The first woman to become a member of American Institute of Architects’ New York chapter wasn’t formally trained as an architect.
Instead, Katherine Cotheal Budd (born in 1860 in Clinton, Iowa), had studied art and design at the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art (Long Island) from 1891 to 1894. After that, she studied with William R. Ware, an architect who also taught at Columbia University. She achieved her AIA membership in 1924.
The Howey Mansion, Howey-in-the-Hills
Ms. Budd is notable for designing the Howey Mansion, built in 1925 for citrus magnate William J. Howey and his wife, Mary Grace Hastings Howey. The house “is a great example of the Mediterranean Revival architecture that appeared during the state’s land boom era” (Dykstra).
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| Howey House, circa 1925 |
The mansion’s twenty-room interior featured high ceilings, original hand-painted tiles, and a grand staircase. Florida’s elite attended the glamorous parties held beneath the red tile roofing. Even Calvin Coolidge was a guest!
Though the house fell into disrepair over the decades, the magnificent house has been restored and was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Harry C. Duncan House, Tavares
Ms. Budd also designed a historic home in Tavares which is considered “one of the best examples of the Colonial Revival style in Florida” (Duncan). This mansion, built for Harry C. Duncan, a prominent community leader, was added to the National Register in 1997. Mr. Duncan was a colleague of William Howey—in fact, he helped persuade Mr. Howey to move to Lake County where both these homes are located.
Legacy
Though she maintained her architectural practice in New York City, Ms. Budd often traveled to Europe. She lived in Florida from about 1926 to 1928, apparently staying in the Sunshine State for health reasons after her two major commissions. During her long career, Ms. Budd designed hospitals, churches, and more than a hundred houses.
She also teamed up with other notable women architects to design Hostess Houses for American military camps during World War I. The YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) commissioned these newly constructed buildings to provide a comfortable place where soldiers could entertain their families and “as places for women to gain experience in managing complex and relatively large institutions” (Brandimarte).
Ms. Budd was not only a talented architect. She also wrote articles focusing on kitchen, pantry, and Japanese design for such journals as American Homes and Gardens, Architectural Record, and Country Life.
In 1940, Ms. Budd moved to Tucson where she taught arts and crafts as a Girl Scouts volunteer. She died, at age 90, in 1951.
Your Turn ~ Which architectural style do you prefer--Mediterranean Revival (the Howey Mansion) or Colonial Revival (the Duncan House)?
More Info
This site has amazing photos of Howey Mansion’s interior and details more of its history ~ https://abandonedfl.com/howey-mansion/.
More info about Ms. Budd and the Hostess Houses, including photos, can be found at this site ~ https://misspreservation.com/2016/03/16/seven-years-the-hostess-house-and-the-female-architect-and-mississippi/.
Photos
Harry C. Duncan House ~ https://web.archive.org/web/20101215202455/http:/dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=FullImage&id=897
Harry C. Duncan House ~ By Ebyabe ~ Own work, CC BY 2.5, ~ https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1841470.
Howey House, circa 1925 ~ Florida Memory offers all images under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0 (PDM 1.0). This indicates that the images are free from all known copyright restrictions. For more information, please visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.
Howey Mansion, Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida ~ Ebyabe via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
Brandimarte, Cynthia. "Women on the Home Front Hostess Houses during World War I." https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/592789. (Accessed April 6, 2025.)
Dykstra, Jon. "15 of the Finest Historic Mansions in Florida (Gilded Age South)." https://www.homestratosphere.com/historic-mansions-florida/. (Posted November 17, 2024; accessed January 2, 2025).
Harry C. Duncan House. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_C._Duncan_House. (Accessed April 6, 2025).
Thanks for posting today. I think I prefer the Duncan house. I'm going a bit crazy this morning trying to go back and forth between the reference photos.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd had the chance to go visit each of them, though I believe the Duncan House is a private residence. Always so glad to hear from you!
ReplyDelete