Ruth Young McGonigle architectural papers

Ruth Young McGonigle was born on April 5th, 1902 in Spindletop, Texas. After graduating from Houston High School in 1918, she entered the Rice Institute to take art classes, but ended up studying architecture instead.

In 1924, McGonigle was the first woman to graduate from Rice with a B.S. in Architecture. After graduation, she worked for William Ward Watkin, who was not only a Houston architect, but also a professor at Rice. McGonigle worked under his tutelage until she married former classmate, George McGonigle Jr., on September 29, 1925. She then settled in her husband’s hometown of Brownsville and began her own practice.

McGonigle was particularly known for recognizing Brownsville’s unique historical architecture and incorporating that style in her own work. Her sensitivity to19th century Creole building tradition is evident in her designs for the Brown-Young house and Hert house in Rio Viejo. Although she designed mainly single-family homes, her artistry could also be found in public buildings like the St. Paul’s Episcopal Mission and the Brownsville Art League Museum. During the 1950’s, she also designed floats for Brownsville’s annual Charro Days parades. Ruth was not only one of the first female architects to work in the lower Rio Grande Valley, but also one of the founders of the Brownsville Art League. Throughout the last decades of her life, McGonigle worked with the Brownsville Historical Association to document the city’s architectural heritage.

She and her husband had two children. Her husband was killed in a plane accident on July 2, 1954. Ruth Y. McGonigle died on April 14, 1984.

Bibliography: www.tsha.utexas.edu; Ruth Young McGonigle Papers, Woodson Research Center, Rice University.