Elizabeth Boyter

Elizabeth "Bess" Boyter was an American architect and draftswoman.

Early life and education Boyter was born to John and Catherine Boyter (nee Connell); her father John was a bank clerk and rancher. Before matriculating at Berkeley, she worked as a junior draftsman for Smith O'Brien, Architect, and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads as a highway draftsman. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, from 1921 to 1925, earning a B.A. in Architecture. While a student she became a member of the California chapter of Alpha Alpha Gamma, a national sorority for women architectural students that eventually became the Association for Women in Architecture + Design (AWA+D). After taking her degree she worked in the office of Julia Morgan, until she left in 1929 to find work in New York.

Mid-to-late career and death In New York Boyter worked at an architectural office for eight months and at the Otis Elevator Company, designing layouts for escalators, for two years.

Although she earned her license to practice architecture in New York in 1935, she returned to California shortly thereafter, where she found work at Ernest Born's office in San Francisco. She applied for and received her license to practice in California in 1937, and was noted at the time for being only the 11th woman to be licensed in Northern California.

During the Second World War she took courses on structural engineering aspects of civilian air raid protection, advanced personnel management, and industrial psychology at the Stanford University Engineering Science and Management War Training program.

Built projects

Van Meter Residence, Edwards Ave., Sausalito, CA, 1927 Eakin Residence, Cragmont Ave., Berkeley, CA, 1950