Charlotte
Name and credentials:
Charlotte Murray (Retired Architect)
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City and country of birth:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Education:
- Catlin-Hillside School, Portland - graduated in 1947
- Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts - 1949
- Academie Julian, Paris, France - 1949-50
- Ecole du Louvre, Paris, France - 1950
- University of British Columbia School of Architecture, B.Arch - 1973
- UBC School of Architecture, M.Arch - 1979
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Achievements:
Survival is my greatest achievement. In practice I was just “steering the ship”; any architectural awards were for the entire team.
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A few of my favourite things:
Classical music, chocolate cake, singing in a choir, traveling on cargo ships (but they won’t take you after the age of 80 because then they would also be required to have a doctor on board.)
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Tell us about your practice as an architect.
I began my architectural studies at UBC when I was in my 30s. I was the only woman in the faculty at that time. The other students didn’t seem to mind, but some of the professors took exception. They would question why I was there and suggest I leave. With the prerequisites and seeing to my children’s needs, it took me five years to complete the three-year course. After graduation I tried to get work in Vancouver firms. The economy was down; I was offered secretarial jobs but nothing in architecture.
Soon after graduating, I learned that a group of first- and second-year students from UBC School of Architecture, lead by Professor Abraham Rogatnick were going to Venice, Italy for the first studies abroad program. When I complained to my husband that, no longer a student, I was going to miss this adventure, he encouraged me to ask to go along. I did, and to my huge surprise and delight a week or so later I was offered a position as assistant to Professor Gaitanakis with the first-year students. My family came with me.
Afterwards I secured a position at Rhone Iredale where I worked for four years before returning to U.B.C. to complete a Master’s Degree in Architecture. My thesis was about reusing old buildings rather than tearing them down. Today it’s called “heritage”.
Upon graduation, I was offered a partnership with Rand Iredale, a firm where I specialized in architectural restoration. I worked there until my retirement in 2004.
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What architectural work are you most proud of?
The restoration of Christ Church Cathedral. For this project we made one legible building out of a series of add-ons.
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What was it that brought you to architecture?
I remember exactly what brought me to architecture. I was living in South Africa with my husband and three small children. We were stationed in a tiny town of 600 people called Schweizer Reneke in Transvaal. We were housed in a hotel as there were no houses to spare. My family would send me “Sunset” magazine from Portland. Inspired by the houses I was seeing in this magazine I started to sketch floor plans of a family house. I took the sketches to an architect in Johannesburg who developed house plans based on these sketches. The architect explained that the rough sketches were very good but he would have to modify them so a roof could be designed to fit the form. It was a revelation to me that I Had not’t been thinking in three dimensions, and that architecture happens in three dimensions, not simply in plans. That was the hook.
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How many children (grandchildren) do you have? Ages?
I have three children, now aged 56, 54 and 50. I also have nine grandchildren – no great grandchildren as yet. My husband was a land surveyor.
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How do you manage to practice architecture while raising children and running a household?
When I began architecture school, my children were in school. The two older children would help out with the youngest. We didn’t hire a nanny – no need My husband was away for a week or two at a time (surveying in remote B.C.) so I was essentially a single parent. I would come home from school and cook dinner. After the kids were in bed, I would do homework. During the summers I would pack up the children and we would camp wherever my husband was stationed.
Once I began working, the children were older so I took less time off in the summers. I began my work day at 9:00 a.m. and finished at 4:00 p.m., five days a week.
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Can you recall an instance where the dual responsibilities of being a parent and an architect came to a head?
While I was a student at architecture school, some faculty members were not supportive and suggested that I should not be there. Otherwise, there were no problems. My family was very supportive.
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Do you think that being a parent has actually influenced your approach to architecture?
Children keep you from falling into a valley of linear thinking. There is just so much going on all the time at home. At work, you meet many different people with different outlooks. Kids help to keep you flexible.
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“There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.”
- Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise, 1938
What do you think about this quote?
Who is he?
I guess it depends a lot on your perspective. I found kids to be a real stretch – but a positive stretch. It’s a worthwhile challenge.
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What is the best piece of advice you would give to a would-be parent / architect?
It’s all important. And one experience does enrich the other, so hang on.
My family was very tolerant. I was also fortunate in having a good business partner (Rand Iredale).
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If you could change public policy that impacts on child-rearing, what would that be?
Come on - my children are in their 50s.When I was doing it, it was a relatively unique situation. Looking around today, it is easy to find dads taking a large role in caring for their children.