[Mili Jain]

The HECAR Foundation says that Perin Jamshedji Mistri was probably the first professional qualified Woman Architect of India. She was born in Bombay in 1913. Having taken Gujrati education in bombay, young Perin was entered as a boarder in Miss Kimmin's High School in Panchgani. At the age of 10 she went to England and completed her education from the Croydon High School. 


UDUA  & International Archive of Women in Architecture Newsletter,  says that Urmila Eulie Chowdhury was born in Shahjehanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1923, and is considered the first woman qualified as an Asian architect. Because his father was a career diplomat, Chowdhury traveled the world from an early age. Her academic background, diverse and multicultural, transformed her into a cosmopolitan woman: in Kobe, Japan, graduated from the Windsor House School, earning a Cambridge School certificate; then moves to Australia, where he studies architecture at the University of Sydney, as well as singing and piano at the Conservatory of Music of the Julian Ashborn School of Art; to finally obtain a diploma in Ceramics in Englewood, New Jersey, United States. After staying for some time working in the United States, he returned to India in 1951,

[sonali31]

Perin Jamshedji Mistri was probably the first professional qualified Woman Architect of India. She was born in Bombay in 1913. Having taken Gujrati education in bombay, young Perin was entered as a boarder in Miss Kimmin's High School in Panchgani. At the age of 10 she went to England and completed her education from the Croydon High School.

When she returned to Bombay, she joined 'The Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (J.J.) School of Art' and obtained her diploma in architecture in 1936. She then joined her father's firm M/s. Mistri and Bhedwar in 1937. Her father's firm M/s. Mistri and Bhedwar was started in 1891 and later opened a branch in Karachi in 1916.

The Mistri family was in the construction business for 4 generations before Perin. Their works included the Royal Mint, which was dismantled and replaced by the New India Assurance Building. Their other wokrs included the Colaba and Cuffe Parade Sea Walls and the first runway for the Mumbai Airport. One of Perin's first works was Sir Behramji Karanjia's bungalow at Carmichael Road. Her other works included residential, industrial and public buildings (Khatau mills) and St. Stephen's Church.

Perin's interests ranged from Hockey to Gardening to the study of snakes in the Haffkine's institue in Bombay. Her brother Mr. Minoo Mistri also an Architect, was kind enough to give the HECAR Foundation information about Perin.

Along with two of his colleagues, Minette De Silva and Mr. J. P. J. Billimoria, Minoo lauched the 'Marg' Magazine. After nurturing it for a decade it was handed over to the Tatas to ensure a reliable continuity.

She practiced for almost half a century as the partner of the firm before she died in 1989