A project to (re)discover America’s first female solo architect.

Minerva Parker Nichols was the first woman in the United States to practice architecture independently. Renowned (and prolifically productive) in her day, Minerva has been largely forgotten in the decades since her death. The archive of her work is fragmentary and incomplete, shining a light on the ways in which women’s contributions to the built environment remain under-documented in architectural histories. This ongoing research project seeks to reconstruct her full portfolio, retrace her professional trajectory, and reconsider her legacy.

Cover video/Photograph by Kaitlyn Levesque