Norma Merrick Sklarek

"In architecture, I had absolutely no role model. 

I'm happy today to be a role model for others that follow."

- Norma Merrick Sklarek 1989 

LIFE

Norma Merrick Sklarek was born to two immigrant parents from the island nation of Barbados. She grew up in the Brooklyn borough of New York where she would take after her father's intelligence and problem-solving and her mother's creativity and craft. During her early education, she excelled in math and sciences while also having a knack for fine arts. Sklarek spent one year at Barnard College in Manhattan before transferring to Columbia University where she would go on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in architecture. Sklarek was one of two women and the only African American to graduated in her class. 

    After graduating from Columbia, Sklarek applied to 19 different architectural firms in search of work. She was rejected from every single one on accounts of her race and her gender. She took work in New York's Public Work's Center where she felt that her talents were undervalued and underappreciated. Because of this, Sklarek studied and took the state architecture licensing exam. When passed, she became the first African American woman to be licensed in the state of New York. She was then promptly hired by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill where she found her work as exciting and challenging as she wished it had been since graduating. In 1959 she became the first African American woman to join the American Institute of Architects. In 1960 she transferred to Gruen Associates in Los Angeles and two years later she became the first African American woman to be licensed in the state of California.

    

    While she worked, she taught architecture courses at the local community colleges in order to support her two sons. Sklarek was a single mother for quite some time, balancing her personal life and professional life with the help of her mother.

    Sklarleks' work, leadership, and importance grew with every firm she would work with, and with every project, she added to her portfolio. Unfortunately, she would face criticism for who she was, criticism so extreme as to not be credited for some of her greatest architectural schemes. In the 1980s, Sklarek went on to develop her own firm with Margot Siegel and Katherine Diamond, Siegel, Sklarek, and Diamond, the first and largest woman-owned firm at the time. From then on she made it her mission to have no woman ever go uncredited for her work and continued to champion advocacy and mentorship for young women architects across the United States. She retired in 1992. Sklarek passed due to heart failure at the age of 85 in her Pacific Palisades home on February 6, 2012.

NOTABLE WORKS

San Bernadino Town Hall

San Bernadino, California (1963-65)

With Gruen Associates.

LAX Terminal One

Los Angeles, California (1984)

With Welton Becket Associates. Oversaw the project as the project director. Was commissioned with the Tom Bradley Intl Terminal to prepare for the large influx of passengers ahead of the 1984 Olympic Games. 

U.S. Embassy - Japan

Tokyo, Japan (1976-78)

With Gruen Associates. Although partnered with César Pelli, she was not initially recognized with her work on the building. She is now credited for designing the building and supervising and hiring staff. 

Mall of America 

Minneapolis, Minnesota (1989-92)

With the Jerde Partnership. Was her last major project before retiring from practice in 1992. 

ACHIEVEMENTS 

• First African American Woman to:
• Graduate from Columbia University's Architecture Program -1950
• To be a member of the American Institute of Architects - 1959
• Teach architecture in a higher education institute in the state of New York - 1960
• Be a licensed architect in the state of New York - 1954
• Be a licensed architect in the state of California - 1962
• Work as an architect at:
• Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill - 1955
• Gruen Associates - 1960
• Welton Becket Associates - 1980
• To be a vice president at Welton Becket Associates - 1980
• Be elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects - 1980
• Founded Siegel, Sklarek, and Diamond, largest and first women-owned firm - 1985
• Awarded Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Outstanding Business Role Model Award - 1987
• Appointed to California Architects Board - 2003
• Honored by the California State Legislature - 2007
• Honored by Goodwill Board of Governors (recognized for work with disabled) - 2007
• Honored by National Organization of Minority Architects - 2007
• Awarded Whitney M. Young Jr. Award (recognized work to address social issues) - 2008 
• Has a scholarship named in her honor at Howard University where she was a lecturer - 2008

Norma was a trailblazer for not only African American women, but also for women in general, in the field of architecture in the United States. Although she wasn't recognized at first for all her work, she will be greatly recognized and honored for everything she has championed and challenged. 

REFERENCE

Bellows, Layla. "Norma Sklarek, FAIA: A Litany of Firsts that Defined a Career, and a Legacy." AIA Architect. http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB093149

Black, Angela. “Sklarek, Norma Merrick.” In African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Oxford African American Studies Center. http://www.oxfordaasc.com/article/opr/t0001/e3731

Morton, Patricia. "Pioneering Women of American Architecture: Norma Merrick Sklarek." Sponsored by:
Women of FXFOWLE. https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/norma-merrick-sklarek/

National Visionary Leadership Project. Norma Sklarek: National Visionary. http://www.visionaryproject.org/sklareknorma/

BY DUSTIN MARA