Leverkus, Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret 1898 - 1989

Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret Leverkus [commonly known as Gertrude Leverkus] was born in Oldenburg, Germany on 26 September 1898. Soon after her birth she moved with her family to Manchester, England and then to Forest Hill, London in 1910. From 1915 to 1918 she trained as an architect at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University of London from where she graduated with a B.A. Hons. in Architecture.  From 1919 she worked with architect Horace Field (1861-1948) in London. In 1922 she was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) and by 1923 had been appointed Architect to "Women's Pioneer Housing, Ltd.".  In 1925 she obtained a town planning certificate from University College, London. In 1931 she was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) and in 1932 established the women's committee of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

In the 1920s she had an office at 5, Gower Street. In  1930 she moved to 65 Harrington Gardens in Earl's Court, London. This was still the address of her office in 1950.

She designed houses at Harrow and Pinner, Middlesex and Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.  A house in Pinner and a house in Rickmansworth designed by her are discussed in The £1,000 House by Randal Phillips (London: Country Life, 1928 pp.90-92, 96-97).  In 1938 she designed an extension of the Annie McCall Maternity Hospital in Clapham, London.

During World War Two she worked as inspector of stately homes selecting those to be requisitioned for the war effort. From 1943 to 1948 she was employed by the Town Planning Office in West Ham, London as a housing architect. In 1956 she became an associate in the architectural firm Norman & Dawbarn, with whom she worked until her retirement in 1960.  During this latter period of her career she designed a shopping parade and flats at Swiss Cottage tube station and worked on the new towns in both Crawley and Harlow.

She died in Hove, Sussex on 8 November 1989.

A biographical file on Gertrude Leverkus is available at the RIBA Library, London