As design and construction for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago got underway in 1891, a competition was launched to find a woman to design the Women’s Building. The winner would be compensated $1,000 as compared to the $10,000 awarded to the men appointed to design other Exposition buildings. In addition to earning a fraction of the pay, the female architect was expected to provide more services than her better-paid male colleagues.

While many things have improved for female architects since 1891, pay is still inequitable. Full-time female employees were paid on average just 77.6% of what their male architectural colleagues earned in 2019. The best way to change this inequity in compensation? Pay transparency.

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter (1869-1958) worked as an architect and decorator for the Fred Harvey hospitality company that in turn worked for the Santa Fe Railway. Colter is not widely known yet her work influenced decades of Fred Harvey and National Park Service architecture. She designed the viewing tower in Grand Canyon National Park shown above.

I created The Architectress newsletter to explore the history of women practicing architecture and allied professions in the US. In addition to an Accolade and an Outrage, each issue will feature Mary Colter, for she is the architect and decorator who brought me to this project.