Mon 9th February 2026 (UK Time)
Book Online Talk
To mark the recent publication by Princeton University Press of a book entitled Finding Ella Briggs: The Life and Work of an Unconventional Architect, its co-editors Despina Stratigakos and Elana Shapira and one of the other contributors to the volume Barbara Penner will introduce us to the life and work of this talented Austrian-born Jewish architect, designer and writer whose influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic.
Ella Briggs (1880–1977) trained with the Viennese Secessionists and brought their radical ideas to Gilded Age New York. She designed modernist housing for the masses in Austria, was jailed as a suspected spy in Mussolini’s Italy, and thrived in Weimar Germany before suffering persecution under the Nazis. Fleeing to London in 1936, she contributed to England’s postwar reconstruction. Yet despite a long and prolific career, her name is largely forgotten today. Finding Ella Briggs – beautifully illustrated, drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished research from archives around the world and with contributions from thirteen other international scholars – restores Briggs to her rightful place in the history of modernist design.
Despina Stratigakos is SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her books include Where Are the Women Architects? and A Women’s Berlin. Elana Shapira is Lecturer in the Cultural Studies Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is the author of Style and Seduction and the editor of Design Dialogue and Designing Transformation and (with Anne-Katrin Rossberg) Gestalterinnen. Barbara Penner is Professor in the Architectural Humanities at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Her contribution to the present book is ‘London: Struggles, New Beginnings and a Commission’.
Ella Briggs (1880–1977) was a talented architect, designer, and writer whose influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. She trained with the Viennese Secessionists and brought their radical ideas to Gilded Age New York. She designed modernist housing for the masses in Austria, was jailed as a suspected spy in Mussolini’s Italy, and thrived in Weimar Germany before suffering persecution under the Nazis. Fleeing to London, she contributed to England’s postwar reconstruction. Yet despite a long and prolific career, her name is largely forgotten today. Finding Ella Briggs restores Briggs to her rightful place in the history of modernist design.
Despina Stratigakos and Elana Shapira bring together an international team of historians to provide the defining biography of this boldly unconventional designer. Whether she was fighting for integration at Europe’s architecture schools or writing about innovative houses for American women’s magazines like Good Housekeeping, Briggs embodied the transatlantic flow of modernism. This panoramic book uncovers new findings about Briggs, her networks, and projects, recovering the many facets of a life that spanned global borders and cultures.
Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished research from archives around the world, Finding Ella Briggs is the inspiring story of a woman who defied all obstacles to pursue her dream of designing for the modern client.
With contributions by Megan Brandow-Faller, Celina Kress, Dörte Kuhlmann, Ulrike Matzer, Christine Oertel, Eva B. Ottillinger, Barbara Penner, Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, Monika Platzer, Ursula Prokop, Sabrina Rahman, Katrin Stingl, Carmen Trifina, and Christine Zwingl.
Architecture’s forgotten figures
Awards and Recognition
- A Financial Times Best Book of the Year