{{short description|American architect}}
{{Infobox person | name = Helen Binkerd Young | image = Helen_Binkerd_Young.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Helen Dorsey Binkerd | birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|04|19}} | birth_place = Dayton, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|05|22|1877|04|19}} | death_place = Berkeley, California, U.S. | spouse = George Young Jr. (married November 29, 1902) | other_names = | occupation = Architect | years_active = 1900–1946 | notable_works = }}
'''Helen Binkerd Young''' (1877–1959) was an early New York architect who graduated from Cornell University in 1900 and taught without being paid in the Cornell Home Economics Department from 1910 to 1921. Many of her lectures focused on architectural themes and organization. Her publications are still used in academic studies on housing design.
==Early life and education== Helen Dorsey Binkerd was born on April 19, 1877, in Dayton, Ohio, to Oscar William and Emma (née Brown) Binkerd.{{sfn|Jennings|2005|p=264}} She attended the high school of Pratt Institute from 1892 to 1895<ref name="high school">{{cite news|title=Pratt Institute High School|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3344730/pratt_institute_high_school_the/|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=15 June 1895|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=4|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> and went on to attain a Bachelors in Architecture from Cornell University in 1900, winning a medal for her drawing in that same year.
==Career== [[File:Faculty_of_the_Cornell_department_of_home_economics_in_1914_(2).jpg|alt=Faculty of the Cornell University home economics department in 1914. Twelve white women posed for a group photo.|thumb|Faculty of the Cornell University home economics department in 1914. Seated, from left, are Helen Binkerd Young, Annette J. Warner, Flora Rose, Martha Van Rensselaer and Blanche Hazard (Mrs. Sprague). Standing, from left, are Claribel Nye, Helen Knowlton, Anna Hunn, Grace Fordyce (Mrs. Fox), Ethel L. Phelps, Clara Browning and Bertha Titsworth.]] On November 29, 1902, she married George Young, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York City,{{sfn|Jennings|2005|p=264}} (August 24, 1878 – January 15, 1956), a fellow architect. After their marriage, the couple lived for a brief time in New York City and Pittsburgh before returning to Ithaca, New York in the fall of 1909 when George was offered a position at Cornell University as Assistant Professor of Architecture.<ref name="husband's memorial from Cornell">{{cite web|last1=Baxter|first1=H. E.|last2=Finlayson|first2=D. L.|last3=Ogden|first3=R. M.|title=George Young, Jr.|url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/18894/Young_George_Jr_1956.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=3 October 2015|location=Ithaca, New York|date=1956}}</ref> Unable to find work as an architect, or teaching architecture, Young took an unpaid position teaching in the Department of Home Economics at Cornell.<ref name="working for free">{{cite web|title=Faculty Biographies: Helen Binkerd Young|url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/bios/helenbinkerdyoung.html|website=Rare & Manuscript Collections Library|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=3 October 2015|location=Ithaca, New York|date=2001}}</ref>
Young utilized her knowledge and training in architecture in her courses, stressing that of the three fundamental parts of domestic science, housing design was critical for properly organizing the work of a home. The second element, purposeful furnishings and fixtures, was also important for developing an environment conducive for both health and productivity.{{sfn|Office of Education|1914|pp=50-52}} In addition to her college lectures, Young lectured at homemaker's conferences in various locations in the state.<ref name="homemaker's conference">{{cite news|title=Homemakers Conference|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3344773/homemakers_conference_the_brooklyn/|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=13 January 1912|location=Brooklyn, New York|page=2|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> During this time, she also published several extension bulletins on similar themes,<ref name="Preservation Quarterly">{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Sara|title=A Pioneering Woman: Helen Binkerd Young|journal=Preservation Quarterly|date=Winter 2008|volume=40|pages=13–14|url=http://www.historicithaca.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/newsletter-winter08lite.pdf|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=Historic Ithaca|location=Ithaca, New York}}</ref> as well as participating in interviews for newspapers, such as the ''New York Times''.<ref name="NYT interview">{{cite news|last1=Lyman|first1=Clara Brown|title=What Every Woman Should Know|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3344763/what_every_woman_should_know_the_new/|access-date=3 October 2015|work=The New York Times|date=7 April 1912|location=New York, New York|page=50|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref>
In 1918, she and George jointly designed "Hidden Home", their residence on Overlook Road, which was featured<ref name="Preservation Quarterly" /> in the April 27, 1927, edition of ''The American Architect'' magazine.<ref name="Hidden home">{{cite web|title=Hiddenhome, Ithaca, NY|url=https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/lg/C2_vii_HYoungpg443Alt.htm|website=Rare & Manuscript Collections Library|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=3 October 2015|location=Ithaca, New York|date=2001}}</ref> While few of her works have been identified, it is probable that her work was obscured by joint projects with her husband or other male colleagues.{{#tag:ref|The Winter 2008 issue of Historic Ithaca's Preservation Quarterly stated that her work may have been co-projects with her husband and that her work "remained hidden". In a 2015 blog, written by the producers of the podcast show "Stuff Mom Never Told You" a listener identified her home as one that was built by the husband and wife team George and Helen Young, according to the signed plans<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ervin|first1=Caroline|title=Listener Story: Another Forgotten Woman Architect|url=http://www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com/blog/listener-story-another-forgotten-woman-architect/|website=Stuff Mom Never Told You|publisher=How Stuff Works|access-date=3 October 2015|location=Atlanta, Georgia|date=19 March 2015}}</ref>|group="notes"}} In 1920, Young was finally made a full professor,<ref name="Preservation Quarterly" /> but she left the Department of Home Economics in 1921 to work as an architect<ref name="working for free" /> and according to her obituary, she designed many of the homes in Cayuga Heights, New York. Her husband noted in 1926 that he had been contacted to design a home in New York and was uninterested, but that Young might be.<ref name="Preservation Quarterly" />
In 1946, George retired from Cornell and the couple moved to California Novato, California, where he died in 1956.<ref name="husband's memorial from Cornell" />
==Death== Young died on May 22, 1959, in Berkeley, California<ref name=obit>{{cite news|title=Helen Binkerd Young|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3344703/helen_binkerd_young_the_kingston_daily/|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=The Kingston Daily Freeman|date=26 May 1959|location=Kingston, New York|page=2|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> and was buried in Ellenville, New York.{{sfn|Jennings|2005|p=264}}
==Legacy== Young's writings from her time at Cornell have been referenced in scholarly journals, like the Architectural Research Centers Consortium's ''Enquiry'' Magazine;<ref name=ARCC>{{cite journal|last1=Tucker|first1=Lisa M.|title=The Labor-saving Kitchen: Sources for Designs of the Architects' Small Home Service Bureau|journal=Enquiry|date=2014|volume=11|issue=1|pages=12|url=http://www.arcc-journal.org/index.php/arccjournal/article/view/208/315|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=Architectural Research Centers Consortium|doi=10.17831/enq:arcc.v11i1.208|issn=2329-9339|doi-access=free}}</ref> the ''Winterthur Portfolio'' of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum;<ref name="Winterthur Portfolio">{{cite journal|last1=Gottfried|first1=Herbert|title=Building the Picture: Trading on the Imagery of Production and Design|journal=Winterthur Portfolio|date=Winter 1992|volume=27|issue=4|pages=235–253|jstor=1181435|publisher=Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc.|location=University of Chicago Press|doi=10.1086/496591|s2cid=162429863}}</ref> and in a report evaluating "Closets in the Farm Home" prepared for Columbia University, among others.<ref name="Closets in the Farm Home">{{cite report|last1=Dziedzic|first1=Sarah E.|title=Closets in the Farm Home: The Spread of Domestic Science to Rural America, 1900-1935|date=2010|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:18893|access-date=3 October 2015|publisher=Columbia University Academic Commons|location=Ithaca, New York |hdl=10022/AC:P:18893 }}</ref>
==Published works== *{{cite journal |last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=October 1911|title=Household decoration|journal=The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|publisher=Cornell University|location=Ithaca, New York|issue=5}}{{sfn|Office of Education|1914|p=36}} *{{cite journal |last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=October 1911|title=Household Furnishing|journal=The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|publisher=Cornell University|location=Ithaca, New York|issue=7}}{{sfn|Office of Education|1914|p=36}} *{{cite journal |last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=October 1911|title=The Farmhouse|journal=The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|publisher=Cornell University|location=Ithaca, New York|issue=39}}{{sfn|Office of Education|1914|p=36}} *{{cite journal |last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=1912|title=The Modern Home|journal=The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|publisher=Cornell University|location=Ithaca, New York|issue=43}}{{sfn|McMurry|1988|p=221}} *{{cite journal |last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=July 1916|title=Planning the Home Kitchen|url=https://archive.org/stream/PlanningTheHomeKitchen/1916PlanningHomeKitchen#page/n0/mode/1up|journal=The Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|publisher=Cornell University|location=Ithaca, New York|issue=108}} *{{cite book|last=Young|first=Helen Binkerd|date=1928|title=Path of a Free Soul: Offerings from a Private Journal, 1917-1927|url=http://pegasus.library.ucsb.edu/F/?func=direct&doc_number=002356639&local_base=SBA01PUB|location=s.i.|publisher=H.B. Young?}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
== Notes== {{reflist|group=notes}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Sources == *{{cite book|last=Jennings|first=Jan|title=Cheap and Tasteful Dwellings: Design Competitions and the Convenient Interior, 1879-1909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fueGx_iEnoIC&pg=PA264|year=2005|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|isbn=978-1-57233-360-4}} *{{cite book|last=McMurry|first=Sally |title=Families and Farmhouses in Nineteenth-Century America : Vernacular Design and Social Change: Vernacular Design and Social Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=envoLWSwaOUC&pg=PA221|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-19-536451-4}} *{{cite journal|author=Office of Education|title=II. Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home|journal=Bulletin (United States. Bureau of Education)|date=1914|issue=32|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0013836671;view=1up;seq=752|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D.C}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Helen Binkerd}} Category:1877 births Category:1959 deaths Category:American women architects Category:19th-century American architects Category:20th-century American architects Category:Architects from Ohio Category:Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni Category:Cornell University faculty Category:Artists from Dayton, Ohio Category:People from Novato, California Category:American women academics Category:20th-century American women artists