“Ellen Jawdat was the first woman to practice architecture in modern Iraq and a pioneer inestablishing the discipline’s professional autonomy in the region. She also played a pivotalrole in introducing modernism in mid-twentieth century Baghdad, championing a situatedapproach in dialogue with local construction methods and materials. Her practice paved theway for influential Iraqi architects such as Mohamed Makiya and Rifat Chadirji.”

Publication: “Ellen Jawdat (1921–2020; Ellen Coan, also knownas Ellen Bovie, Srinagar, Kashmir),” The Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture, 1960-2015, edited by Lori A. Brown and Karen Burns, 2025.

Keywords: research, scholarship, modern, modernism, history, past, architecture, buildings, urban, urbanism, urbanization, planning, city, art, design, post-WWII, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, mid-century, 20th, twentieth, century, pioneer, artists, architects, designers, groups, collectives, associations, Ellen Jawdat, Mohamed Makiya, Rifat Chadirji, Jewad Selim, Shakir Hasan Al Said, Baghdad Group for Modern Art, global, globalism, local, heritage, traditions, brick, ornamentation, ustahs, development, modernization, progress, politics, social, cultural, monarchy, republic, coup d'état, revolution, Baghdad, Iraq, South West Asia, North Africa

Image: Ellen Jawdat’s archive