Eleanore K. Pettersen entered Cooper Union for Advancement of Science and Art in New York City in 1937 intent on studying painting; but, her first drafting course changed her focus and she emerged in 1941 with a Certificate in Architecture. Following Cooper Union she apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin from 1941 to 1943. After leaving the communal environment of Taliesin, where Pettersen comments that she “was never without a bandage the whole time,” she worked on various projects including the National Defense Research Committee in Princeton, NJ, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and with architect Arthur Rigolo in Clifton, New Jersey before becoming licensed as an architect in the state of New Jersey in 1950 and opening her own architectural office in 1952. Pettersen was the first woman in the state to open her own architectural office and she did so in style, renovating a 200-year-old barn in Saddle River, NJ, to be her home and office.

Over the years she employed a number of interns and apprentices (often women), preferring to hire right out of architecture school. Within a few weeks of being hired and initiated into the firm’s detail-oriented method, the new employees were assigned their own projects and were encouraged to work closely with the clients and to follow their projects through not only the design but building aspects as well. In July 1970, Pettersen formed Design Collaborative, an interior design component to her architectural firm, furthering her thorough involvement in the design process.

Although Pettersen designed a number of commercial and institutional properties, she was primarily a residential architect. Among her clients were former President Richard Nixon and jazz artist George Benson. She was also extremely proud of her involvement with the luxury town house community, Bear’s Nest, in Park Ridge, New Jersey. It was developed in phases during the 1980s and 1990s, and each of the approximately 200 units had custom design features.

She stressed a personal relationship with the clients, and this is very evident in the correspondence and writings found within her collection. An excerpt from the program Ageless Perceptions IV: Senior Women in Architecture, an exhibit held at the SOHO20 Gallery in New York City, highlights Pettersen’s devotion to architecture:

1991 will be my fortieth year as an architectural principal with my own office. Architecture has been a total commitment. If I were to make a choice all over again, the choice would be the same. Architecture has imbued me with a sense of self worth and has given me the privilege of contributing a new sense of life and meaning to my clients and their families.