Cornelia Brierly

Cornelia Brierly (1913–2012) was an American architect and one of the first five women to study architecture at Carnegie Tech. She was the first female fellow of Frank Lloyd Wright in Taliesin, 1934.

Life

Cornelia Brierly was born April 12, 1913, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. She studied briefly at Cornell University and the University of Pittsburgh, before enrolling in Carnegie Tech becoming one of the first five women to study architecture in the program. In 1934 she joined the Taliesin Fellowship under Frank Lloyd Wright. She worked on Wright’s Broadacre City plan, building models in Arizona and traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., to explain the ideas to a wider audience.

She studied with Wright for 10 years before starting a private practice with her husband Peter Berndtson. In 1956 she returned to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation working as an architectural designer, interior decorator and landscape architect. She served as Honorary Chairman and Trustee of the Foundation.

Brierly died August 24, 2012, at age 99.

Major buildings and projects

• Models for Broadacre City project
• Taliesin West (contributor), Scottsdale, Arizona
• Hulda and Louise Notz House, 1940, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
• Arthur Jeffrey House (with Peter Berndtson), 1947, Allison Park, Pennsylvania
• Edward Weinberger House (with Peter Berndtson), 1948, Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania
• Joseph Katz/McComb House (with Peter Berndtson), 1950, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania
• Abraam Steinberg House (with Peter Berndtson), 1951, Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania
• F. Esther Fineman House (with Peter Berndtson), 1952, Stanton Heights, Pennsylvania
• George Brayman House (with Peter Berndtson), 1953, Ben Avon Heights, Pennsylvania
• Saul Lipkind House (with Peter Berndtson),1954, Swisshelm Park, Pennsylvania
• Pearl Palace (interior design and furniture with John deKoven Hill), c.1972, Mehrshahr, Alborz Province.

Further reading

• Brierly, Cornelia. Tales of Taliesin: A Memoir of Fellowship. Petaluma, CA: Pomegranate, 2000.

References

1. Brierly
2. Pearl Palace
3. John deKoven Hill
4. List of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks
5. List of women architects
6. Don M Stromquist House
7. Deaths in August 2012
8. Peter Berndtson
9. Gerald B. and Beverley Tonkens House
10. War for the Planet of the Apes
11. Alfred Eckhard Zimmern
12. List of Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes
13. Lynn Redgrave
14. Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney
15. List of American films of 1998
16. List of American films of 2003
17. List of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes
18. List of World Athletics Championships medalists (women)
19. List of American films of 1973
20. League of Nations