Florence Mary Taylor

• Name — Florence Mary Taylor • Born — 29 December 1879 • Birthplace — Bedminster, Somerset, England • Died — 13 February 1969 • Place of death — Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia • Occupation — * Architect • publisher • Practice — * Town Planning Association of New South Wales • Building Publishing Co. Ltd

Taylor was born at Bedminster, in Somerset (now a part of Bristol), England to John Parsons and Eliza (née Brooks), working-class parents who described themselves as "stone quarryman" and "washerwoman" in the British census of 1881. Her family migrated to Australia when she was a child, arriving in Sydney in 1884 after a short stint in Queensland. Her father soon found work as a draftsman-clerk with the Parramatta Council, and also in the sewerage construction branch of the NSW Department of Public Works. According to her official although unpublished biography by Kerwin Maegraith, Taylor attended a nearby public school where she says she received a "good education".

• Illustration — Portrait of Florence M. Taylor, ca. 1926. Following the deaths of her mother in 1896 and father in 1899, Taylor was forced to find work to help support herself and her two younger sisters. She eventually found a position as a clerk in the Parramatta architectural practice of Francis Ernest Stowe, an acquaintance of her father's. Inspired by the example of draftspeople in the same office who were earning far more than herself, she enrolled in night classes at the Sydney Technical College where she became the first woman to complete final year studies in architecture in 1904. During her architecture course Taylor was articled to the architect Edward Skelton Garton. Although she had fond memories of being mentored by Garton, she later recalled that other workers in the office were less encouraging. Soon after completing her articles, she went on to work in the busy and prestigious office of John Burcham Clamp, where she claimed she was made chief draftsperson. Clamp was her champion for an unsuccessful application to become the first woman member of the NSW Institute of Architects. With Clamp's strong support in 1907, Taylor applied to become the first female member of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales. However she was not accepted at this time, and she later claimed to have been "blackballed" by a groundswell of hostility from the all-male membership who did not wish to admit a woman member. After the Institute had a reorganisation and dropped their entrance exam, she eventually became their first woman to be associate member having "practised as an architect and at present is serving in an advisory capacity to architects as well as assisting in the production of "The Building Magazine"". She was admitted as a full member in 1923. In April 1907, Taylor married Sydney-born artist, inventor, and craftworker George Augustine Taylor at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Sydney. George Taylor had lectured her at college and was a close friend of her first employer Francis Ernest Stowe. On 5 December 1909, Taylor became the first Australian woman to fly a heavier-than-air craft, in a glider built by her husband in his Redfern workshop, from the Narrabeen sandhills near Sydney. They were both passionate about architecture and town planning, amongst many other interests and activities. Max Freeland described them as "possibly the most amazing couple in Australia's history". Within a few months of their wedding George and Florence Taylor had established a publishing company, Building Publishing Co. Ltd that specialised in building industry journals, spearheaded by Building magazine, three journals of which Florence edited: Harmony, Young Australia and the Australian (later Commonwealth) Home. According to garden historian Richard Aitken, 'Gardening, although not expressly covered by Building, was treated nonetheless as an integral part of design, both at a domestic level and on a broader public scale'. Taylor's personal assistant was Mary Emily Haworth (1901–1998). Journalist John Canner (1882–1978) also worked on "Building Ltd" where he met and later married Mary Haworth. For some years following their marriage the Taylors lived in Bannerman Street, Cremorne, in a house designed by the innovative architect, Henry Austin Wilshire, before moving to an apartment on Loftus Street, Sydney, where their publishing business was also located. In 1913 they were founding members of the Town Planning Association of New South Wales, and Florence served as its secretary for many years. Following her husband's sudden death, drowning in his bath associated with an epileptic seizure in 1928, Taylor maintained their publishing business and while forced to close eight of their eleven journals, she maintained Building (later Building, Lighting and Engineering) (1907–72), Construction (1908–74) and the Australasian Engineer (1915–73), editing them herself and expanding significantly after World War II. She continued to produce town plans and also travelled to Asia, the Americas and Europe bringing back ideas on town planning which informed her writings and speeches. She published a book about her town plans in 1959, authored by her employee J.M. Giles, Fifty years of town planning with Florence M. Taylor.

Taylor retired in 1961 at 81 years of age, and lived in Potts Point. She died there on 13 February 1969 and was cremated with Anglican rites. Her estate was valued for probate at $226,281.