Episode 154: Gertrude Leverkus & RIBA
Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret Leverkus was born on September 26, 1898 in Oldenburg, Germany. Her father, Otto was an export merchant whose work took the family around Europe. Shortly after Gertrude was born, the family moved to Manchester in England. In 1910, they moved to Forest Hill, a neighborhood in London with a large German community. She graduated from Sydenham High School there and then enrolled at University College of London, UCL to study architecture in 1915. She was one of five women in the architecture school and sat her final exams as the only woman among 500 men. In 1918 she was the first woman to graduate from UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture with a BA. She then went to work for Horace Field in London, who nominated Gertrude for RIBA membership. She passed her exams and was admitted to RIBA in 1922. Then in 1923, she was hired as the official architect for Women’s Pioneer Housing working on converting large homes into bedsits or flats in order to provide housing for single professional women. In 1925, she received a certificate in Town Planning from UCL. In 1931, Gertrude was the second woman elected as a Fellow of RIBA. Then in 1932, she founded the RIBA Women’s Committee. Originally more of a social club, it quickly shifted to promote the interests of women in the profession, to gather data about women in the profession, and to raise women’s visibility through exhibitions. During WWII, she designed air raid shelters for WPH properties, and also worked as an inspector of country homes to decide which should be requisitioned for the war effort. In 1943, she was hired by the Town Planning Office in West Ham, London to work on what would become the Greater London Plan. She was hired by Norman and Dawbarn in 1948 to work on the new towns of Crawley and Harlow. She designed 735 houses in the Pound Hill neighborhood of Crawley. By 1960, Gertrude had become a partner at Norman and Dawbarn and decided it was time to retire. She moved to Brighton, England in retirement and joined several societies there. She passed away on November 8, 1989.
Caryatid: Yẹmí Aládérun
Yẹmí is an architect in the UK who went to Kingston University in London for undergrad, grad, and post grad degrees in architecture. After graduating she worked in several different roles: Architect, Contract Administrator, Major Projects Manager, and Construction Design and Quality Manager. She says that all of these roles tied back to housing, and really emphasized her focus on social housing. She eventually moved into the public sector and has worked for several London boroughs including as the Head of Meridian Water - Development for the Enfield Council. This is a huge regeneration project aiming to provide 10,000 homes and 6,000 jobs for locals. She now works for the London Borough of Ealing as the Acting Assistant Director of Housing Regeneration. In addition to her job, Yẹmí is a RIBA member and has served on the Education Committee. She is also currently a Non-Executive Board Member of Women’s Pioneer Housing. She is also a co-founder of Paradigm Network. Paradigm is an AEC professional network to promote Black and Asian representation within the Built Environment.
References
“About.” Yẹmí Aládérun, www.yemialaderun.com/about.
B, Lizzie. “Gertrude Leverkus (1898-1989).” Women Who Meant Business, 29 Sept. 2022, womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2022/09/29/gertrude-leverkus-1898-1989.
“Build It Together - Gender Equity in Architecture.” RIBA, www.riba.org/campaigns/policies/build-it-together-gender-equity-in-architecture.
Gamolina, Julia. “Driving Transformation: Meridian Water’s Yemi Aladerun on Conscious Development, Housing as Catalyst, and Bouncing Forward.” Madame Architect, 8 Feb. 2024, www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2023/12/18/yemi-aladerun.
“Gertrude Leverkus (1899 to 1976) | Architect.” Historic England, historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/visible-in-stone/biographies/l-z/leverkus-gertrude/?showdetails=y.
“Leverkus, Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret 1898 - 1989.” AHRnet, architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/leverkus-gertrude-wilhelmine-margaret.
Levers, Peter. “History of RIBA and CIAT.” arch-tech, 30 Jan. 2017, peterlevers.wixsite.com/arch-tech/single-post/2017/01/30/history-of-riba-and-ciat.
Meridian Water. “Meridian Water.” Meridian Water, www.meridianwater.co.uk.
Nolan, Kailey. “Reconstructing London: Gertrude Leverkus, Architect of Women-centred Spaces.” About UCL, 10 Feb. 2026, www.ucl.ac.uk/about/search-faces-ucl/reconstructing-london-gertrude-leverkus-architect-women-centred-spaces.
“Our History, Charter and Byelaws.” RIBA, www.riba.org/about-us/history-charter-and-byelaws.
“PARADIGM NETWORK.” PARADIGM NETWORK, www.paradigmnetwork.co.uk.
Spaven, Rebecca. “Gertrude Leverkus: Architect.” UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, 2019, www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/ideas/100-years-bartlett/gertrude-leverkus-architect.
Walker, Lynne. “Golden Age or False Dawn? Women Architects in the Early 20th Century.” Historic England, historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/women-architects-early-20th-century-pdf.
Wikipedia contributors. “Gertrude Leverkus.” Wikipedia, 9 Mar. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Leverkus.
“Women in Architecture: Research Guide.” RIBA, www.riba.org/explore/riba-collections/research/women-in-architecture.
Women’s Pioneer Housing. “Our Governance.” Women’s Pioneer Housing, womenspioneer.co.uk/our-governance.
---. “Pioneering Design: Gertrude Leverkus, Women’s Pioneer Housing Architect.” Women’s Pioneer Housing, 24 Aug. 2023, womenspioneer.co.uk/history/pioneering-design.
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