work and influence on an entire generation of architects. As Goldberger noted, Kahn had been on his way home “to meet his Monday morning class in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.”
22 FALL 2021 | context | AIA Philadelphia
