Elsie Rogers

In 1898 Ethel Charles became the first woman to gain entry to the Royal Institute of British Architects, followed by her sister Bessie in 1900, but the Architectural Association (AA) only began to admit women in 1917. Earlier, the Manchester School of Architecture was seemingly prepared to enrol female students by 1909, while the Manchester Society of Architects took Miss A.M. Faraday from Isaac Taylor's practice as a student member in 1918. By 1925 there were four women (student?) members of the MSA. Numbers increased during the inter-war period but under the headline “Disappearing Women Architects” the Manchester City News noted that in 1939 women comprised 15% of student architects but within two years of qualification only 3% remained in practice. (This at a time when marriage effectively stopped women having a professional career).

Elsie Rogers was one of the first female students to attend the Manchester University School of Architecture and enjoyed considerable success, including the RIBA Silver Medal. She was elected Associate of the RIBA in 1927 and served on the Women’s Committee of the RIBA in 1933. By 1946 she was described as an architect-planner, but further biographical details have yet to be found.

A COVETED ARCHITECTURE PRIZE: MANCHESTER WOMAN STUDENT'S SUCCESS. - The RIBA Board of Architectural Education silver medal has been won by Miss Elsie Rogers, a student of the Manchester University School of Architecture. The medal is awarded for the best set of designs submitted by fifth year students for exemption from the final A.R.I.B.A. examination.  This year the works of thirty-nine students were submitted (a total of 156 designs) from the following schools: Architectural Association, the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool.' London, and McGill, and the Architectural Schools of Glasgow and Aberdeen. The prize was established three years ago, and the winner brings to her school one of the highest honours of the year. Earlier in the year Miss Rogers was placed second in the Rome Scholarship. These successes come as a continuation of those of the previous session, when the Rome Scholarship, the Society of Architects' Scholarship for the study of modern architecture in America, and the Grizzall Medallion were all won by students of the same school. [Manchester Guardian 8 November 1924 page 13]

Manchester Institute of Builders Travelling Scholarship in Architecture divided between Elsie Rogers, Kathleen O Brayshaw and R J Willis. [Manchester Guardian 15 July 1924 page 11].

Residence
1928-1929    23 Albert Road, Whalley Range, Manchester [RIBA Kalendar]
1933-1935    Ingham House, Stockwell Road, London SW1 [RIBA Kalendar]
1936             Flat 6, 34 Croxteth Road Liverpool 8 [RIBA Kalendar]

Reference    Manchester City News Saturday 14 January 1939 Page 4
Reference    Manchester Guardian 15 July 1924 page 11
Reference    Manchester Guardian 8 November 1924 page 13