Jacksonville's first female architect was once chased by a subcontractor she tried to correct on a work-site. With a 2-by-4 in hand, he yelled, "God a mighty never intended a man to be bossed by a woman."
Born in Fernandina Beach, Henrietta Dozier was the only one of three women in a class of nearly 200 students to graduate with an advanced degree in architecture from MIT in 1899.
The next time you pass by the Old Federal Reserve Bank Building on North Hogan Street, look up. Constructed in 1923 three years after women were granted the right to vote Dozier had a hand in creating that building.
Dozier wanted to be thought of as an architect and not as a woman. On job sites, you would often see her disguised in pants and construction helmets.
There are many structures scattered about the River City with her signature. Her work in Jacksonville includes Phillips Episcopal on Pearl Street, an English style church building, an elegant home on Goodwin off the river and an unusual apartment building in Springfield called Lampru Court. The structure was demolished more than a decade ago.