Hayden, Sophia (1868–1953)

American architect. Born in Santiago, Chile, on October 17, 1868; died of pneumonia at a convalescent home on February 3, 1953; one of two daughters and three sons of Dr. George Henry Hayden (a New England dentist) and his Spanish wife (name unknown); graduated from West Roxbury (Massachusetts) High School; graduated with honors from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890; married William Blackstone Bennett (an artist), by 1900 (died 1913); children: (stepdaughter) Jennie Bennett (b. 1890).

The first woman to graduate from the four-year course in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sophia Hayden was also the first prizewinner in the contest to design the

Woman's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Born in 1868 in Santiago, Chile, Hayden was one of five children of an American dentist and his Spanish wife. From age six, she lived with her grandparents in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 1866, following her graduation from high school, she entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study architecture. The talented, determined Hayden was the first woman to complete the rigorous four-year course, graduating with honors. Her senior thesis was a design for a Fine Arts Museum of classic design. Hayden heard about the competition for the Woman's Building from friends in Chicago, as well as from her fellow student Lois Howe , who had completed a special two-year course in architecture at MIT. The two women decided to enter. On March 25, 1891, while teaching mechanical drawing at the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, Hayden received word that she had won the $1,000 first prize. Her friend Lois Howe had come in second, winning $500.

For the next two years, Hayden traveled back and forth to Chicago, preparing working drawings for the building. The demands of the project, which often included placating the demanding Board of Lady Managers, took their physical and mental toll on Hayden. Following the informal dedication of the Woman's Building in October 1892, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to attend the fair which opened in May 1893.

Hayden never practiced architecture as she had planned. In 1894, she designed a Memorial Building for the Women's Clubs of America, but it was never constructed. She later married artist William Bennett, and her name slipped into obscurity. When she died in 1953, her obituary did not even note her accomplishment.

sources:

Torre, Susan, ed. Women in American Architecture. NY: Whitney Library of Design, 1977.