Fonds paa-8247 - Mary Imrie and Jean Wallbridge fonds

Jean Louise Emberly Wallbridge was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1912 to James and Mabel Wallbridge, who had arrived from Belleville, Ontario in 1902. Jean was educated privately in Edmonton, Victoria, British Columbia, Switzerland and England. She graduated from Victoria Composite High School in Edmonton, and enrolled in the architecture program at the University of Alberta, headed by Cecil Burgess. She graduated in 1939, received a Bachelor of Arts in 1940, and registered with the Alberta Association of Architects in February 6, 1941. She worked with Rule, Wynn and Rule, an architectural firm of a classmate, and then during the Second World War with the Town Planning Commission in St. John, New Brunswick. She returned to Edmonton in 1946 and was employed as a draughtsman in the Department of the City Architect and Inspector of Buildings. In 1950 she entered a partnership with fellow architect Mary Imrie. Mary Louise Imrie was born in Toronto, Ontario on August 29, 1918 to Beth and John Imrie. The family moved to Edmonton in 1921, when John became the managing director of the <em>Edmonton Journal</em>. Mary was educated in Edmonton, finishing high school in 1936. She enrolled in the architecture program at the University of Alberta in 1938, and continued at the University of Toronto in 1940 when the University of Alberta program was cancelled. During the summers of 1941 and 1942, she was employed by Rule, Wynn and Rule in Edmonton. She completed her degree in 1944, and worked with architect Harold Smith in Toronto and then in the office of Charles B.K. Van Norman in Vancouver, British Columbia. She returned to Edmonton in the fall of 1944, and registered with the Alberta Association of Architects on December 7, 1944. She worked again for Rule, Wynn and Rule, and beginning in 1946 in the office of the City Architect and Inspector of Buildings. While in the office of the City Architect and Inspector of Buildings, both Jean and Mary were given three months leave to study postwar reconstruction and community planning in Europe. Mary earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in 1969. In 1950, Mary and Jean opened their own architectural firm, Wallbridge & Imrie, in downtown Edmonton. Mary and Jean designed and built their own house, called Six Acres, west of Edmonton, where they lived as a lesbian couple. Work was completed in 1957, and this became their home and office. Jean Wallbridge died September 30, 1979. Mary resigned from the Alberta Association of Architects October 2, 1979. She died April 11, 1988.