Abstract:
New Zealand women architects have been the subject of comparatively little scholarly reflection to date. This paper makes a contribution to this field by examining the life and career of Alison Shepherd (1898-1972), who grew up in Christchurch, became one of the Architectural Association's "pioneer women students" in the 1920s and is believed to have been the first New Zealand woman to attain RIBA membership. Following her 1928 marriage to fellow AA graduate J. C. (Jock) Shepherd (1896-1979), Alison spent her adult life in Britain. She maintained a career through marriage, motherhood, the Great Depression and the second world war, retiring in 1957. Career highlights include her contribution to the design of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon (1927-32) and the publication of more than 30 of her line drawings in one of John Summerson's best-known books, Georgian London (1945). More than simply documenting Alison Shepherd's life and work, this paper attempts to assess the impact her gender might have had on her career; to consider the relationships she might have shared with other expatriate New Zealand architects in Britain in the mid-twentieth century; and to locate her career within the broader context of burgeoning British modernism.
