Eliza Newkirk Rogers
Week of September 25, 2000

This week we honor Eliza Newkirk Rogers, teacher and architect.

Eliza Newkirk, born in Philadelphia on October 7, 1877, graduated from Wellesley College in 1900. In addition to her course work, "Bess," as she was known to her classmates, served as a class officer, was a member of the class basketball team, played guitar in the Mandolin Club, and helped edit the student literary and news magazine. Her senior year she headed the Zeta Alpha literary society.

After graduation Newkirk taught at the Walnut Hill School in Natick and took graduate-level courses at Wellesley and architecture courses at MIT. She received a master's degree from Wellesley in 1907. She had a three-year fellowship to support research for her thesis, Domical churches of the Renaissance in Italy, with Special Reference to Santa Maria delle Carceri, at Prato as a Representative Church of the Greek Cross Plan.

For nearly thirty years Eliza Newkirk Rogers combined teaching and work as an architect. From 1906 until 1936 she taught in the Wellesley College Art Department. Most of her courses dealt with the history of architecture, although she also helped with studio courses. In 1915 she reported to Wellesley classmates that her work "has been a happy combination of teaching history of architecture and doing the practical architectural work, getting experience in Boston and Philadelphia offices. The placing of my College classes gives me some free time and since my last year abroad (1912-13) I have been established independently in an office in Boston. So far the work that has come my way has been small houses, remodeling jobs, and one large dormitory which I finished for Walnut Hill School, Natick, this September. Here at Wellesley, outside of my two courses in History of Architecture and my studio work, I have been giving all the time I could to the new plans for Wellesley, helping in the framing of reports on new buildings and working on the Faculty Committee of Conference with the Board of Trustees," contributing to the discussions of what would become the 1921 master plan for the development of the campus. Eliza Newkirk Rogers was the architect for Horton, Hallowell, and Shepard—faculty residences just off of Washington Street—built between 1922 and 1930, and the AKX society house (now known as Harambee). An article from 1959 said, "Many alumnae call the teacher who gave them an understanding and appreciation of Art and Architecture by the affectionate name of "Auntie Bess"; a number of them, now successful practicing architects owe to her their first intimation of what their vocation was to be." She was serving as a role model for students long before the term became popular.



In 1924 Newkirk married George Rogers, Director of Studies at Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire. They had met several years before, when his oldest daughter was Newkirk's student. Rogers began dividing her time between Exeter and Wellesley. In 1936 after George Rogers passed away, Eliza returned to Philadelphia, living in an apartment that adjoined her sister's home. There she continued to serve her two passions—teaching and architecture. She taught at Rosemont College from 1937 to 1945. And she continued to design and remodel houses. She worked tirelessly on the restoration of thirty-three 18th century houses on Elfreth's Alley in Philadelphia.

Eliza Newkirk Rogers died on January 5, 1966. The memorial note in the alumnae magazine concluded, "With unstinted generosity Bess met the claims on her time of her host of friends. She gave loyal allegiance to every good cause that appealed to her mind or heart. She brought beauty and order into whatever she touched." Written by Flick Coleman