Marion Mahony was born in Chicago in 1871 and moved to the suburb of Winnetka, following the 1880 Chicago Fire.  She became the second female to graduate from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1897 and the first female licensed architect in Illinois.  She worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Studio, producing watercolor renderings of his early designs.  In 1911, while on honeymoon with Walter Burley Griffin, the couple learned of an international design competition for the new capital city of Australia.  Marion’s watercolor renderings made a strong impression with the review committee and in 1914, the couple moved to Australia.  Marion was in charge of the Sydney office as well as their private design commissions.  From 1935 to 1937, she managed an office and construction projects in India.  Marion closed the Australian and Indian offices and returned to Chicago, following Walter’s death in 1937.  She worked extensively on a 1,400 memoir titled “The Magic of America” which was unpublished.  Marion died in 1961, at the age of 90, and was buried in Graceland Cemetery.