Roberts, Isabel

Isabel Roberts

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Dates of Birth and Death

March 7, 1871-December 27, 1955

Birthplace

Mexico, Missouri

Education

  • Atelier Masqueray-Chambers (1899–1901)

Years of practice

1901–1955 (estimated)

Affiliations/Firms

  • Frank Lloyd Wright (1902–14, Oak Park, Ill.)
  • Ryan and Roberts (1920–45, Orlando, Fla.): The partnership used several variations of the name Ryan and Roberts, including Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts Architects (1921) and Ryan and Roberts Studios (1929)

Professional organizations

  • Joined AIA in 1921

Major projects

  • K. C. DeRhodes House, South Bend, Ind., 1906 (with Frank Lloyd Wright)
  • Isabel Roberts House, River Forest, Ill., 1908 (with Frank Lloyd Wright)
  • Ryan and Roberts House and Studio, Orlando, Fla., 1920–24 Veterans Memorial Library, St. Cloud, Fla., 1922–23
  • Eola Park Bandshell, Orlando, 1924 (also called the Band Stand; demolished 1956)
  • First Presbyterian Church of St. Cloud, 1924 (demolished 1966) Fisk Funeral Home Chapel, St. Cloud, c. 1923
  • Unitarian Church, Orlando, 1920 (demolished)
  • Amherst Apartments, Orlando, 1922 (demolished)
  • Lake Rowena residence, Orlando, n.d.
  • Lake Formosa residence, Orlando, n.d.
  • City park layout (unrealized), St. Cloud, n.d.
  • Tourist Club House, St. Cloud, 1923
  • Pennsylvania Hotel renovation and addition, St. Cloud, 1925
  • Peoples Bank Building, St. Cloud, 1925
  • Ross E. Jeffreys Elementary School, St. Cloud, 1926
  • Matilda A. Fraser residence, Orlando, n.d.
  • Lester M. Austin residence, Orlando, 1927

Awards, honors and press

  • John Dalles, “The Pathbreaking Legacy of Ryan and Roberts,” Reflections: The Journal of the Historical Society of Central Florida (summer 2009), p. 9.
  • “Miss Roberts, Bandshell Designer, Dies,” Orlando Evening Star, December 28, 1955, 1.

Location of architect’s archive

American Institute of Architects Archive; includes correspondence related to Roberts’s application for membership in the AIA St. Cloud (Florida) Heritage Museum; includes clippings, photographs, published materials and other items related to the work of Ryan and Roberts in St. Cloud. Isabel Roberts information file, Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust Research Center at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, Oak Park, Ill.; includes notes on projects by Ryan and Roberts in Orlando and St. Cloud, notes on Roberts’s work in Wright’s studio, and her collaboration with other Wright employees.
View Isabel Roberts‘s profile on the Pioneering Women website.