Mary Medd

Medd was the daughter of Ralph Henry Crowley (1869–1953), who worked as Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Education.Catherine Burke,About looking: vision, transformation, and the education of the eye in discourses of school renewal past and present, British Educational Research Journal Vol. 36, No. 1 (February 2010), pp. 65–82, at p. 66. Published by: Wiley on behalf of BERA {{JSTOR|27823587}} After education at home, she spent one year at an experimental school run by Isabel Fry, and then was at Bedales School from 1921 to 1926 where she became Head Girl.Catherine Burke,About looking: vision, transformation, and the education of the eye in discourses of school renewal past and present, British Educational Research Journal Vol. 36, No. 1 (February 2010), pp. 65–82, at p. 80 note 10 and p. 68. Published by: Wiley on behalf of BERA {{JSTOR|27823587}}{{Cite ODNB|title=Medd [née Crowley], Mary Beaumont (1907–2005), architect and educationist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-104202|access-date=2021-10-02| year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/104202| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}

After attending a finishing school in Switzerland, in 1927 Medd trained at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. She studied alongside Jessica Albery, Justin Blanco White, and Judith Ledeboer where they developed a commitment to housing reform and social concerns which impacted their future careers.{{Citation|last=Walker|first=Lynne|title=Albery, Jessica Mary (1908–1990), architect and town planner|date=2019-07-11|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112259|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112259|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=2021-10-02}}{{Citation|last=Darling|first=Elizabeth|title=White [married name Waddington], (Margaret) Justin Blanco (1911–2001), architect|date=2019-07-11|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112261|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112261|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=2021-10-02}}{{Cite ODNB|title=Ledeboer, Judith Geertruid (1901–1990), architect and public servant|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-66415|access-date=2021-10-02|year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66415|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |last1=Walker |first1=Lynne }}

As Mary Crowley, working with Cecil George Kemp, she designed three houses at 102, 104 and 106 Orchard Road, Tewin, Hertfordshire, in 1935–36.{{Cite book|title = Modern houses in Britain, 1919-1939|last = Gould|first = Jeremy|publisher = Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain|year = 1977|pages = 45}}

In 1941, John Newsom, Hertfordshire's education officer, hired her as the first architect to be employed by Hertfordshire County Council. She later met her husband David Leslie Medd (1917–2009), when she was part of the team of architects commissioned to build schools in Hertfordshire after World War II. They married on 11 April 1949, and always worked together after this, becoming leading school designers in England and Wales.{{cite news|author=Harwood, Elain|date=27 April 2009|title=David Medd: Architect who revolutionised school design|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-medd-architect-who-revolutionised-school-design-1674818.html|access-date=8 October 2015}}

National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C467/29) with Mary Medd in 1998 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.[http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Architects-Lives/021M-C0467X0029XX-0001V0 National Life Stories, 'Medd, Mary (1 of 11) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1998]. Retrieved 10 April 2018

Mary Medd died on 6 June 2005 in Woolmer Green, Hertfordshire.

In 1998 the Institute of Education received the papers of David Medd and Mary Medd, which had previously been held at Bishop Grossteste College.{{Cite web |last=UCL Special Collections |title=Papers of David Medd (1917-2009) and Mary Medd (1907-2005) |url=https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=ME |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=UCL Archives Catalogue}} In subsequent years the collection was added to by Medd until his death in 2008. University College London also holds the archive of the Architects and Building Branch (for whom David and Mary Medd worked), and the archive of educators George and Judith Baines who collaborated with the Medds.{{Cite web |last=UCL Special Collections |title=Photographic Archive of the Architects and Building Branch, Ministry of Education and its successors |url=https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=ABB |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=UCL Archives Catalogue}} {{Cite web |last=UCL Special Collections |title=Papers of George and Judith Baines |url=https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=BA |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=UCL Archives Catalogue}}

{{Reflist}}

• Lacomba Montes, Paula; Campos Uribe, Alejandro. “From Classrooms to Centres: Mary and David Medd’s Contribution to Postwar School Design in Britain.” Arq: Architectural Research Quarterly 24, no. 3 (January 1, 2020): 251–264.
• Shariff, Yasmin. “Schools Power: A New Biography of Mary Medd Is a Timely Reminder of the Interdependence of Architecture, Education and Children’s Welfare in the Modern Age.” Architects’ Journal 237, no. 12 (March 1, 2013): 63–67.
• University of York. Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies., and Mary Medd. A Right to Be Children: Designing for the Education of the Under-fives : An Account of Two Courses Held At the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, April and July 1974. London: RIBA Publications, 1976.
• {{cite book|last=Burke|first=Catherine|title=A Life in Education and Architecture: Mary Beaumont Medd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWmr5zh4tuwC|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-7190-5}}
• Gould, Jeremy (1977), Modern houses in Britain, 1919-1939, Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain

• [https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=BA Papers of George and Judith Baines] at the Institute of Education, University College London
• [https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=ME Papers of David Medd and Mary Medd] at the Institute of Education, University College London
• [https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=ABB Photographic Archive of the Architects and Building Branch, Ministry of Education and its successors] at the Institute of Education, University College London
• [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=387&catln=2 Records of the Architects and Building Branch] at The National Archives
• [https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/collections/special-collections/our-collections/archives-and-manuscripts/institute-education-1 Institute of Education Archives Guides] at University College London

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Category:1907 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:20th-century English architects

Category:British women architects

Category:Architects from Bradford

Category:People educated at Bedales School