Drawing inspiration from women in design
02 What’s In
Weston Park House, Main Entrance. Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England.
By Shelly Dival, CF, Autism Design Specialist, Enabling Spaces, Toodyay, WA enablingspaces.com.au
In 1651, a young, English, aristocratic lady of 19 years married a Baronet. As was common in that period, she and her husband honeymooned on the continent. Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham, née Mytton, was interested in Architecture from a young age. As her husband, Sir Thomas Wilbraham, was it seems, quite proud of his wife’s intellect, their honeymoon turned into an architectural tour of Europe. This allowed Elizabeth to study in the Netherlands with Pieter Post, the cofounder of the Dutch Baroque style, and to study the buildings of Palladio in Italy. Three and a half centuries later, her place in history is being recognised. I was asked to say a few words at Design Matters National’s ‘Women in Design’ morning tea in Perth a few months ago, commemorating International Women’s Day. I thought to draw inspiration from notable women Architects from history and from a quick google, I came across Lady
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Elizabeth. The more I read, the more I found her fascinating! During our morning tea, we discussed issues facing us (and our male counterparts), such as registration for the Building Design profession. I quietly reflected on the differences in the struggles for women in design at different times in history. What did the Lady Elizabeths of earlier centuries need to do to practice what they undoubtedly loved doing? How would we feel if we couldn’t openly practice, as we do now? A strong case has been put forward by American scholar and architectural historian John Millar to show Lady Wilbraham has designed some well-known and famous buildings in England – something which is disputed by other historians, as many of these buildings have been credited to Sir Christopher Wren. There is the claim that more than 400 buildings (some say 800+) have
