Résumé

Draftswoman, Pierpont Davis and Walter Davis, Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1927-1935.

Draftswoman, Lilian J. Rice, Architect, Rancho Santa Fe, CA, 1935-1938. According to the Virginia Tech Libraries, Special Collections web site on Chaydeane's papers: "In 1935 Chadeayne met and became close associate to architect Lilian J. Rice (1888-1938). For three years Chadeayne collaborated with Rice, designing two schools, small offices and other assorted buildings. Their association was cut short when Lilian Rice passed away suddenly in 1938, Chadeayne went on to complete a number of Rice's unfinished work projects." According to historian Diane Y. Welch, an expert on the work on Lilian J. Rice, Chaydeane "...later took over the [Rice] practice, overseeing partially completed projects on Rice's death in 1938. Chadeayne then took over the practice but was unable to sustain it, closing the doors shortly afterward." (See email from Diane Y. Welch to the author, 09/15/2018. Thank you to Ms. Welch for this information.)

Principal, Olive Chaydeane, Architect, Rancho Santa Fe, CA, c. 1938-1940. By 1940, Chaydeane had begun to run out of Rice's unfinished work, and began accepting a commissions of her own. These were not enough to sustain her practice, however.

Production Illustrator, Lockheed Corporation, Burbank, CA, 07/1942-1945.

Project Architect/Specifications Writer, Daniel Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall (DMJM), Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1951-c. 1958. According to her Virginia Tech biography: "Her job at the company required extensive travel to educational facilities in various stages of building development. As a result of her travels, Chadeayne became a highly skilled specifications writer for DMJM. Her ability to write technically became her greatest professional asset." Chaydeane said of her DMJM work: "'“I tried to write specifications so that the ordinary workmen could understand them. I found that the specifications were the standard by which the building was built and that some of the workmen couldn’t understand…So I tried to write them in a way that anybody could…'" (See Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University Libraries, Special Collections, "Olive Chadeayne Architectural Papers, 1925–56," MS Collection #1990-057: Blacksburg, VA, accessed 09/17/2018.)

Project Architect/Specifications Writer, Jones and Emmons, Los Angeles, CA, 1958-1965. "She worked on a number of projects including a U.S. Air Force hospital, Naval housing and most significantly, the U.S. Consulate in Singapore. By 1966 one of Chadeayne’s most prominent architectural endeavors began when she was hired to write specifications at the Bank of America Headquarters in San Francisco, California." (See Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University Libraries, Special Collections, "Olive Chadeayne Architectural Papers, 1925–56," MS Collection #1990-057: Blacksburg, VA, accessed 09/17/2018.)

Consultant, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Architects, c. 1970-1973. Chaydeane worked as a SOM consultant when the firm worked on the Marine Midland Center, Buffalo, NY, (1969-1972)

Teaching

Instructor in house planning, Cornell University, College of Home Economics, Ithaca, NY, 1940-1942.

Professional Activities

Member, Association of Women Architects (AWA).

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Los Angeles Chapter, Los Angeles, CA.

Chairwoman, AIA, Los Angeles Chapter, Membership Committee, Los Angeles, CA.

Member, AIA, Los Angeles Chapter, Building Codes Committee, Los Angeles,CA.

Archives

Olive Chaydeane's architectural papers have been preserved in the "Olive Chadeayne Architectural Papers, 1925–56," MS Collection #1990-057, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), University Libraries, Special Collections, Blacksburg, VA.

College

Coursework in architecture, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Westwood, Los Angeles, 1922-c. 1924. (UCLA shut its architectural program in the mid-1920s.)

B.A., Architecture, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 05/12/1926.

M.A., Architecture, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, 1927.

• Ossining, NY (Architect's Birth)
  Ossining, NY

  ---

  ---

• Tracy, CA (Architect's Death)
  Tracy, CA

  ---

  ---