[f. prec. + -ESS: cf. director, directress.] A female architect.
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., II. xxxviii. This Architectresse shewes the first ground of Policy.
1651. Reliq. Wotton. (1672), 139. If Nature herself (the first Architectress) had … windowed your breast.
1860. H. Marryat, Resid. Jutland, I. v. 62. Veile, a city of ancient lineage, which owes its origin, sat some, to Queen Thyre Danebod (‘the pride of the Danes’), architectress of the Danevirke.
