Criticised Men

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 153, 25 March 1937, Page 7

Criticised Men

Woman Architect Wins Applause A pretty 24-year-old woman stood up before an audience of 300 prominent male architects in London recently and told them that their ideas were all wrong She was Mrs. Bichard Acland, wife of the Member of Parliament for Barnstaple. She produced the winning scheme for the decoration of Bond Street in an open contest for all the architects in the country. Mrs. Acland told her audience that Bond Street, known to the world as the street of quality, was architecturally appalling, and that her Coronation scheme was intended to cover up its faults. Iler audience of men showed their agreement by cheering her. Mrs. Acland thinks there is no reasou why a woman should not understand drains and engineering as well as a man. “It is no wonder that I was frightened at the idea of facing 300 men,” she told a reporter afterwards. “If it hadn’t been for my husband's presence in the audience I might have tried to escape at the last minute.” She first felt the urge to become an architect at the age of 12. She still “goes to school” although married, and frequently works through the night "and morning drafting plans. Her holidays are spent in architects’ offices. She has just completed plans for a little white cottage in Devon, where she and her husband will escape after working hours.