Marjorie Simpson (architect)
Australian architect (1924-2003)
Marjorie Constance (White) Simpson (17 June 1924 – 27 January 2003) was an Australian architect, the first female Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in South Australia, awarded in 1993 for her extensive contribution to architecture.
Early life
Born Marjorie Constance White in New South Wales on 17 June 1924, she was daughter to an architect Charles Arthur Mortimer White, and younger sister to architect, A.G.M. White (b.1914).
In 1941, at the age of 17, she enrolled in the (non-diploma) architectural course at Sydney Technical College. During her 6 years of study she worked on several architectural projects with her mentor Eric M. Nicholls, including a small factory for Coty's Cosmetics, a Manly coffee shop, a baby health clinic and several houses.
Career
Marjorie White became a registered architect in New South Wales in 1949. The same year she married fellow architect Peter Simpson (1924–1992) changing her surname to Simpson. She began working as an architect for the Commonwealth Department of Works in Sydney in 1950.
While working at the Department of Works she moved to Adelaide in 1951 to work on the design and documentation of the Woomera Rocket Range. The project was predicted to last only 6 months but subsequently took four years to complete. In this time Marjorie designed and built a home in Adelaide.
“Marjorie Simpson (architect)” enters the record as australian architect (1924-2003). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Marjorie, Simpson and architect can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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