Penelope Seidler

Penelope Alice Marjorie Seidler AM (née Evatt; born 1938) is an Australian architect and accountant. She is director of the Sydney-based architectural firm Harry Seidler and Associates. She was the wife and professional partner of architect Harry Seidler (1923–2006). Together they designed "Harry & Penelope Seidler House", which won the Wilkinson Award in 1967.

She has long been a patron of the arts, and as of April 2024^[update] she is a member of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation Board.

Penelope Alice Marjorie Evatt was born in 1938 grew up in Wahroonga, New South Wales, daughter of Clive Evatt (1900–1984), a prominent barrister and NSW Labor politician (MLA for Hurstville 1939–1959), and his wife Marjorie Hanna Evatt (née Andreas) (1903–1984),^[1] with two siblings, Elizabeth Evatt and Clive Evatt jr. The Evatt family home located at 69 Junction Road, Wahroonga is now known as "Parklands" and is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.^[2]

Seidler is the director of Sydney-based architectural firm Harry Seidler and Associates.^[3]

She studied for her Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Sydney and was registered as an architect in 1964.^[4] She joined Seidler and Associates that year as architect and financial manager. She has been a Fellow of the Australian institute of Architects since 1983, sitting on the NSW executive council from 1982 to 1984.^[5]

She was a founding member of Chief Executive Women (NSW) from 1990 to 2005.^[6][5]

She was on UNSW's Faculty of the Built Environment advisory council.^[7]

Seidler has sat on the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1973, has been a Biennale of Sydney director since late 2010, and was deputy commissioner for the Australian Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale. She was an International Advisory Board member of Vienna's Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, and is a former council member of the Australiana Fund.^[8]

She is a former member of National Gallery of Australia Council,^[9] and as of April 2024^[update] still a member of the NGA Foundation Board.^[10]

In 1971 Seidler joined the Art Gallery of NSW Society's council, being one of the first "volunteer guides".^{[citation needed]}

In 1973, Seidler received an offer letter from New York's Museum of Modern Art requesting her to be one of the members of its International Council.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018 Seidler made a gift to the University of Sydney to establish the Penelope Visiting Professorship in Architectural History.^[11] The inaugural Penelope Professor was the French architectural historian Jean-Louis Cohen who spoke on the theme of "Frottage City".^[12][13] Penelope professors have included:

• 2021-22: Jean-Louis Cohen^{[citation needed]}

• 1967: The house she designed with her husband at Killara in Sydney, known as the "Harry & Penelope Seidler House", won the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' (NSW Chapter) Wilkinson Award^{[citation needed]}
• 2008: Member of the Order of Australia for her work in the visual arts and architecture^{[citation needed]}
• 2011: Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur^{[citation needed]}
• 2011: Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of New South Wales^{[citation needed]}
• 2014: Subject of the 2014 Archibald prize winning portrait by Fiona Lowry^{[citation needed]}
• 2017: University of Sydney Alumni Award, for Cultural Contribution^{[citation needed]}
• 2021: Honorary Doctor of Architecture, University of Sydney^[14]

Penelope met Harry Seidler in 1957 at a fellow architect's drinks in North Sydney.^[15] They married on 15 December 1958, and had two children. Together they lived in Point Piper, in a basement apartment on the water for just over one year, afterwards they moved to Ithaca Gardens, Elizabeth Bay,^[16] a newly-completed Seidler apartment building, and lived there from January 1960 until late June 1967, before moving to the Harry and Penelope Seidler House, designed by her and her husband, located in Kalang Avenue, Killara on Sydney's North Shore.

• Cawthorne, Zelda (27 November 2013). "Architect with touch of genius". The Australian Jewish News – AJN. (Review of A Singular Vision: Harry Seidler
• Elphick, N. (31 October 2014) "Penelope Seidler maintains interest in architecture, arts", The Sydney Morning Herald
• Indesign Media Asia Pacific. (12 January 2015) " Community: 'Penelope Seidler In Conversation Art and Architecture"
• Media Office, UNSW. (18 December 2014) "Penelope Seidler backs best practice in architecture education"
• Mosman Daily. (1 December 2009) "Harry Will Never be Forgotten"
• "Sydney Residence: Harry and Penelope Seidler House", video, 6:51m; Penelope Seidler filmed interview at the house for Monocle, February 2016