With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Alberta Raffl Pfeiffer
Architecture/Design
1899 – 1997
An early woman member of the American Institute of Architects and notable for practicing architecture in the Old Lyme area from the 1930s on for decades.
- Biography/Description of Work
Alberta Raffl graduated from the University of Illinois in 1925 with a Masters degree and received the school medal of the American Institute of Architects. She married Homer Pfeiffer (1896-1981), also an architect, and they moved east for his job teaching at the Yale School of Architecture, starting their own practice in Hadlyme offering mainly residential design in the Lyme and Old Lyme area. They rehabbed the 18th century Mitchell farmstead to include an architectural office. When Homer joined the Navy in 1940, Alberta continued the work on her own. After the war, she established her own private practice. In her work, she showed respect for historic buildings while rehabbing them with a Colonial Revival vocabulary. She designed over 200 commissions over her career in Connecticut, mostly locally but also as far away as Arizona.
- Sources view
- AIA Historical Directory of American Architects. Accessed 8/26/2015 at http://public.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1034961.aspx .
Burdan, Amanda C. 2009. Thomas W. Nason, the Poet Engraver of New England. Accessed 8/25/2015 at http://connecticuthistory.org/thomas-w-nason-the-poet-engraver-of-new-england/ .
Gane, John F. 1956, 1962. A.I.A. American Architects Directory. New York: Bowker, R.R. for American Institute of Architects. Accessed 6/23/2015 at
http://public.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/Find%20Names.aspx
Sexton, James. 2010. Architectural and Historical Survey of Lyme. Lyme Historic District Commission.
'Miss Alberta Raffl.' 7/10/1923. Fort Wayne Sentinel, p. 18. - Associated Resource(s)