The Woman in the Room: A Memoir
Jane Hastings was just nine years old when she declared she would become an architect. A child of Depression-era Seattle, Jane worked her way through college in the aftermath of World War II and was among the first women licensed to practice architecture in the state of Washington. Throughout her award-winning career, she designed more than 500 projects and achieved many "firsts" as a leader in the American Institute of Architects, both locally and nationally.
In The Woman in the Room, Jane describes her journey to the top of her profession - a story of persistence, resilience, and creativity. Along the way, she embraced a life of adventure while building friendships that span nine decades and circle the globe.
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"Jane Hastings writes with warmth and charm of her long career as a professional woman in a man's world, breaking barriers by simply never accepting no for an answer. Clever, creative, and curious, Hastings was one of Seattle's foremost twentieth-century architects, and her memoir is delightful. A well-traveled citizen of the world, she is one of Seattle's own."
-Lorraine McConaghy
Historian and author
Museum of History & Industry, Seattle, Washington
"With astonishing candor in a tale over nine decades, The Woman in the Room sparkles with a felicity that turns on how its author lives with the door always open, delighting in the realization of a young girl's dream to be an architect-a blueprint offered, no ceiling ever in sight."
-Donna Dunay, FAIA
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor
Chair, International Archive of Women in Architecture, Virginia Tech
"Long before the gender revolution in the professions, L. Jane Hastings was one of a few pioneering women who challenged convention and made their own way forward. Entering architecture school in the 1940s, she later built a successful Seattle practice, first as a sole proprietor and then as leader of The Hastings Group. Along the way she showed extraordinary generosity-mentoring younger professionals and providing professional leadership locally, nationally, and internationally. In this detailed and well-illustrated personal account, Jane shares her story and vividly shows us what a life in architecture can be."
-Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, FAIA
Professor, University of Washington
Editor/co-author, Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects
"The Woman in the Room documents how a singularly independent woman built an impressive decades-long career in architecture despite the obstacles placed in her way. Jane Hastings not only shattered the glass ceiling for women architects, she dismantled its structure and showed her male colleagues that it was superfluous from the start."
-David Martin
Northwest art historian and author
Cascadia Art Museum, curator
"In The Woman in the Room, Jane Hastings generously brings us along on her journey as she navigates the challenges of becoming an architect. Never fazed by her male-dominated profession, Jane treats the barriers placed in her way as 'puzzles' to solve, thriving as she defies the doubters and deftly builds a celebrated career."
-Eugenia Woo
Director of preservation services, Historic Seattle
Co-founder, Docomomo US/WEWA
