Margaret Fulton Spencer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Fulton Spencer
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Margaret Alexina Harrison Fulton
September 26, 1882 |
| Died | January 1, 1966 (aged 83) Philadelphia
|
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Margaret Fulton, Margaret Spencer |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Spencer |
| Practice | Frank Miles Day |
| Projects | Rancho Las Lomas |
Margaret Fulton Spencer (1882–1966) was an important American architect and painter. She was one of the first women to become an architect in the United States. Margaret is famous for designing and building a unique vacation spot called Las Lomas Estates in Arizona. It was a "dude ranch" where people could stay and enjoy the desert. She was also the second woman ever to join the American Institute of Architects, a big group for architects.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Growing Up and School
Margaret Alexina Harrison Fulton was born on September 26, 1882. Her parents, Robert and Margaret Alexina Fulton, were a wealthy couple from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Margaret had two uncles who were painters, T. Alexander Harrison and L. Birge Harrison. Her family later moved to Santa Barbara, California.
In 1901, Margaret started college at Bryn Mawr College. She left after two years. She then studied painting at the New York School of Applied Design in 1904. She also spent summers studying art with her uncle Birge.
Becoming an Architect
Around 1908, Margaret began studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was the only woman in her class there. She earned her architecture degree from MIT in 1911. This made her one of the early American women architects. By 1912, she was working for an architect named Frank Miles Day in Philadelphia.
After college, Margaret continued to study painting. She learned from a landscape painter named William Langson Lathrop. He had started an art community near New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Marriage and Family Life
In 1913, Margaret met another artist named Robert Spencer. He was a painter in the Pennsylvania Impressionism style. Margaret was already engaged to someone else. However, a letter from her fiancé was not delivered to her. This made Margaret believe her fiancé had left her.
Because of this misunderstanding, she became engaged to Robert. They married in 1914. The couple settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania. They used Margaret's family money to build a house. They had two daughters, Margaret (called Tink) and Ann. Ann later became a painter too. Margaret found out about the missing letter years later. Her daughters said she was upset about the deception for the rest of her life.
Career as an Architect and Painter
Early Architectural Work
Early in her career, Margaret became very good at fixing up old farmhouses. These houses were often built with fieldstone. She also worked as an interior designer, helping to decorate the inside of buildings. She earned special licenses to work as an architect in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and later, Arizona. In 1929, she became the second woman to join the American Institute of Architects (AIA). This is a very important group for architects.
However, her husband Robert did not support her architectural career. So, even though she loved architecture, she focused more on painting while he was alive. She painted landscapes and still life pictures of flowers.
Challenges and Changes
Margaret and Robert's relationship was often difficult. It became so unhappy that they thought about getting a divorce. Margaret built her own separate art studio on their property in New Hope. It had a kitchen and bedroom. She would go there to paint alone for days. She later said that her years in New Hope were the hardest part of her life.
After her husband died in 1931, Margaret moved to Paris with her daughters. She went back to working as an architect, joining an American architectural firm. She also showed her paintings at the Paris Salon, which was a famous art show.
Building Rancho Las Lomas
In 1938, Margaret moved to Arizona. She bought 190 acres of desert land near Tucson. On this land, she designed and built a large group of 16 buildings. She used stone from the local area. Most of the buildings were one-story cottages. They were made to blend in with the desert landscape. There were also a few two-story towers. The buildings looked like the traditional architecture she had seen in Tunisia, Africa, which she admired. There is a story that she first drew the building plans in the dirt with a stick!
Margaret's design for this property was very different from the usual houses being built nearby. Her property was first called Las Lomas Estates. Later, it was renamed Rancho Las Lomas.
A Popular Dude Ranch
Spencer ran Las Lomas as a dude ranch. This meant people could come and stay there for vacations. The cottages became a popular place in the 1940s and 1950s. Famous people like Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Frank Lloyd Wright stayed there. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard even spent their honeymoon there. Margaret said that Frank Lloyd Wright liked her informal, strong buildings when he visited.
Margaret kept adding to the buildings over the years. Now, there are about 30 buildings there. In the late 1950s, she was still planning to add more houses. She wrote a book about her time at Las Lomas, which she called "Dudes and Dopes."
Today, the site is used for rental housing, often by artists and writers. In 2015, people were thinking about making it a National Register of Historic Places site. This would protect its history.
During her years in Arizona, Margaret also helped start a Tucson chapter of the AIA.
Margaret Fulton Spencer died on January 1, 1966, in Philadelphia.
Notable Buildings
- Chimney Hill Bed and Breakfast, 207 Goat Hill Road., Lamberville, NJ
- Law Office of Hunt & Faherty, 40 Delaware Avenue, Lambertville, NJ
- Isaac Clotheir House, alterations and additions, Gwynedd Valley, Montgomery County, PA.
- Las Lomas Estates (Rancho Las Lomas), near Tucson, AZ
See also
In Spanish: Margaret Fulton Spencer para niños
