Beatrice Hutton

Beatrice Hutton

Beatrice Hutton, ca. 1916
Born 1893
Died 7 October 1990
Nationality Australian
Occupation Architect

Beatrice Hutton (1893 – 1990), also known as Bea Hutton was an Australian architect. On 30 October 1916, she became the first female to be accepted into an institute of architects in Australia, following the rejection of earlier female applicants, including Florence Taylor in 1907, on the grounds of being female.

Life and work

She did not undertake any formal architectural education, but began her training in Rockhampton firstly, in her father’s surveying office, and later, in the architectural office of Edwin Morton Hockings.

Her career progressed, following her move to Sydney in 1916, where her work focussed mainly on residential projects, as well as the New South Wales Masonic Club building (1927) and Sirius House in Macquarie Place. Her belief was that women had a valuable contribution to make in the design of the residential realm, and it is for her residential work, in Rockhampton and Sydney, that she is best known.

In 1933, her career was cut short, due to her father’s failing health, and she moved back to Rockhampton to care for him and her aging mother.

After the passing of her father, Hutton focussed on her interest in the arts and crafts, exhibiting and selling her work in a studio she opened with her mother, called ‘The Glory Box’, in Brisbane. In her later life, she continued to develop her craft work, with a brief return to architecture practice in 1940.

She died on the 7th October in 1990 and is commemorated by the Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture given by the Australian Institute of Architects Queensland Chapter, the Beatrice Hutton room in the Rockhampton Art Gallery, and the Beatrice Hutton House of Capricornia College, in Central Queensland University, Rockhampton.

Projects

References

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