The Life of Norma Merrick Sklarek:

‘Rosa Parks of Architecture’

Sophia Averza
ARCH 226
Professor Burke
 Norma Merrick Sklarek was a trailblazer for Blacks and women in architecture. She was
born in Harlem, New York on April 15, 1928 and died on February 6, 2012 in Los Angeles,
California.1 Throughout her childhood, she lived in Harlem and Brooklyn. Norma was the sole
child of her immigrated Trinidadian parents who were a doctor and a seamstress.2 Growing up,
she had a passion for art, science, and math. These collective interests explain her later
developed passion for architecture.3 From a young age, her father instilled mentalities in her
work ethic that would prove her success in architecture. Her pushed her to perform well in
school to pursue a career in a close-minded field that lacks women and people of color (POC) to
create societal change.4
Her search for academic success proves victorious through her acceptance into reputable
institutions. Early in her education, she went to Hunter High School which was a competitive
girls magnet school that was predominately white.5 Admittance required excelling in tests in both
math and English. Norma viewed this high school as “not only the best high school in New York
City, but maybe the best high school in the United States”.6 Even as a pubescent in high school
she defied racial bounds. She advanced her schooling at Barnard College which did not admit
many women students. Her sold reason in attending Barnard was to attain the liberal arts
education required for admittance into Columbia University’s architecture program.7 She sought
a career in architecture because it combined her intrigues she attained in childhood. Her father
willed her to become a physician as he is because she had the skill set, but she did not enjoy
examining unpleasant bodily functions.8 Only two women including herself graduated from
Columbia with a Batchelor of Architecture degree.9 Also, she was the only Black individual to
graduate from the program. This illustrates that she lived up to her father’s goal in pushing the
boundaries of women and POC in white-male dominated careers. Norma Merrick Sklarek defied
the social standards of the white male dominated architecture field by overpowering her racist

1
“Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect,” Los Angeles Times, Last Modified
February 10, 2012, https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-norma-sklarek-20120210-story.html.
2
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
3
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
4
“Biography of Architect Norma Sklarek,” ThoughtCo, Last Modified July 3, 2019,
https://www.thoughtco.com/norma-merrick-sklarek-faia-177422.
5
“Norma Merrick Sklarek,” Docomomo, Accessed December 2020,
https://www.docomomo-us.org/designer/norma-merrick-sklarek.
6
“The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American Female Architects,” NCARB,
Last Modified July 16, 2018, https://www.ncarb.org/blog/the-distinguished-career-of-norma-sklarek.
7
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
8
NCARB, “The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American Female Architects.”
9
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
and sexist colleagues to standardize inclusive workplaces to become the ‘Rosa Parks of
Architecture’.
Upon graduating college and joining the workforce, Norma immediately recognized the
discrimination she would face for the remainder of her career. She applied for jobs at 19 different
firms, yet was rejected by all despite her academic successes in graduating from Columbia
University, being one of the only women and person of color to receive a bachelor of
architecture, and even attending a prestigious magnet school.10 Graduating as the only women
and POC in her class should be regarded as a triumph and draw to employers, however,
architecture firms at the time did not see it as so. Women and Blacks were ill represented in the
architecture industry so hiring them felt as if foreign ideas were being welcomed. Firms dwelled
in the comfortability of staff who resembled them. Norma recalls in her later years that “the
firms in those days were not used to having women in their offices, and they were certainly not
used to having African-Americans. They just said, ‘We’re not hiring at this time’”.11 The 19
firms gave her no clear reason for rejection other than claiming they have no open positions. By
professing they solely lack openings, they failed to even consider or interview Norma to judge
her qualifications for the job. Being both a minority and woman sets her at substantial
disadvantage opposed to just a Black man or white woman. Some famous white female
architects educated around the same time or prior such as Jane Drew and Denise Scott-Brown
were able to join the architecture industry after college without rejection that Norma endured.
Since Norma was both a minority and female, her career aspirations were handicapped right after
college.
After the disheartening rejection, she decided to take her intelligence elsewhere and
sought virtually any job. She procured a simple civil service job working as a junior craftsman
for New York City, which was a waste of her capabilities.12 Norma understood she was
overqualified for the job and did not enjoy the coworkers or projects. So, she was determined to
get her architect’s license to have a higher profile architecture career. Norma strove for
excellence, so she passed her architecture licensing exam on her first attempt.13 This was
exceptionally uncommon, so it had astounded Columbia University administrators. The seven-

10
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
11
NCARB, “The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American Female Architects.”
12
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
13
“Norma Sklarek,” Columbia Celebrates Black History and Culture, Columbia University, Accessed December
2020, https://Blackhistory.news.columbia.edu/people/norma-sklarek.
part exam was taken over the course of four days and averaged nine hours per day.14 So, in
passing in on the first attempt, she reveals her capabilities in working hard and preparing well in
her academics. She became the first Black woman to receive her architecture license in New
York. After passing the assessment, more career opportunities became obtainable to her despite
being rejected prior. She was hired at Skidmore, Owings, Merrill (SOM), a well-known
architectural firm at the time.15 Upon employment at SOM, she discovered that boss from her
service job gave her a bad referral despite her being a hard worker. Norma deemed this bias
stemmed from discrimination. She had reason to believe that “it had to be personal. He [her boss]
was not a licensed architect, and [she] was a young kid—[she] looked like a teenager—and [she]
was Black and a licensed architect”.16 His bad recommendation was rooted in jealousy that a
POC and young female could achieve what he did not. She worked at SOM for 4 years, where
she played a decent role in the company and dealt with valuable projects.17 Norma recognized
her own capabilities and potential in the architecture field and constantly sought greater career
opportunities despite being seen by employers inferior to her own view.
Having worked on the East Coast her life thus far, Norma Merrick Sklarek decided to
move West to seek new opportunities in architecture. Upon moving to California, she was
employed by Gruen Associates.18 Norma was the only black female at the firm. Their uniform
work environment indicated she would most likely face discrimination. Upon employment at
Gruen, she did not have a car, so she rode with a white male coworker every morning.19 He
constantly arrived unpunctual, as he had been doing for years, causing her to do so similarly. The
boss noticed her tardiness quickly as opposed to her colleague’s. Norma mentions that “it took
only one week before the boss came and spoke to me about being late, yet he had not noticed that
the young man had been late for two years”.20 Yet again, she faced discrimination from her boss.
Discrimination under this boss is transparent as opposed to her first employer’s subdued biases.
Norma was sought out and reprimanded when the white man’s lateness was chosen to be
ignored. She decided that she will not be able to elevate her status in the company if she appears
as a tardy employee, so she bought a car.21 Eventually through her sharpness, she climbed her

14
NCARB, “The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American Female Architects.”
15
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
16
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
17
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
18
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
19
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
20
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
21
Los Angeles Times, “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.”
way up the company to become the firm’s first female director.22 As director she worked with
sizable projects, oversaw subordinates, and hired employees. Some of these massive projects
included U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Fox Plaza, and Pacific Design Center (Figures 1, 2, and 3).
When Norma began at companies, initially, they do not anticipate her drive and brilliance
because they belittle her intelligence based off race and gender. Even though she was ranked
highly in the company, upon a project’s completion Norma is not recognized for her
contribution. Even when Norma earned her title, she is not given the recognition she deserves
because of discrimination. When working at Gruen she became the first Black woman to receive
her architecture license in California.23 Norma writes history for being the first Black woman in
two states to receive her architecture license. Yet, her name was still not acknowledged. After
working with Gruen for 20 years, Norma switched to Welton Becket Associates to become the
vice president of the firm. At this company she worked on even larger scale projects than she did
at her previous ones including Terminal One at Los Angeles International Airport (Figure 4).24
She continuously upgraded with each job she accepted and faced less discrimination with the
latest career opportunity. She did not report of dealing with discrimination at Welton Becket,
which may show that with power and high status one is questioned or judged less about their
capabilities with higher ranks in the industry.
After Norma’s scaled success in the architecture field, she decided she could gain even
more standing with starting her own practice. She sought impact within the close-minded
architecture field by changing the standards of which women and POC are seen in it. So, she
regarded that establishing her own firm was the most influential way in doing so. She quit her
job at Welton Becket to partner with two women, Margot Siegel and Katherine Diamond, to
create Siegel, Sklarek, Diamond.25 Their firm was founded on the ideals of defying the standards
of the male dominated field. It became the “largest woman-owned architectural firm in the
United States”.26 In addition to breaking the gender standard with the creation of this firm, she
became the first black woman to institute an architectural corporation.27 Even though Norma
assumed that this partnership would bring reputation and less discrimination, she soon realized
that this would not hold true. Her company could not land large-scale projects seemingly because

22
ThoughtCo, “Biography of Architect Norma Sklarek.”
23
NCARB, “The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American Female Architects.”
24
ThoughtCo, “Biography of Architect Norma Sklarek.”
25
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
26
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
27
Columbia University, “Norma Sklarek.”
of the sexism within the architecture industry despite her and her partners’ initiatives.28 Even
though the firm was created by three influential women architects who have excelled in their
field, they did not receive the scale projects warranted. Norma sought to overcome racism and
sexism by co-starting her own inclusive firm yet was cast down in her effort to diversify the
architecture scene. Despite her desire for championing diversity, she left the company because
she wanted to be involved with massive scale buildings which she did not work on in her firm.29
She discovered these projects at Jerde Partnership where she worked until retirement as principal
of project management.30 One of the massive projects she managed at Jerde was Mall of America
(Figure 5). She finished out her career dealing with projects she liked overseeing. Norma sought
to change the face of the head firms of the architecture industry by co-founding a practice. Even
though her practice did not grow to the intensity that she had envisioned, in the end she found a
position she appreciated. Norma Merrick Sklarek made way for many women and POC in the
architecture field, however, cannot be the sole contributor in diversifying the discipline. She
fulfilled her father’s wish to create a societal change through her career’s achievements, but no
one person can abolish sexism and racism in workplace.
Despite the initiatives that women such as Norma have taken, “the professions in
engineering and construction industries (including engineers, architects, designers, project
managers)…are among the worst in terms of gender disparity; the industry remains largely
white, male and able-bodied”.31 Seemingly women will face discrimination in work until their
field is not dominated by men. Women will be treated with bias in the workplace until they
become well represented in numbers. A dominated field, no matter the sex, may hold a conscious
or unconscious bias when the underrepresented sex attempts to enter it. Everyday sexism in the
workplace is characterized as passive sexism in average interactions. For women everyday
sexism includes exclusion from networking opportunities, task restrictions to limit their
capabilities, outcast because of their personal life such as children, humoring sexist jokes, and
developing complacency.32 Not only does sex factor into workplace bias, but race plays an equal
role. When surveying people over 2002 to 2010, the primary race feeling discriminated against
was Black.33 This discrimination is based off a feeling or attitude received from any race to
28
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
29
ThoughtCo, “Biography of Architect Norma Sklarek.”
30
Docomomo, “Norma Merrick Sklarek.”
31
Abigail Powell and Katherine JC Sang, "Everyday Experiences of Sexism in Male-dominated Professions: A
Bourdieusian Perspective," Sociology 49, no. 5 (2015): 920, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44016758.
32
Powell and Sang, “Everyday Experiences,” 924-927.
33
Catherine E. Harnois, "Are Perceptions of Discrimination Unidimensional, Oppositional or Intersectional?
Examining the Relationship among Perceived Racial-Ethnic-, Gender-, and Age-Based Discrimination,"
someone who is Black. Data showed that at work non-Hispanic Black surveyors were more than
5 times as likely to feel discriminated against as other ethnicities during this time.34 Upon
reviewing the same data, minorities that perceive gender bias at work are 20 times as likely to
experience race-based discrimination.35 This reveals the attitudes towards biases in the workplace
taking place only 10 years ago. Norma’s career took place over 50 years ago, and with time
people have become more aware of sexism and racism. If there were this many people feeling
discriminated against in the workplace in 2010, Norma must have felt the heavy weight of
suppression heavily during employment over 50 years ago.
Norma Merrick Sklarek was constantly discredited and belittled due to racial and sexist
bias in the architecture industry for being a Black woman. She had to pave the way in the
architecture industry for women, people of color, and women of color. Norma became known as
‘Rosa Parks of Architecture’ because she “became part of the women’s rights movement that
initially paved the way for [her] career opportunities, often being [a] suffragist and activist”.36
Woman such as Norma challenged male-dominated careers that had sex and racial biases. Her
call for advocation developed into the inclusivity in the workplace for women and POC in 2020.
Although the architecture field has become increasingly diverse over time, it is still a primarily
white-male dominated field. However, over time, women have become more heavily represented
in the field.37 In regards to Blacks being represented, according to the National Council of
Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), they are the least likely to know a person of color
in leadership at their company38. In addition, they are most likely to have felt discriminated
against in the workplace.39 This statistics exhibit that the architecture industry needs to promote
diversity more firmly. Norma advocated for greater variety in employees in the architecture field
and helped in creating a more inclusive work environment for women and people of color.
However, there are still issues with racism and sexism that need to be recognized and improved
upon in the years coming, so architecture will not be white male dominated.

Sociological Perspectives 57, no. 4 (2014): 477, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44290109.

34
Harnois, "Are Perceptions,” 476.
35
Harnois, "Are Perceptions,” 476.
36
Yunlu Shen and Anna M. Lewis, CTBUH Journal, no. 3 (2017): 60, https://www.jstor.org/stable/90020864.
37
“NCARB By the Numbers 2020 Offers Closer Look at Demographics and Diversity,” Architectural Record, Last
Modified July 13, 2020, https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14716-ncarb-by-the-numbers-2020-offers-
closer-look-at-demographics-and-diversity#:~:text=Diversity%20and%20ethnicity%20by%20career%20stage%2C
%20courtesy%20NCARB%202020.&text=With%20more%20detailed%20demographic%20information,a%20racial
%20or%20ethnic%20minority.
38
Architectural Record, “NCARB By the Numbers 2020 Offers Closer Look at Demographics and Diversity.”
39
Architectural Record, “NCARB By the Numbers 2020 Offers Closer Look at Demographics and Diversity.”
 Figure 1: U.S. Embassy in Tokyo

https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/women-design-book/attachment/us-embassy-in-tokyo/

Figure 1. Fox Plaza

https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/fox-plaza-die-hard-building/view/google/
 Figure 2. Pacific Design Center

https://www.pacificdesigncenter.com/pdc-information/

Figure 3. Terminal One, Los Angeles International Airport

Google Maps

Figure 4. Mall of America

https://www.abqjournal.com/362507/mall-of-america-secures-financing-for-expansion.html
Architectural Record. “NCARB By the Numbers 2020 Offers Closer Look at Demographics and
Diversity.” Last Modified July 13, 2020.
https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14716-ncarb-by-the-numbers-2020-offers-
closer-look-at-demographics-and-diversity#:~:text=Diversity%20and%20ethnicity%20by
%20career%20stage%2C%20courtesy%20NCARB%202020.&text=With%20more
%20detailed%20demographic%20information,a%20racial%20or%20ethnic%20minority.
Columbia University. “Norma Sklarek.” Columbia Celebrates Black History and Culture.
Accessed December 2020. https://Blackhistory.news.columbia.edu/people/norma-sklarek.
Docomomo. “Norma Merrick Sklarek.” Accessed December 2020. https://www.docomomo-
us.org/designer/norma-merrick-sklarek.
Harnois, Catherine E. "Are Perceptions of Discrimination Unidimensional, Oppositional or
Intersectional? Examining the Relationship among Perceived Racial-Ethnic-, Gender-, and
Age-Based Discrimination." Sociological Perspectives 57, no. 4 (2014): 470-87.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44290109.
Los Angeles Times. “Norma Merrick Sklarek dies; pioneering African American architect.” Last
Modified February 10, 2012. https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-norma-
sklarek-20120210-story.html.
NCARB. “The Distinguished Career of Norma Sklarek: One of the First African-American
Female Architects.” Last Modified July 16, 2018. https://www.ncarb.org/blog/the-
distinguished-career-of-norma-sklarek.
Powell, Abigail, and Katherine JC Sang. "Everyday Experiences of Sexism in Male-dominated
Professions: A Bourdieusian Perspective." Sociology 49, no. 5 (2015): 919-36.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44016758.
Shen, Yunlu, and Anna M. Lewis. CTBUH Journal, no. 3 (2017): 60.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/90020864.
ThoughtCo. “Biography of Architect Norma Sklarek.” Last Modified July 3, 2019.
https://www.thoughtco.com/norma-merrick-sklarek-faia-177422.