Anne Bickett
Parker Stevens
(1921–2007)
Stevens was born in Marshville NC and grew up in Albemarle NC. She wanted to study architecture, but her mother was against it. She attended UNC-G studying math and art. Columbia was not accepting women at the time, so she attended Syracuse University and later, when Columbia changed its mind, she graduated with a Bachelor in Architecture. In 1941 while at Syracuse, the Central New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects presented her an award for Excellence in Design. Sometime during WWII, she worked for the Army for a year and helped design Camp Davis in Holly Ridge NC. Her uncle was NC Governor Luther Hodges. She married Jack E. Stevens in 1945.
After he was discharged from the Navy, they lived in Charlotte for a short while, then moved near Pittsburgh PA, Jack's home. There she worked for a Pittsburgh architecture firm. In the mid-1950s, they started Jack Stevens Builder as a design/build firm. She was the designer. Jack was the contractor, working on traditional houses. They had three daughters, now Susan Mikalauskis, Barbara Harrison, and Martha Brown. Wanting to return to NC full time, they moved in 1968, settling in Burlington briefly, building a few houses there, then moved to Chapel Hill and developed several houses.
Around 1974, they moved to Charlotte and built a few homes there. By 1979, they bought a condo in Pinehurst, and started building houses there, including one for themselves. Jack died in 1981, and Anne moved to her house in Surf City NC fulltime around 1983. There, according to client Sterling Bryson, she designed about a dozen houses. She left Topsail Beach around 2001 to be with one of her daughters, Barbara, in Missouri. She did many large acrylic abstract paintings during her career, winning an honorable mention one year from Artist Magazine.
According to client Mary Whittier, she "knew how to budget, create lists of all construction detail, and mastermind the men who did not like her watching them and telling them what to do and often how to do it." She was supremely organized and known for her lists; the family joked about it and even gave her legal pads for Christmas. She took great pride in becoming a licensed builder after Jack died. She often said she was the only female licensed builder in North Carolina.
Sources include: Topsail Advertiser; Mary Whittier; Sterling Bryson; Barbara Harrison; Richard Parker.
