Victorine Du Pont Homsey

Victorine Du Pont Homsey
General Information
Birth	1900
Death	1998
Spouse	Samuel Homsey

Biography

“When I stop having fun, I’ll stop practicing architecture.”

-Architectural Record, June 1948

Victorine du Pont Homsey, FAIA, and her husband founded their firm of Victorine & Samuel Homsey, Inc. in Wilmington, DE in 1935, one of the first husband-and-wife architectural practices in the US. Their initial projects were concentrated in Delaware, but by 1940, they had already won a Maryland Society of Architects Design Award for their Cambridge Yacht Club in Cambridge, Maryland.

Their rise to fame was quick and word spread along the eastern seaboard. Architectural Record featured their office in its September 1937 and 1941 issues. The Museum of Modern Art selected their house design to represent the International Style for the 1938 Paris Exhibition. However, Homsey writes in 1941: “We certainly are not modern if that means following worshipfully the so called functional or International Style…nor do we follow with blind admiration the great designers of earlier periods. We try to work out each job as a totally separate problem and to divorce from our minds any preconceived idea of style.” Their designs held the same basic ingredients of flexibility, simplicity, and quality, an honest expression of a design solution without the use of superficial decoration.

The period they started practicing was lean: from the Depression to wartime. Homsey wrote: “We trust more vigorous architecture will be the answer to this challenge.” She felt the ingenuity of the architect was to develop economical methods of building. During World War II, the family relocated to Washington DC while Samuel served in the Navy. She designed war worker housing for the Federal Housing Administration. She also collaborated with architect Eugene H. Klaber on projects in Greenbelt, including the North End Elementary School to address the town’s burgeoning student population. Scarcity of materials held up construction and kept the projects modest, but they included simple design touches, such as classrooms painted sunlit yellow with stacked, outward swinging windows for ventilation, even in the rain.

Homsey became a member of the Washington Metropolitan AIA Chapter in 1944, and received a license to practice architecture in Washington DC in 1945. The couple returned to their Delaware practice soon after the war ended, but continued to take on a variety of projects in Maryland. The 1960 Funkhouser Residence in Hagerstown is one project of which they were especially proud. A chance meeting in Tehran, where the Homsey’s were designing the US Ambassador’s residence, they met the Funkhousers on a world tour and produced a quick napkin sketch. Later that simple diagram would materialize into a beautiful home featured in the Baltimore Sun, designed to allow the treasures acquired on the couple’s many trips to be showcased.

Homesey credits her training at the Cambridge School in giving her skills in landscape design to suit their projects to their settings. In June 1948, she was featured in Architectural Record’s “A 1,000 Women in Architecture” series. She followed in her husband’s footsteps and in 1967 was elevated to AIA Fellow. Both Homseys retired in 1979 and the office continues under the direction of their son Eldon. In 1998, Homsey passed away at the age of 97, leaving a legacy of an inspiring success story.

Timeline:

1900 – Born Victorine du Pont on November 27 to Antoine Biderman du Pont, Jr. & Mary Ethel Clark du Pont in Grosse Point, MI

1919 – Graduates from the Laurel School in Cleveland, OH

1919-1923 – Attends Wellesley College; Graduates with a B.A. degree

1923-1925 – Attends Cambridge School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture; graduating with certificate in architecture; Receives Masters Degree in 1935

1926-1927 – Works as draftsman at Allen and Collens, Boston, MA where she meets Samuel E. Homsey

1929 – Marries Samuel E. Homsey in April

1929-1930 – Work as draftsman at P. Patterson Smith, Boston, MA

1934 – Son Coleman Homsey born

1935 – Moves to Wilmington, DE; Opens firm of Victorine & Samuel Homsey, Architects; MD Projects: Cambridge Yacht Club, Cambridge (1936-37; Addition 1939); Oldfields Farm, Starkey Farms Ln, Galena; Includes Manor House, Manager’s House, Tenant House, Horse Barn; and service buildings (1938-39)

1936 – Son Eldon Homsey born

1937 – Architectural Record features their office in September issue

1938 – Museum of Modern Art selects their house design to represent an example of International Style for Paris exhibition; Architectural Forum features Cambridge Yacht Club in October issue

1940 – Cambridge Yacht Club wins both the Maryland Society of Architects Award for Design and an Architecture League in NY award

1941 – Architectural Record features their firm is in September issue

1942-1946 – Husband serves as Navy commander in the Office of Research & Inventions for the Naval Reserve; Family moves to Washington, DC

1943-1945 – Principal in firm of Victorine Homsey & Eugene H. Klaber, Assoc Architects; Projects in Greenbelt for Federal Public Housing Authority:  Service Maintenance Buildings (now Greenbelt Homes Administration building), 40-58 Hamilton Pl (1943); North End Elementary School (replaced with Greenbelt Elementary) & Greenbelt High School Addition (Now Robert Goddard French Immersion School)​ (1944-45)

1944 – Becomes member of the AIA Washington Metropolitan Chapter

1944-1946 – Ladies Home Journal, Better Homes & Gardens, and House Beautiful Magazines publish her house designs; House Beautiful features them in Feb article “Meet the Samuel Homseys”

1945 – Receives license to practice architecture, Washington DC

1946 – Return to practice with husband; Project: McCauley Residence, Elkton

1948 – Architectural Record features Homsey in June article “A Thousand Women in Architecture, Part II”

1954 – Husband is Juror for exhibit: Blueprint for Tomorrow: A Survey of Baltimore’s Architectural Future held at Peale Museum

1954 – The Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore invites firm to take part in Expansion Competition (Not clear if they ever submitted a design)

1954 – Husband becomes an AIA Fellow

1955-1956 – Project: Camp Rodney, 400 Rodney Scout Rd, North East, for Boy Scouts of America; Addition of Kitchen & Dining Halls to Central Lodge (1963-64) (Elevation courtesy Hagley Museum and Library)

1960 – Project: Elmer N. Funkhouser Residence, Fountain Head Rd, Hagerstown; Chairs AIA Headquarters Committee

1962 – Incorporates firm as Victorine and Samuel Homsey Architects, Inc.

1963 – Project: Ambassador’s residence, Tehran, Iran; Chairs AIA Committee on the Octagon House, continuing to serve through 1972

1965 – Project: Bowie Residence, Easton

1967 – Elevated to AIA College of Fellows

1969 – AIA Journal features Funkhouser Residence & Fellowship in September issue; Serves as AIA Chairman for restoration of the Octagon House in Washington DC

1971 – Baltimore Sun features Funkhouser Residence, in Aug 15 article “Oriental Flavor in Hagerstown”

1974-1975 – Project: Masonic Lodge Building for Civic Association, Chesapeake City (Additional work 1977)

1974-1977 – Serves on the Washington Fine Arts Commission

1975 – Project: Tydings Residence Renovation & Addition, Gaithersburg

1979 – Project: Alterations & Addition to Fair Hill Inn’s Restaurant, Elkton

1979 – Retires with husband from practice; Gain AIA Member Emeritus Status

1980 – Travels with her husband to Beijing

c.1993 – The records of Victorine & Samuel Homsey, Inc. (1935-1992) are archived at the Hagley Museum and Library.

1994 – Firm Incorporated as Homsey Architects, Inc., led by son Eldon Homsey and Richard L. Dayton

1994 – Husband passes away

1998 – Passes away on January 6 at the age of 97

Projects

Map

Library	Church	Government	Commercial	Dwelling	Park	Educational

Listing

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