page_title: Isabel Roberts
section_title: Orlando, Florida
hierarchical_section_title: Isabel Roberts / Orlando, Florida
caption_attribution_description: St. Cloud, Florida: St. Cloud Heritage Museum
context_page_description: Isabel Roberts was a Prairie School figure, member of the architectural design team in the Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright and partner with Ida Annah Ryan in the Orlando, Florida architecture firm, "Ryan and Roberts".
context_section_description: Isabel Roberts and her family, accompanied by members of the William Drummond family, were visitors to St. Cloud, Florida, as early as the winter of 1915. Roberts and her mother Mary moved to St. Cloud a decade after the Isabel Roberts House was completed. Mary Roberts was in failing health due to the lingering effects of influenza. Roberts's sister Charlotte and her husband John B. Somerville were by that time established residents of St. Cloud. Mary Roberts died in Florida, in 1920.
  Once in Florida, Isabel Roberts went into architectural practice with Ida Annah Ryan, who was the first woman in the United States to earn a master's degree in architecture, from MIT. As the firm of "Ryan and Roberts", they were among no more than a dozen architecture firms active in Orlando in the 1920s. Their business is listed under the heading "Architects" as "Ryan and Roberts" in the 1926 and in the 1927 Orlando City Directories, at 240 S. Orange St. and the Kenilworth Terrace address. One of only 10 architectural firms listed in 1926, the others including: Frank L. Bodine, Fred E. Field, David Hyer, Murry S. King, George E. Krug, Howard M. Reynolds, Frederick H. Trimble and Percy P. Turner. And one of 12 firms so listed in Orlando in 1927, which included Maurice E. Kressly.
  Soon after arriving in Florida, Roberts attempted to become a member of the Florida chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  Letters of recommendation from John Van Bergen, Hermann V. von Holst and Frank Lloyd Wright which accompanied her application make it unmistakably clear that these men who had been her colleagues in Chicago considered Roberts to be an architect.  Even so, Roberts was not admitted to the AIA.  Nonetheless, throughout the 1920s, the architectural firm of Ryan and Roberts created landmark buildings in Central Florida, some of which still stand, today:
  Veterans Memorial Library, 1012 Massachusetts Ave., St. Cloud, Florida. Isabel Roberts' brother-in-law, John B. Somerville, served on the building committee, a connection which resulted in Ryan and Roberts obtaining this commission. In 1922, an outline of what was desired was laid before architects Miss Ida Annah Ryan and Miss Isabel Roberts of Orlando. The plans submitted by these ladies were subsequently accepted. The architects insisted on a motto. Carlyle's, "The true university is a collection of books," was chosen. The building, although described as of Grecian style is in fact reminiscent of the designs of many of the Prairie School small bank buildings of the upper Midwest by Louis Sullivan, William Gray Purcell and George Grant Elmslie, Frank Lloyd Wright and others.  It is constructed of hollow tile with stained stucco exterior and is well cared for and in daily use today. It now houses the St. Cloud Heritage Museum.  The building is currently owned by the City of St. Cloud; however, the museum is operated solely by volunteers of the Woman's Club of St. Cloud.
  Amherst Apartments, 325 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida. The Amherst Apartments were, for many years, Orlando's most prestigious apartment address.  Designed by Ida A. Ryan and Isabel Roberts in the Prairie Style and built in 1921-1922, it featured forty-seven apartments situated on the south shore of Lake Concord.  The building closely resembles the design for the German Embassy Building (1915) by William Eugene Drummond; Roberts worked for Gunzel and Drummond in 1915.  The Amherst Apartments were demolished in 1986.
  Tourist Club House, 700 Indiana Ave., St. Cloud, Florida. This club house for the Tourist Club of St. Cloud was opened in the city park on December 3, 1923. Designed by Ida Annah Ryan and Isabel Roberts, it shows the influence of the Prairie School with which Roberts was associated, as a rectangular structure with a barrel-roofed auditorium. Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park Studio developed this style with open, airy plans, low-pitched hip or gable roofs, horizontal brick walls, exposed rafter ends, broad overhanging eaves and grouped wood windows.  The building was torn down circa 2005.
  The Ryan/Roberts Ho
caption: Veterans Memorial Library
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK C875 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "504", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13054", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4759", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:10:10 13:54:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:10:10 13:54:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "25/3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "39/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "12750", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "64", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}