ABSTRACT
The “Sarasota School of Architecture” (SSA) was a regional variation of modern architecture that thrived in southwest Florida, USA, 1940–1970. Architects of the SSA took their aesthetic cues from the modern architecture that had developed in 1920s Europe and adapted those forms to the tropical Florida climate. Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph, Carl Abbott, William Rupp, Frank Folsom Smith, and Jack West were recognized architects of that movement. Yet any contribution to the SSA by women—in any form—has been largely ignored and/or unwritten. This chapter seeks to balance this disparity by narrating the involvement in the SSA of a group of women: architect Elizabeth Boylston Waters (1926–2008); builder Ruth Richmond (1912–2007); retired architect and client Mary Hook (1877–1978); and the secretary and bookkeeper for SSA founder Ralph Twitchell, Lu Andrews (1926–2007). This study is not so much about how these women were excluded from the design and production of the cutting-edge new architecture that was taking place, but we are aiming at representation and greater rewriting of the history of the SSA. Through original research, the author seeks to lift the veil of obscurity for women’s contributions to the SSA and record them for the future.
