page_title: Elise Mercur
section_title: Woman's Building
hierarchical_section_title: Elise Mercur / Major works / Woman's Building
caption_attribution_description: English: Sanborn-Perris Map showing the layout of grounds, grouping of buildings with scheme of development of Piedmont Park for the 1895 Cotton States And International Exposition, Atlanta, GA. The map was lithographically printed and hand colored with the aid of wax paper stencils.
context_page_description: Elise Mercur, also known as Elise Mercur Wagner, was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's first woman architect. She was raised in a prominent family and educated abroad in France and Germany before completing training as an architect at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her first major commission, for the design of the Woman's Building for the Cotton States and International Exposition of Atlanta, was secured in 1894, while she was apprenticed to Thomas Boyd. It was the first time a woman had headed an architectural project in the South. After completing a six-year internship, she opened her own practice in 1896, where she focused on designing private homes and public buildings, such as churches, hospitals, schools, and buildings for organizations like the YMCA/YWCA.
  Mercur was a popular lecturer and not only designed, but supervised the construction of her projects. In 1897, she designed the Marshalsea Poor Farm hospital for children in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania and her design of the Washington Female Seminary building led by contractor Clara Meade was completed in 1898. Before she retired in 1905, Mercur designed over a dozen projects, many of which have since been demolished.
context_section_description: In 1894, Mercur entered a design competition for the 1895 International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. In a unanimous decision, she was awarded the commission over 13 other entries. Her selection proved beneficial for the planners, as she was able to secure structural materials from Carnegie Steel Company. Her proposal included a plastered, two-story frame building over a finished basement of brick and iron adorned with a tin roof topped by a dome. The building was to have four staircases, one of which gave access to the roof. It also contained men's and women's lavatories in the basement, a kindergarten area, fireplaces in each room, and a kitchen with a restaurant. When news of her win was announced, it marked the first time that a woman's design was selected for any major building project in the South. Minor modifications to her original plans were made during construction to remain within budget.
  The Women's Building was one of 13 exhibition buildings arranged around a 13-acre (5.3 ha) central lake. The Palladian style structure featured a raised basement. The entrance was behind a portico featuring five bays supported by Corinthian columns and measured 128 by 150 feet (39 by 46 m). Mercur designed a four square elevation topped by a dome which rose 90 feet (27 m) from the floor. The dome was surmounted by a statue of a woman holding a torch, representing female enlightenment. Painted pale yellow and white, the exterior presented a grand stair and ornamental friezes, cornices; and balustrades encircling the roof. Mounted statues on ornamental pedestals "symbolic of woman and her power" adorned the roof. Visitors to the Women's Building entered through a soaring central hall, flanked by a grand double stair, in a natural wood finish. The interior composition of well-lit, airy rooms housed the exhibits, which included Colonial artifacts, women's fine art works, and a library of books written by women. It also contained a hospital, nursery, model school, and a fireproof room.  The building was described in the event program as a "diamond among jewels" and stood until 1910, when it was razed to allow the construction of Piedmont Park.
caption: 1895 Cotton Exposition Map (The Women's Building was located to the northwest of the lake
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