12 Places to See the Work of Women Architects

When newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst hired Julia Morgan to design his opulent California castle in 1919, she was one of the few women with an architect’s license. Two decades earlier, she had become the first woman admitted to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study architecture.

While Morgan was undoubtedly a pioneer in her field, women have been designing buildings and landscapes for a long time—though many of their contributions went unrecognized and uncredited. Luckily, that’s starting to change. More women are working in architecture and urban design than ever, and those who helped shaped the world we live in today are getting long-overdue recognition.

From a solemn monument dedicated to the American civil rights movement to a Swiss library reminiscent of the country’s cheese, these are a few of our favorite architectural works that wouldn’t be here without women.