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A portrait completed around 1930 depicts a standing, middle-aged woman. A hint of
gray appears in her long dark hair, which is gently gathered away from her face. Her
blue eyes gaze steadily at the viewer, while her rosy cheeks attest to her health and vitality.
Except for a simple oval broach that is affixed to her white collar, she wears no jewelry.
Yet other details capture our interest: a white smock covers her dark blue dress; her left
hand clasps a triangle, while her right one holds a pencil and is poised above the sketch
of a small white house with an asymmetrical facade; and the floor plan of a large building
that takes up the background. Painted by the artist Karla Lehr, it shows Therese Mogger,
as a proud architect and a respected professional. Yet who was Therese Mogger, in equal Quelle: Familie Meßner/Tessa Meßner
parts an elegant matron, who came of age in the 19th century, and a professional woman,
who is clearly at home in the 20th? Therese Geiger was born in 1875 in Ottobeuren,
Bavaria into a well-to-do family who operated the brewery for the local Benedictine mona-
stery. Before her marriage to Emil Mogger and the birth of her three sons, she acquired Reihenhäuser für kinderreiche Familien, 1920er-Jahre • Terraced houses for families with many children, 1920s
some advanced education, and earned a teacher-training certificate, the highest educa-
tional level that a woman in heavily Catholic Bavaria could aim for at this time. By 1900
Doppelhaus mit integrierter Garage, 1920er-Jahre • Semi-detached house with integrated garage, 1920s
she decided to upend convention. A youthful acquaintanceship with the architect Lothar
Gaßner (1854-1889) had sparked her interest in architecture, and she decided to pursue a
career in this field. Drawing upon her inheritance, she divorced her husband, placed her
children in a boarding school, and at some time prior to 1909, when she was over the age
of thirty, began auditing architecture classes at the Technical University in Munich.

1919 first woman admitted to the Association of German Architects

While in Munich, Mogger forged a close friendship with her classmate, Elisabeth von
Knobelsdorff (1877-1959). They continued their studies at the Technical University of Berlin-
Charlottenburg, where, in 1909, von Knobelsdorff became the first woman architecture
student to matriculate and, in 1911, the first woman to receive the Diploma Engineer
degree in Architecture in Germany. Mogger probably attended as an auditor. During her
studies, Mogger acquired practical experience in the office of a builder on the Lake of
Constance and in an architectural office in Mulheim, and designed for residential projects
in Bavaria. In March 1912 she displayed her architectural projects alongside those of Quelle: Familie Meßner/Tessa Meßner
Elisabeth von Knobelsdorff and Emilie Winkelmann (1875-1951) at the exhibition “The
Woman in der Home and in her Profession”. Assembled by bourgeois feminists, the
exhaustive presentation of women’s endeavors included the first show of women archi-
tects in Germany. Female applied artists had played a key role in the organization of “The
Woman in der Home and in her Profession” and two, Else Oppler-Legband and Lilly Reich,
planned a second such show in the Woman’s Building, a temporary pavillon at the Die Autorin des Beitrages Mary Pepchinski studierte und arbeitete als Architektin in Berlin
Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition during the summer of 1914. For the design of this pavilion, und New York. Sie hat Architektur in Berlin und Graz gelehrt, derzeit ist sie Professorin an
they prepared a competition, open to women architects in Austria and Germany. Yet per- der Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft in Dresden. Zusätzlich zu ihren Texten über
haps because of her age (she was almost forty) or the long path she had undergone to zeitgenössische Archi tektur stehen Genderfragen, die gebaute Umwelt und die Profession
become an architect, Mogger felt if necessary to write a scathingly critical letter about the des Architekten im Fokus ihrer Forschung. Ihre Veröffentlichungen umfassen eine
poorly-run competition that appeared in the eminent architectural Magazine, Der Monografie über feministische Ausstellungen in Deutschland vor 1914 und „Ideological
Profanbau, in the summer of 1913. When she wrote her letter, Mogger had every reason to Equals: Women Architects in Socialist Europe 1945 – 1989“ (London 2016), ein Band, den
boast about her accomplishments. She was in the midst of building at least four multi- sie gemeinsam mit Mariann Simon herausgegeben hat.
family dwellings and one single-family house in Düsseldorf’s newly annexed Gerresheim
district. Yet as opposed to Emilie Winkelmann, who received commissions from her net- Mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Herausgeber wurden der gekürzte Textbeitrag und
work of upper-class and aristocratic women in Berlin, Mogger had to rely upon her own die Abbildungen entnommen aus:
resources to establish her practice, and served as the client for at least two of these buil-
dings. The surviving plans show that Mogger was a pragmatic designer, who adopted nort-
hern German urban residential types for the design of these multi-family dwellings. Frau Architekt
Although Mogger built these multi-family houses for investors, the users of her architectu-
re were middle class urban dwellers with modest incomes. She addressed this population Seit mehr als 100 Jahren:
through a series of articles illustrated with speculative designs for compact, reasonably Frauen im Architekturberuf
priced, single-family houses, which she published in a supplement to a local newspaper
in 1913. When considering the scope of her activity, it not surprising that by the end of this
decade, along with Emilie Winkelmann, Elisabeth von Knobelsdorff and the young Frau Architekt
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Therese Mogger was celebrated in women’s periodicals as a Herausgeber: Mary Pepchinski, Christina Budde, Wolfgang
pioneering professional. In contrast to these women, who were childless, it may have Voigt, Peter Cachola Schmal – Deutsches Architekturmuseum,
been important for Mogger to construct a public identity that did not excessively challenge Frankfurt/Main. Erschienen 2017 im Ernst Wasmuth Verlag,
typical gender roles. Thus these reports celebrated her accomplishments and rarely men- Tübingen, Berlin. Deutsch/Englisch. 113 Seiten. Hardcover.
tion her motherhood. Therese Mogger died in 1956 and is buried in Ottobeuren. The ins- Format: 24,5 x 30,5 cm. 48 Euro
cription on her tombstone proudly testifies to her commitment to architecture. It reads: ISBN 978 3 8030 0829 9 (Buchhandelsausgabe)
“Therese Mogger born Geiger [woman] architect B.D.A. 1875-1956.“ ISBN 978 3 8030 0828 2 (Museumsausgabe)

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