Josephine Wright Chapman

Josephine Wright Chapman (1867–1943) was a pioneering woman architect, one of fewer than 100 practicing nationally in the first half of the 20th century. She was also the first woman architect "in the history of American architecture to start and head her very own firm," which she accomplished at the tail end of the 19th century. she was refused admission by both the American Institute of Architects and the Boston Architectural Club on the basis of her gender.

Career Chapman's architectural education began in 1892 when Clarence Blackall agreed to let her apprentice under him. "The commission that made her reputation would be the New England Building at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She began design work on it as soon as the announcement of the contest for the building appeared in the papers." By the start of the 20th century, Chapman had six drafters, including one woman, at her firm. There, she opened a firm at Washington Square Park, focusing on residential design.

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Designs Craigie Hall / Craigie Arms, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1897) All Saints Episcopal church, Attleboro, Mass. (c. 1900) Episcopal church, Leominster, Mass. (c. 1900) New England Building, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York, 1901 Worcester Woman's Club / Tuckerman Hall, Worcester, Mass. (1902) New Century Building, Huntington Ave., Boston (c. 1903) Hillandale, Georgetown, Washington DC (1922) Houses, Douglas Manor, Queens, NY (c. 1916)

Personal Chapman was described as "modest, direct, simple," with "ability, energy, and indomitable faith in herself." (Ladies Home Journal, October 1914). Raised in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Chapman was one of four daughters to Mary E. Wright and James Levi Chapman, the president of the Fitchburg Machine Works. Miss Chapman retired in 1925 and moved to Paris. She later went to England, where her London home was destroyed in the aerial blitz of 1940. She then moved to Bradford-on-Avon.