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Anne Graham Rockfellow: Who was she? What was her contribution to the history of architecture? Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Kunasek, Kimberly Ann Oei Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 07/10/2021 10:50:32 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/278409 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ivll 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 1367283 Anne Graham Rockfellow: Who was she? What was her contribution to the history of architecture? Kunasek, Kimberly Ann Oei, M.A. The University of Arigona, 1994 Copyright ©1994 by Kunasek, Kimberly Ann Oei. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. ZeebRd Ann Arbor, MI 48106 ANNE GRAHAM ROCKFELLOW: WHO WAS SHE? WHAT WAS HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE? by Kimberly Ann Oei Kunasek Copyright © Kimberly Ann Oei Kunasek A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ART In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN ART HISTORY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1994 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED:--V (''( APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: AW'J A. u, Abigail Van Slyck' ~J Date Assistant Professor of Architectural History 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE List of Illustrations 4 Abstract. 6 Introduction. 7 Chapter One: Anne Graham Rockfellow: A Biography 12 Chapter Two; The Turn of the Century 'Architectress': Anne Graham Rockfellow's Female Contemporaries 42 Chapter Three: The History of Tucson and The Southwest to 1895: The Year Rockfellow Arrived 54 Chapter Four: The Architectural Connection: The San Diego Exposition of 1915 64 Chapter Five: Rockfellow's Architectural Legacy 71 Conclusion. 95 Appendix A: List of Drawings attributed to A.G. Rockfellow in the H, O. Jaastad Collection at the College of Architecture, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 98 Appendix B: Interviews with Relatives of A.G. Rockfellow 107 Appendix C: Publications, Radio Addresses, an Essay by A. G. Rockfellow, and her Obituary from the Santa Barbara News 119 References 139 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Figure L AnneGrahamRockfellow, ca. 187L Rochester, New York, Photograph. (M. Duddleson) 14 Figure 2. Anne Graham Rockfellow, ca. 1887. Boston, Massachusetts, Photograph. (M. Duddleson) 18 Figure 3. Anne Graham Rockfellow, ca. 1898. Mt. Morris, New York, Photograph. (M. Duddleson) 26 Figure 4. Anne Graham Rockfellow, ca. 1930. Tucson, Arizona, Photograph. (M. Duddleson) 30 Figure 5. Rockfellow's House, west facade, 602 N. 7th Avenue, Tucson, Arizona. (K. Kunasek) 33 Figure 6. Bertram Goodhue, Gate of San Diego. San Diego, California, ca. 1915. {The Architecture and the Gardens of the San Diego Exposition) 65 Figure 7. Bertram Goodhue, California State Building, San Diego, California, ca. 1915. (The Architecture and the Gardens of the San Diego Exposition) 68 Figure 8. Bertram Goodhue.The Main Axis of The Exposition. San Diego, California, ca. 1915. (The Architecture and the Gardens of the San Diego Exposition) 69 Figure 9. Anne Graham Rockfellow, Safford School. West facade, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1918. (The Arizona Historical Society) 76 Figure 10. Anne Graham Rockfellow, Safford School. Main entrance, Tucson, Arizona, ca 1918. (The Arizona Historical Society) 77 Figure 11. Anne Graham Rockfellow, Desert Sanatorium. Original building, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1926. (The Arizona Historical Society) 79 5 Figure 12. Anne Graham Rockfellow, Desert Sanatorium. Aerial view, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1926. (The Arizona Historical Society) 80 Figure 13. Anne Graham Rockfellow, El Conquistador Hotel. Rendering, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1926. (The Arizona Historical Society) 82 Figure 14. Anne Graham Rockfellow, El Conquistador Hotel. South facade, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1928. (The Arizona Historical Society) 84 Figure 15. Anne Graham Rockfellow, El Conquistador Hotel. Entrance, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1928. (^e Arizona Historical Society) 87 Figure 16. Anne Graham Rockfellow, Y.W.C.A. Building. West facade, Tucson, Arizona, ca. 1930. (R. Melikian) 90 Figure 17. Tucson City Map, ca. 1954. (Arizona State University) 94 6 ABSTRACT Anne Graham Rockfellow, virtually unknown to history, deserves a place worthy of scholarly attention. Rockfellow's significance to the histories of American architecture, of Tucson, and of professional women is explored. She was the first woman architect academically trained at M.I.T. (the first recognized school of architecture in the United States.) In the mid-1890s she made her first move to Tucson, Arizona, a growing southwestern town that akeady had a long history. When Rockfellow permanently relocated to Tucson in 1915, she was hired by the H.O. Jaastad architectural firm, where she remained until her retirement in 1938. In order to put Rockfellow in a historical context, her biography is juxtaposed with the biographies of some of her female contemporaries who also chose to pursue careers in the field of architecture. Her contributions to the architecture of Tucson and to the development of the Spanish Colonial Revival style are also examined. 7 INTRODUCTION But around 1915, something began to click. It may have been the influence of a young collaborator in Jaastad's firm, or the inspiration of the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. Whatever the stimulus Jaastad began to wax eclectic and romantic. And the grace of the Spanish-derived architecture that began flowing from this straight-arrow Norwegian is simply amazing. Only four years later, however, with the design of Tucson's Safford School, Jaastad seemed to reach artistic maturity. The building is no perfect model of the Mission Revival style - oh its wings stretch out a little too long and thick, its fenestration suggests bureaucracy sooner than romance, and its twin end pieces want more elaborate decoration ~ but it is a very adept marriage of old-world frugality and gentle, feminine graciousness. And it's easily the most beautiful building in Tucson. L.W. Cheek ~ Tucson Citizen, March 9, 1981 Anne Graham Rockfellow (1866-1954) was the "young collaborator" Lawrence Cheek mentioned in his article entitled, "Henry Jaastad: The Sensitive Architect Who Left a Mosaic of Styles," that appeared in the Tucson Citizen on 9 March 1981. "Annie," as she was known in Tucson, was one of those in Jaastad's office who attended the Panama- California Exposition in San Diego in the fall of 1915. ^ Describing that experience, she wrote, " I was much pleased and impressed with the architecture of the Fair buildings, and found the 'lessons' very helpful for later southwestern adaptation."2 In the spring of 1916 Rockfellow became officially connected with Jaastad's firm, principally as a designer, thereby helping it reach its "artistic maturity."3 Extant documentation credits Rockfellow 1 A. G. Rockfellow, "Professional Life of a Pioneer Co-Ed," 1938, 3. 2 Ibid., 1. 3 A. G. Rockfellow, personal history written for the Arizona Historical and Pioneer Society, December 1933. M. Sever in her thesis entitled. The Women ofMJ.T., 1871-1941: Who Were They and What They 8 with the Safford School design as well as being chief designer for many other notable buildings in the southwest, including the famous El Conquistador hotel.^ In truth, Rockfellow was fifty years old when she became associated with H.O. Jaastad, Architect. Not surprisingly, the years leading up to the time she worked in Tucson are as noteworthy as those years that followed, in which she left as undeniable mark on the architectural history of the southwest. The idea for tliis thesis emerged while I was doing research in the Arizona Architectural Archives at the University of Arizona. There I learned of Anne Graham Rockfellow's important, yet obscure, place in the history of architecture. Professor J. Douglas MacNeil (since deceased) of the College of Architecture told me what he knew about Rockfellow and assisted me in combing through the Jaastad collection in the college archive.