Ada Arnold, New Orleans Architect

In 1923, Ada Isabelle Arnold received her B.Arch. from Tulane University. Her four-year course in architecture was financed by a scholarship she received from the New Orleans Contractors and Dealers' Exchange and the Louisiana Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.(1)  She was licensed to practice architecture in Louisiana, and by 1926 was treasurer of the Louisiana Architects Association.

Her projects included the Gretna Elementary School, which was constructed at Huey P. Long between 8th and 9th Streets, built for a total cost of $90,000. The Southeastern Architectural Archive retains 1951 alteration drawings for the structure in its William R. Burk Office Records Collection.

Thanks to TU Archives' Lori Schexnayder and architectural photographer Robert Brantley for the supplemental information! If you are interested in learning more about twentieth-century American women architects, consult the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation Dynamic National Archive.

Image above: "Ada Isabelle Arnold" Tulane Yearbook 1923. New Orleans: Tulane University, 1923, p. 167. The photograph is accompanied by the poem: "Here's a flower blushing unseen/In this garden of Engineering greens." Courtesy Tulane University Archives, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

(1)"Personals." Building Review (October 1919): p. 11.