Memorable Manitobans: Elizabeth Mary Pilcher (1920-1991)

Architect, urban planner.

Born at Edgecliff, New South Wales, Australia on 29 August 1920, she received a degree in Architecture from the University of Sydney in 1945, having interrupted her studies briefly to work as a draftsman for the US Army. She then studied at Harvard University followed by a two-year postgraduate program in town planning at the Edinburgh College of Art. Throughout this period, she gained practical work experience in Australia, United States, and England.

In December 1958, she moved to Winnipeg as head of the planning department of Green Blankstein Russell and Associates. She helped to design the Winnipeg International Airport. In 1960, she was hired to design an underground car parkade in downtown Winnipeg that could double as a nuclear shelter. It was never built. She moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1963 where she married Joe Causwell the next year and later moved with him to Kingston, Jamaica. There, she worked as a government planner and was described as one of six female architects practicing in the country.

Sources:

“The Elizabeths: Gender, Modernism, and Winnipeg’s Built Environment, 1945-1975” by Marieke Gruwel, MA thesis, Concordia University, 2019.

Manitoba Women in Design by Marieke Gruwel, 2024, Winnipeg Architecture Foundation.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 16 December 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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