Abstract
On 24 August 1869, Mrs. Harriet M. Irwin of Charlotte, North Carolina, a relative of Stonewall Jackson, applied for a patent (No. 94,116) for hexagonal houses, claiming that she had invented an improvement in the construction of buildings. Does this indicate that Mrs. Irwin might be called the first American woman architect? Her 'invention' certainly preceded the work of Mrs. Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856-1913) who has been described as the first woman architect in this country and who was the first woman member of the American Institute of Architects. On the other hand, did Mrs. Irwin 'borrow' her socalled invention from Orson S. Fowler, who in 1849, in collaboration with his brother, Lorenzo Fowler, described the 'octagon mode of building' in his Homefor All? Moreover, one invention does not make a professional architect. Did Mrs. Irwin follow up her patent for hexagonal houses with further architectural work?
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