Happy 150th Birthday Marion Mahony Griffin

Today is Valentine’s Day and the 150th birthday of Marion Mahony Griffin. It seems to be a fitting day to be celebrating a woman who was one half of a marriage and partnership that was so vitally important to the development of Canberra.

Marion married fellow architect Walter Burley Griffin on June 29, 1911 in Michigan City, Indiana. That year they collaborated on a competition entry for the design of Australia’s new capital. Marion prepared the exquisite drawings that showcased their designs for the new city. In 1912 the Griffin’s entry won. Canberra was to be the city they imagined together.

To mark Marion’s 150th birthday the National Capital Authority and other National Cultural Partners are celebrating a year of Marion in the national capital. Details of the Magic of Marion program are here.

Also did you know that Marion in retirement spent twenty years working on a massive volume of 1400 pages and 650 illustrations detailing her and Walter's working lives? She titled it The Magic of America. It was never published but the manuscript was deposited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949. These days a digital version can be accessed here.

Acknowledgement: The portrait of Marion Mahony Griffin above was taken in about 1935. It was sourced from Picture Willoughby. See details here.

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