{{short description|American interior designer (1904–1997)}} {{about|the American designer|the American field hockey player|Elenore Pepper}} {{Infobox person | name = Eleanor Pepper | image = EleanorPepper1924.png | alt = A young white woman with dark hair, wearing a top with a woven shoulder detail | caption = Eleanor Pepper, from the 1924 yearbook of Barnard College | other_names = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1904|7|1}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|9|7|1904|7|1}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Architect|interior designer}} | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = | alma_mater = Barnard College (BA)<br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) }}
'''Eleanor G. Pepper''' (July 1, 1904 – September 7, 1997) was an American architect and interior designer. She taught interior design at Pratt Institute from 1950 to 1970.
== Early life == Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of George Joseph Pepper and Pauline Pepper. Both of her parents were immigrants from the Russian Empire; her father ran a factory in the garment industry. She attended the Ethical Culture School and completed a BA degree at Barnard College in 1924,<ref>Barnard College, [https://digitalcollections.barnard.edu/object/yearbook-1924/mortarboard-1924#page/168/mode/2up ''Mortarboard''] (1924 yearbook): 158.</ref> and a BS degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1928. Whilst at MIT, she was a member of ''Cleofan'', a university social club that supported women students and women's rights.<ref>''The 1926 Technique'' (MIT yearbook), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1926) pg. 296</ref> She pursued further architectural studies in Paris, at the Sorbonne, where she earned at Diplôme des Etudes Superieures in 1934.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Eleanor Pepper architectural records and papers |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_8600531/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Columbia University Libraries}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Pace |first=Eric |date=1997-09-13 |title=Eleanor Pepper, 93, a Consultant And a Professor in Interior Design |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/13/nyregion/eleanor-pepper-93-a-consultant-and-a-professor-in-interior-design.html |access-date=2022-08-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Career == Pepper designed theatrical sets while still an undergraduate student at Barnard. She had her own architectural practice from the mid-1930s until 1942. During World War II, she worked on war-related projects, including designing or remodeling buildings for the USO clubs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-02-15 |title=Eleanor Pepper's Work |pages=14 |work=The Times Leader |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107222648/eleanor-peppers-work/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She ran an interior design department at the architectural firm of Voorhees, Walker, Foley and Smith from 1945 to 1950; this work included designing meeting rooms for the United Nations.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1950, she donated services to her ''alma mater,'' Barnard College, redecorating the dining halls and gymnasium on campus.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bresler |first=Lynne |date=1950-10-16 |title=Eleanor Pepper '24 Restyles Barnard Gym, Dining Halls |pages=1 |work=Barnard Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107222034/eleanor-pepper-24-restyles-barnard/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Pepper launched her own interior design company in 1950, and developed a specialty in designing hospital and care facility interiors, and senior housing.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Vivian |date=1961-07-01 |title=Housing Needs Differ with Age Groups |pages=9 |work=Standard-Speaker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107223492/housing-needs-differ-with-age/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1973-04-05 |title=Architect to Address Historical Society |pages=28 |work=Bernardsville News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107224517/architect-to-address-historical-society/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She was head of the interior design department at Pratt Institute from 1951 to 1959,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1958-12-12 |title=Good Design Office Show on at Pratt |pages=3 |work=Brooklyn Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107224367/good-design-office-show-on-at-pratt/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and taught in the program until 1970.<ref name=":1" /> She also taught courses at the New York Institute of Technology and the New York School of Interior Design.<ref name=":0" /> Antique dealer Bruce Newman, who was a student at Pratt, recalled Pepper's aesthetic as "soulless modernism".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6kmCBntcz0C&dq=Eleanor+Pepper+design&pg=PA44 |title=Don't Come Back Until You Find It: Tales from an Antiques Dealer |date=2006-01-30 |publisher=Beaufort Books |isbn=978-0-8253-0536-8 |pages=44–45 |language=en}}</ref> She advised homeowners to plan interiors during the construction phase of a new space,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pines |first=Maya |date=1950-05-07 |title=Plan Interior When Construction Starts, Woman Architect Advises |pages=152 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107223965/plan-interior-when-construction-starts/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and to avoid trends, saying "You don't want your house to be full of fads and 'design tricks' which you will soon be tired of".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rollinson |first=Amy |date=1952-09-10 |title='Horror Homes' Are Result of Forgetting to Tell All |pages=4 |work=Dayton Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107223081/horror-homes-are-result-of-forgetting/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Pepper was vice-president of the Architectural League of New York, and served on the board of directors of the National Institute of Architectural Education. She was also active in the Association of Women in Architecture, and in the Decorators Club.<ref name=":0" />
Pepper was an outspoken advocate of women attaining equality in the architectural profession. In a letter published in 1943 in the influential design journal ''Task'', she enumerated the kinds of discrimination women designers faced in architectural firms. These included lower wages, segregation from the men into dead-end departments, being assigned menial tasks, being offered no chance for advancement. It is a field, she wrote, where women are “discriminated against out of stupidity or malice.” The editors of ''Task'' added a note following Pepper's letter supporting her points and mentioning other correspondence from women citing the same issues.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pepper |first1=Eleanor |title=Women in Architecture |journal=Task |date=Fall 1943 |issue=4 |pages=46–47}}</ref>
== Publications ==
* "Long-Term Care Facilities: Special Considerations in Interior Design" (1963)<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=United States Congress House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Special Subcommittee on Intermediate Care |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3LsvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Eleanor+Pepper+design&pg=PA516 |title=Intermediate Care for Veterans: Hearings, Eighty-eighth Congress, First Session, on H.R. 224, 226, and H.J. Res. 1. May 14-16, 21-23, June 4-6, 11-13, 20, 25, 26, 1963 |date=1963 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=516–520 |language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life == Pepper died in 1997, aged 93 years, in New York City.<ref name=":1" /> Her papers are in the collection of Columbia University Libraries.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, Eleanor}} Category:1904 births Category:1997 deaths Category:American interior designers Category:Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni Category:Barnard College alumni Category:Pratt Institute faculty Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:20th-century American designers