Born: 14 December 1921, Cuba
Died: 17 August 1975
Country most active: Cuba, United States (Puerto Rico)
Also known as: María Margarita Egaña de Ravelo
The following is excerpted from Women Architects Worldwide: Building a Diverse and Inclusive Canon by Aubree Tillett, edited by Aubree Tillett and Jess Ilias, an open-access Pressbook designed to uplift the names of women architects from almost every country and territory around the world. This entry is shared in line with the Creative Commons licensing.
Born in 1921 in Havana, Cuba, María Margarita Egaña Fernández was in the first generation of women to work as architects in Cuba. She held a diploma in architecture from the University of Havana in Havana, Cuba (1940–1947). After graduation, she relocated to Santiago de Cuba, where she registered with the Architects Association of the East (AAE); she obtained the license #32 (1948). Both she and her husband, Javier Francisco Ravelo Meneses, worked for the architectural firm owned by her father-in-law. Egaña Fernández also collaborated with her husband to establish Estudio Egaña-Ravelo, an architectural studio located in Santiago de Cuba, which was in operation throughout the 1950s. She relocated to Puerto Rico (1961) where she was eventually joined by her husband (1963). María Margarita Egaña Fernández died in 1975 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
References
“Arquitectura Santiaguera Con Nombre de Mujer.” Cuban Heritage. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20171113181134/https://www.cubanheritage.com/arquitectura-santiaguera-con-nombre-de-mujer/.
Laurino, Daniela Arias. “María Margarita Egaña Fernández 1921–1975.” Un Día Una Arquitecta (blog), May 31, 2015. https://undiaunaarquitecta.wordpress.com/2015/05/31/maria-margarita-egana-fernandez-1921-1975/.
Peñate Díaz, Florencia. “La Obra de Las Arquitectas Cubanas de La República Entre Los Años 40 y Fines de Los 50 Del Siglo XX.” Revista Científica de Arquitectura y Urbanismo 33, no. 3 (2012): 70–82.