mary alice - Architecture Foundation of Oregon

mary alice
HUTCHINS
EDUCATION
Stanford University, Liberal Arts
1935-1937
B.S. in Architecture, University of Oregon
1941
REGISTRATION
State of Oregon
1946
State of Hawaii
1957
EMPLOYMENT
Portland
R. Burke Morden Architect
A.E. Doyle and Associates
Pietro Belluschi
Independent Practice Hawaii and Oregon
Law and Wilson Architects
Independent Practice
“Spec writing is something that
any architect is happy to turn over
to someone else. I was much more
interested in the materials rather
than the design of the thing. After
all, every top designer needs backup people to relieve him of having
to worry about what happens when
you combine metals, for instance.
Materials and the way things were
put together were my particular
interests...I wasn’t forced into
specifications writing because I was a
woman.”
Specifications Writer for Pietro
Belluschi
Mary Alice Hutchins quickly
worked her way up from office
“boy” to specifications writer
under head draftsman/ architect
William Crowell.
During the
war she simultaneously worked
on an army hospital, barracks in
Alaska and temporary housing for
shipyard workers. With Belluschi’s
encouragement she took her exam
in 1945, passing every part except
design on her first try. Back at the
office, Pietro Belluschi reassured
her that “inspired design” was
something “you have to be born
with” and told her that success in
architecture can be obtained, “Only
when you are so involved that you
cut yourself shaving!” She took
the structural part of the exam on
VJ Day, the day “peace broke out”
in the Pacific. She stayed with
Belluschi’s office for ten years. One
of the outstanding projects there
was the Equitable Building (now
the commonwealth building) in
downtown Portland, one of the very
first of the “curtain wall” designs.
Specifications for:
Commonwealth Building
Portland, Oregon
(Formerly the Equitable Building)
After getting her license she
joined the AIA and was very
active. She served as Chapter
secretary in 1955.
Mary Alice Hutchins was
also a founding member
(1948) of the Construction
Specifications
Institute
(CSI). Their goal was “to
replace slowly and with great
difficulty and much effort
on the part of its members
the old American Institute
of Architects’ specification
filing system” in use since
1941
1941-1943
1943-1951
1951-1954
1954-1962
1962-1970
SPECIFICATIONS PROJECTS
Hawaii and Maui
Department of Transportation Office Building
Housing Authority Kaahumanu Homes
1st National Bank of Hawaii, Aina Hina
Punahou School Classrom Building
Portland and Salem
Commonwealth Building (formerly the Equitable Building)
Portland Morning Oregonian Building
Woodrow Wilson High School
Surgical Wing Holladay Park Hospital
Marion County Courthouse
Federal Reserve Bank
“THEY FOUND OUT THEY
COULDN’T DO WITHOUT
US WHEN THE WAR CAME
ALONG.”
Stanford University to Portland
Mary
Alice
Hutchins’
architectural specialty was
specifications writing.
Sent
to college by a family that
believed a young woman
should be prepared to support
herself, she attended Stanford
University in California and
the University of Oregon in
Eugene. After graduating from
the University of Oregon’s
architecture program in 1941,
she was immediately hired
by A.E. Doyle and Associates
(which shortly became Pietro
Belluschi’s firm). Mary Alice
Hutchins was licensed in 1946,
and stayed with Belluschi until
1951 when she entered private
practice in Portland. In 1954 she
took a job with the firm of Law
and Wilson in Honolulu, Hawaii
and worked on a number of
large-scale projects, including
the Hawaii State Capitol. When
she inherited the family home in
1964, she returned to Portland.
Specifications for:
Federal Reserve Building
Portland, Oregon
Photo: Sally Painter
“I was really fortunate. I didn’t have any obstacles to overcome.
World War II had begun and the architectural offices were hurting
for help. They were grateful to include women in offices where they
hadn’t (been welcome) before. I did check out offices before I graduated and there just wasn’t a chance. They wouldn’t think of having
a woman in the drafting room, but they found out they couldn’t do
without us when the war came along. I came into the workforce at
the time office boys were being drafted - so, I started out as an office
boy.”
Specifications for:
The Portland Morning Oregonian
Newspaper Plant
Portland, Oregon
1922. When Belluschi left
Portland in 1951 to become
Dean of Architecture at MIT,
Mary Alice Hutchins spent
a summer traveling through
Europe before returning to
Portland to free-lance. After
her stint with Law and Wilson
in Hawaii, she again returned
to private practice commuting
between clients in Oregon
and Hawaii. Since retiring,
she has received awards for
her participation in Portland
civic groups and the Portland
Chapter of the CSI.