Series:

Women Architects in Southern California

Topic:

Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Design

Women's Issues

Biographical Note:

Founder of one of the first all-woman-owned architecture practices in California in the 1980s, Siegel Diamond Sklarek. Instrumental in the founding of the city of West Hollywood

Interviewer:

Kennard, Gail

Interviewee:

Siegel, Margot

Persons Present:

Siegel and Kennard.

Place Conducted:

The interview was conducted using the Zoom video conferencing platform.

Supporting Documents:

Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research.

Interviewer Background and Preparation:

The interview was conducted by Gail Kennard, an architectural practitioner for more than thirty years in the Los Angeles area. The interviewer prepared for the interview by attending “The Diversity of Modernism,” sponsored by Docomono L.A. Chapter, October 12, 2019, where Margot Siegel gave a presentation about her work; reading “Unforgetting Women Architects: From the Pritzker to Wikipedia” by Despina Stratigakos in Places Journal, 2013, reprinted April 2016; and listening to an Interview with Margot Siegel on Architects Podcast XX/L.A. Podcast, Episode #13 on women architects.

Processing of Interview:

The interviewer prepared a timed log of the audio recording of the interview. The interviewee was given the opportunity to review the log in order to supply missing or misspelled names and to verify the accuracy of the content but made no changes.

Length:

7.5 hours

Language:

English

Copyright:

Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Audio:

Series Statement:

The Women Architects in Southern California series documents the impacts made by women in architecture on the built environment of Southern California from the nineteen fifties and on. Overcoming gender bias in a male-dominated profession, the selected women represent a cohort of architects, educated in schools of architecture in the post-World War II era, who contributed most significantly to both award-recognized public and private built work and to the historic preservation of landmark buildings.

Family history—Early education—Early work experience—Gender in architecture field—Family dynamics

Early life and family—Marriage—Working in architecture firms—Architectural licensing exam—American Institute of Architects—Work on construction sites

Architectural license exam—Searching for work— Jones and Emmons work--Construction Specifications Institute—AIA—Construction site work—Gender dynamics at Jones and Emmons—Leaving Jones and Emmons

Los Angeles Community Design Center—Architecture work--AIA—Public projects—LA Projects—Gender dynamics

Siegel Diamond Sklarek--Computer-aided drafting—Women owned firm—Early design experience—LAX project—End of practice

Work life balance—Children—Caregiving—Employment with Health Department—Employment with Sheriff—Retirement

West Hollywood cityhood—Community plan development—Book “You Can Be A Woman Architect”-- Association for Women in Architecture and Design—AIA Leadership—Legacy