Nancy Allen (architect)
{{Short description|Australian architect (1908–1993)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}{{Use Australian English|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nancy Allen
| image = Nancy Allen.jpg
| caption = Allen in 1932
| birth_name = Nancy Lorne Allen
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1908|12|05}}
| birth_place = Glen Innes, New South Wales, Australia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1993|10|18|1908|12|05}}
| death_place = Nedlands, Western Australia
| occupation = Architect
| years_active = 1927–1981
}}
Nancy Lorne Allen (5 December 1908 – 18 October 1993) was an Australian architect and only the second woman registered to practise in Western Australia.
Early life and education
Allen was born in Glen Innes, New South Wales on 5 December 1908. She was the second child and only daughter of Ethel Maud (née Young) and George Norman Allen, a grazier.John J. Taylor, [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/allen-nancy-lorne-31947/text39413 Allen, Nancy Lorne (1908–1993)], Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published online 2022, accessed online 15 September 2023. The family moved to Perth in 1917, where Allen was educated at Nedlands Primary School and then Perth Modern School.{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=John J |date=June 2013 |title=Nancy Allen |url=https://www.taylorarchitects.com.au/Biographies/NL%20Allen%20for%20AIA%20_WA_.pdf |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=John Taylor: Architect}}
Career
Allen began her articles with Eales and Cohen in 1927, the same partnership where Margaret Pitt Morison had earlier been articled.{{cite news |date=13 August 1927 |title=The Professional Girl |volume= |page=9 |newspaper=Truth Western Australia |issue=1250 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208710273 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} In October 1932 she was successful in the Architects' Board Examination and qualified as a registered architect.{{cite news |date=27 December 1932 |title=Women in Professions |volume=LI |page=7 (Home Edition) |newspaper=The Daily News |issue=18,031 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83920008 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} The firm had become Eales, Cohen and Bennett and she worked for them designing homes, saying that she "doesn't want to build skyscrapers".{{cite news |date=21 April 1933 |title=Out-of-the-Ruck Jobs for Women |volume=LII |page=6 (Late City) |newspaper=The Daily News |issue=18,129 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84987852 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} In May 1933 she gave a detailed description of her principles for all aspects of home design.{{cite news |date=27 May 1933 |title=The Home Beautiful and Furnishings: Girl Architect Discusses the Ideal Home |volume=LII |page=20 (Home Edition) |newspaper=The Daily News |issue=18,159 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83226367 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} Following the dissolution of the partnership in July 1935, she joined William G. Bennett in his business the following year, where she headed the "domestic architecture and interior decoration".{{cite news |date=11 July 1936 |title=Personal |volume=52 |page=20 |newspaper=The West Australian |issue=15,614 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40732999 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
During World War II, following Bennett's enlistment, Allen worked from 1942 to 1945 for the Western Australian Works and Services Branch. There she worked with Pitt Morrison and Zoie Bennett-Fryer.
In September 1944 she represented the Modern Architectural Research Society and gave a talk at the Labour Women's Conference. She believed that every home should have "constant hot water, refrigeration, fly proofing, insulation against head, [and] electric or gas cooking" and gave details of an ideal neighbourhood of 6,000 people which should include a kindergarten and other infant services, library, shops and parks as a minimum.{{cite news |date=28 September 1944 |title=Woman To Women On Housing |volume=LXII |page=11 (City Final) |newspaper=The Daily News |issue=21,679 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78526262 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
File:Castletown_S_-_Blue_Waters_YHA.jpg
In January 1946 she re-joined Bennett's architecture practice.{{cite news |date=19 January 1946 |title=Advertising |volume=62 |page=8 |newspaper=The West Australian |issue=18,571 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50321442 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} Later that year she served in an honorary capacity, advising the Fresh Air League of Kalgoorlie on the design for a children's holiday home at Esperance. It was noted that she had "wide experience in designing infant health clinics and children's homes".{{cite news |date=19 October 1946 |title=Personal |volume=52 |page=4 |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |issue=13,806 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95556249 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
1949 saw Bennett's practice merge and become Bennett, Blatchford, Allen and Johnson, with Allen and her younger brother Douglas becoming partners alongside Bennett, Robert V. Blatchford and James W. Johnson.{{cite news |date=14 August 1949 |title=Advertising |page=6 |newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth) |issue=2686 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59493541 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Allen attended the Australian Architectural Convention in Melbourne in 1951.{{cite news |date=20 November 1951 |title=People, Parties... |page=5 |newspaper=The Age |issue=30,128 |location=Victoria, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205668892 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} Meanwhile, she continued to design homes and oversee their building.{{cite news |date=29 July 1953 |title=Design for Living |volume=LXXI |page=10 (Final) |newspaper=The Daily News |issue=24,426 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266115480 |accessdate=15 September 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In 1970 Allen was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. At the time of her retirement in 1981, she was considered "one of Perth's most prominent and successful female architects".
Allen died on 18 October 1993 in a nursing home in Nedlands.File:Manjimup_Infant_Health_Centre,_January_2022_06.jpg
Notable works
Allen designed two buildings that are now heritage listed:
- Manjimup Infant Health Centre, opened 1946{{Cite web |title=Manjimup Infant Health Centre (fmr) |url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/7a7e2423-6092-457d-9308-ea4ce290c2ef |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=Heritage Council}}
- Paxwold House, Lesmurdie, opened 1957{{Cite web |title=Paxwold Girl Guides Camp |url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/4b2e8c79-4697-40b5-a76d-c26b5df32307 |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=Heritage Council}}