Emily Williams

Emily Eolian Williams (September 25, 1869 - June 3, 1942) was a pioneering woman in architecture who was active in Pacific Grove, San Jose, and San Francisco in the early 20th century, at a time, when very few women were able to enter the profession. She mainly designed houses, with conveniently planned interiors, and a few institutional buildings and an exhibition stand at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Early life The daughter of Edward Williams, president of the San Jose Water Works, and his first wife, Emily nee Miree, Emily Williams attended the California State Normal School in San Jose, today San Jose State University, and became a teacher in the Midway District, Santa Clara. She also studied at the University of the Pacific and, from 1892-93 to 1893-94, at the newly opened Leland Stanford University in Palo Alto. Architectural education In 1901, Williams moved to San Francisco, where she studied for a semester drafting and architecture at a high school, the California School of Mechanical Arts, now the Lick-Wilmerding High School. She tried to find a job as an architectural “draftsman” but was rejected as women were considered as not belonging in architecture. In San Francisco, she met a science teacher, Lilian Bridgman, who also aspired to become an architect and had already designed her own house with the encouragement of architect Bernard Maybeck. This quite likely encouraged Emily to continue her pursuit of architecture. However, Emily's projects remained small-scale and mainly domestic. In order to gain experience, she used an inheritance from her father to build a small cottage in Pacific Grove with the help of metal artist Lillian McNeill Palmer. The two women, who completed all the work “with their own fair hands” without the help of craftsmen, received attention from the press and soon became a tourist attraction. The cottage is still inhabited today.