Beyond Building

Architecture and Gender in Nineteenth-Century France

By: Heidi Brevik-Zender

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eBook | 10 March 2026

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Beyond Building offers a groundbreaking exploration of nineteenth-century French architecture through the lens of gender, focusing on the years 1852 to 1902.

Highlighting the creative work of four women and one nonbinary individual, this book reveals that architectural production extended beyond men, even when only men could be officially certified as architects. Drawing on diverse materials, including poetry, photography, archaeological artifacts, literary fiction, theater sets, and journalism, Beyond Building brings to light the contributions of those long excluded from architectural scholarship due to their gender. This book advocates for a more expansive understanding of architecture's history by including overlooked makers and works. It examines figures such as Jane Dieulafoy, whose gender-fluid life as an archeologist in Iran is captured in colonial-era writings; Marie Krysinska, the only woman in the free-verse poetry movement; photographer Genevieve-Elisabeth Disderi and the Countess de Castiglione, who linked architecture and early photography; the hidden career of journalist Laure Labrouste; and the American Julia Morgan, the first woman certified as an architect in France.

Through these case studies, Beyond Building demonstrates how considering gender alongside architecture opens new perspectives on artistic innovation, imperialism, and cultural change in nineteenth-century France.