The Netherlands' First Women Architects

248 pages, English

'Compliments to our brave architect!' contributes to the inclusiveness of architecture history by providing a comprehensive overview of the first female architects in the Netherlands. Margaret Staal-Kropholler (1891-1966), known as the first female architect in the Netherlands, completed her first project in 1917, without ever finishing her studies. In the same year, Grada Wolffensperger (1887-1965) became the first woman to obtain a university degree in architecture. After Wolffensperger, 20 other women graduated in architecture before 1945. Why and how did these women become architects at a time when women were expected to take care of the family and the home? What was their training like, and what was it like to work in a male-dominated world?