Lunch & Learn: "Who is Elmira Sauberan Smyrl (Scott)?"

Elmira Sauberan Smyrl (Scott) was a pioneering female architect and concrete construction specialist who got her Master’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma in 1955. Her master’s thesis project was the design of an agriculture-based living and educational group home for children who were judged delinquent with the hope of guiding them toward a better future. The culmination of this thesis project was the construction of the White Cloud Lodge on the Oklahoma Lions Boys Ranch near Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma which was completed in 1966. This philanthropic project incorporated Smyrl’s belief that psychology should guide architecture and was the physical representation of her lifelong interest in the essential and thoughtful integration of geographical, environmental, and human purpose design elements. The White Cloud Lodge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 for architecture as a building designed by architect Elmira Sauberan Smyrl. Its nomination was also significant as it was less than 50 years old at the time of its listing.