Marion Mahony Griffin

Marion Mahony Griffin and her husband Walter Burley Griffin (Sydney 1930)

Marion Lucy Mahony Griffin (born February 14, 1871 in Chicago , Illinois ; † August 10, 1961 , ibid) was an American artist and one of the world's first licensed architects . She worked closely with her husband, Walter Burley Griffin , who became known as the planner of the Australian capital, Canberra . Over a period of 28 years the Griffins designed over 350 buildings, landscaping and urban development projects together; They also designed new building materials, interior fittings, furniture and other household items.

Life

Mahony was only the second woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1894 to study architecture. Back in Chicago, she became an employee of Frank Lloyd Wright's company in 1895 . She designed furniture, stained glass and decorative elements and was responsible for the artistic design of the presentations at architecture competitions. The influential critic Reyner Banham described Mahony as "the best architectural draftsman of her generation".

When Frank Lloyd Wright unexpectedly moved to Europe in 1909, she oversaw the completion of numerous unfinished projects. These included Fair Lane , Henry Ford's mansion in Dearborn . On June 29, 1911, she married Walter Burley Griffin , a former Wright employee who had started his own business five years earlier.

In April 1911 the Australian government announced an international competition for the planning of the new capital Canberra . Walter Burley Griffin was declared the winner in May 1912. Two points were decisive: Whenever possible, he had adapted the urban structure to the existing topography, while all the other urban planners tried to change the natural surroundings in such a way that they met predefined aesthetic requirements. In addition, Marion Mahony Griffin painted numerous artistically appealing watercolors , which showed the future city from different angles; Griffin's design stood out from the mass of technical drawings.

In 1914 she moved to Australia after her husband was appointed director of planning there. While her husband was busy with the detailed planning of Canberra (until 1920), Marion Mahony Griffin planned numerous buildings in Melbourne and Sydney . In 1919, the Griffins founded the Greater Sydney Development Association (GSDA) and two years later they bought 259 hectares of land in North Sydney. The aim of the GSDA was to develop an idyllic community in an architectural style that is in harmony with the natural surroundings.

During the GSDA activity, the Griffins came into contact with the theosophy of the Adyar Theosophical Society in Sydney in 1926 . They made contact with a number of leading theosophists, Walter published several articles in the theosophical journal The Theosophist , but they did not join the society. The dissolution of the Order of the Star and the resulting discrepancies led to the Griffins becoming increasingly alienated from theosophy and closer to anthroposophy . In 1930 Marion Mahony Griffin joined the Anthroposophical Society , and in 1931 her husband Walter followed her example. In 1935, through contacts with anthroposophy, they secured the contract to build the university library in the Indian city ​​of Lucknow . Walter Burley Griffin died on February 11, 1937 after falling from scaffolding. His wife oversaw the completion of the projects that had started, closed the office in India and handed the Australian office over to her partner Eric Nicholls. She returned to Chicago in 1939 to design other construction projects. She also wrote her memoirs ; the more than 1000-page work The Magic of America was published in 1949.

Web links

• Biography on the Walter Burley Griffin Society website
• An ideal city? The 1912 Canberra design competition

Individual evidence

1. ^ Griffin Society - Introducing the Griffins
2. ↑ (Not) by Design. Utopian Moments in the Creation of Canberra ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.