Born in 1867 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Theodate Pope was one of the first women architects in the United States (the first to be licensed in Connecticut). Despite the limitations on women at the time, Pope forged her own path in the architecture world. She was largely self taught: Her first commission was renovating an 18th-century farmhouse for her parents. She went on to design many beautiful buildings that still stand today. Some of her enduring designs include Hill-Stead in Farmington, CT (now a museum); the Avon Old Farms School in Avon, CT, which she both designed and founded; and Westover School in Middlebury, CT. She also was commissioned to reconstruct the birthplace of former president Theodore Roosevelt in New York City in 1920 (the home had been demolished in 1916).
In 1915, she survived the sinking of the Lusitania, which was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. She married John Riddle, a 52-year-old diplomat, a year later at the age of 48 (she continued her career after her marriage). She died at her home in Farmington in 1946.
Info and pic here. See some of her designs here and here. More info here and here.