Nationality American Died 1946 | Occupation Architect Parents Edwin Deakin | |
Born 1871 California | ||
Edna Deakin (1871–1946) was a designer and architect who is one of the earliest American women architects. She is best known for the remodeling of the "Temple of the Wings" building in Berkeley, California.
Contents
Life
Edna Deakin was born in Bay Area; her father was the painter Edwin Deakin. She studied mechanics at the University of California, Berkeley, but dropped out to study architecture with her cousin Clarence Dakin (whose family spelled the name differently) at the classes of John Galen Howard.
Architectural work
After her studies, Deakin worked for a time as a drafter for local architects like C. W. Dickey and George T. Plowman. She advertised herself as a "designer" and collaborated with her cousin. They may have been involved with the design of the Studio Building in Berkeley, which was built by Clarence's father.
Deakin and Clarence collaborated on restoration of an unusual Berkeley building known as the "Temple of Wings." Originally designed in 1911 as a house without any walls by Bernard Maybeck and A. Randolph Monroe, the "Temple of Wings" building suffered serious fire damage in 1923. The original Corinthian columns that had held up the roof survived and were used in Deakin and Clarence's remodel. They worked out a plan to enclose the structure, building living areas with ground-floor dance studios on both sides of an open courtyard.
She also designed the D(e)akin family property at Telegraph and Woolsey in Berkeley.