Marion Mahony and Millikin Place:

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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Marion Mahony and Millikin Place Gender,
Erasure, and Architectural Attribution Elizabet
h Birmingham North Dakota State University
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Millikin Place, 1910 Marion Mahony, Architect
Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Millikin Place Gates Decatur, Illinois
1910 Hieronymous Mueller's sons recognized the
genius of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and hired
his firm to design their homes, which still stand
in Decatur's Millikin Place. One of America's
first prominent women architects, Marion Mahoney
sic also worked on the designs of these
beautiful homes . . ."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Marion Mahony has been frequently relegated to a
supporting role in discussions of the work of
Wright and Griffin. Quite apart from her
architectural work, the simple facts of her life
have been treated with a disregard verging on
contempt. . . . This appalling record of
scholarship places Marion's story on another
plane, demonstrating, if any proof is needed, the
precarious position of a woman isolated in a
patriarchal world. James Weirick, 1987
Marion Lucy Mahony C. 1893
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
MaRion Mahony (1871-1961) Marion
Mahony Griffin and Kitty Wright, 1895 Photo by
Frank Lloyd Wright
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937) W
alter Burley Griffin, Sydney Australia C. 1930
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin Sydney
Australia C. 1927
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Melson House Mason City, Iowa 1913 Marion Mahony
and Walter Burly Griffin
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Argument There is a long history of women in
architecture but womens contributions to
architecture are ignored, undermined and erased
by those who write the histories of architecture.
This happens because these historians are
unwilling to interrogate the ways in which their
habits of scholarship shape the histories they
write Denial of collaboration Inability
to view women as Architects Attribution based
on Habit rather than research
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
The interior decoration was somewhat bizarre and
was probably the work of Marion Mahony Griffin,
who was frequently responsible for the interior
decor and furniture design for Griffin's
buildings. The plan of the theater itself,
however, was perfectly logical and met the needs
of cinemas. . .
Ceiling, Capitol Theater, 1921-1924
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Marion did manage to imbue it with the exotic
flavor of Wright's work" Church of All
Souls Evanston, Illinois 1902-1904 Demolished
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Amberg house GrandRapids, MI 1910 . . .
it was entirely designed by Marion and one is
inclined to agree, if only on account of the
numerous esthetic mistakes Wright would have
avoided."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Consistent architectural conceptualization and
innovation were beyond her.
Ceiling, Capitol Theater, 1921-1924 Detail
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Capitol Theater, Foyer, 1921-1924
she was an isolated planner of decorative
detail, but not an architect . . .
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Mahonys architectural style must be labeled
derivative, but essentially decorative. Café
Australia Melbourne 1916
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Feminisms and Rhetorics

She was a gifted designer, perhaps more artist
than architect.
Capitol Theater, 1921-1924 Interior stairway
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Superficially at least, the appearance of these
works suggests a highly personal, well-developed
design maturity. . . .But to hypothesize, it is
probably true that she lacked the imaginative
mind to create a wide and rich variety of
outstanding designs.
Capitol Theater, 1921-1924 Interior stairway
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
But her own work prior to her marriage was
inconsistent, lacked restraint, and was not
architecturally rationalized. . . Church of
All Souls Evanston, Illinois 1902-1904 Demolished

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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Irving House Millikin Place, 1910 Marion Mahony,
Architect
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Adolph Mueller house Decatur, Illinois
1910 "the Mueller Houses were later published as
the work of von Holst and Mahony, they are most
certainly Wright's.
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Feminisms and Rhetorics

Robert Mueller house Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
Solid, mature Examples of Wrights Prairie
House..
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Robert Mueller house Decatur, Illinois
1910 "Griffin's contribution to these designs was
therefore probably in excess of the landscaping."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Their close personal and professional
association while working on the Millikin Place
houses appears to explain how these designs
proved to be so successful. The only conclusion
is that Griffin assisted to the point of being
the principal author, although the superb
interiors and exquisitely detailed furniture can
confidently be credited to Marion.
Irving House, Dining Room, 1910 Marion Mahony,
Architect
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
there is no evidence that her talents extended
to the design of buildings. A superb draftsman
and artist, highly skilled in the decorative arts
and interior design, she was nevertheless
extremely limited as a designing architect.
Blue Print with Built-in Furniture Irving house
Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur, Illinois
1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
The Robert Mueller house does indeed have a
sophistication in plan detail suggesting the
master.
Robert Mueller house Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Adolph Mueller house, Rear Decatur, Illinois
1910 Griffin must have had a great deal of
influence on the design of at least this house.
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Interior Irving house Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Irving house, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910 "Wright had completed
the working drawings for the Irving house."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Irving house, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910 it seems quite
certain that Wright's participation extended well
beyond the 'original sketch' if only because of
the pleasing proportions and total harmony of the
parts.
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Even such details as the leaded glass seem
subject to his control, although that would have
been one of the last things designed. Irvi
ng house Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur,
Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Rug Designs, Lower Level Irving house Marion
Mahony, Architect Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Furniture, Photo From The Western Architect,
1913 Irving house Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910 Mahony Griffin
"probably assisted with the furniture."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
"The design, including its remarkably open
interior planning, deserves to rank among
Wright's most brilliant achievements. . . "
Interior Irving house Marion Mahony,
Architect Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
"When the absent architect didn't bother to
answer anything that was sent over to him, the
relations were broken and I entered into
partnership with von Holz and Fyfe. For that
period I had great fun designing. Interior Irvi
ng house Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur,
Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Piano Designed for Irving house, Marion
Mahony, Architect Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Fireplace Rendering, Irving house Marion
Mahony, Architect Decatur, Illinois
1910 "Though Frank Lloyd Wright completed most
of the design for the E.P. Irving residence, his
protégé, Prairie School architect Marion Mahony
made some minor design changes."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Robert Mueller house Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910 "Perhaps the reason
for this is that Wright left behind some
elevation drawings which Mahony utilized."
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Adolph Mueller House, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910 what the Adolph
Mueller house resembles most closely are houses
in Walter Burley Griffin's early style.
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
It would seem, therefore, that beginning in the
autumn of 1910 Marion Mahony, then attracted to
Walter Burley Griffin and drawn to his
architecture, switched aesthetic models from
Wright to Griffin. Interior Adolph
Mueller House, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
"she was unable to elude the overpowering
forcefulness, first of Wright's conceptions, then
of Griffin's." Interior Adolph Mueller
House, Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur,
Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Mahony Griffin's architecture is "satisfactory in
a parochial sense. Interior Adolp
h Mueller House, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
"Reluctantly perhaps we come back full circle to
Marion as an artist rather than Marion as an
architect. . . Interior Adolph Mueller
House, Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur,
Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
The strong vertical surfaces and sophisticated
planning of the Mueller house are evidence of a
mature and sure designer." Interior Adolph
Mueller House, Marion Mahony, Architect
Decatur, Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
"Some researchers credit her with more
significance than others, often according to
gender lines. Interior Adolph Mueller
House, Marion Mahony, Architect Decatur,
Illinois 1910
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Feminisms and Rhetorics
Men build, women decorate.