Coit was born in
Winchester, Massachusetts in 1892. She graduated from
Radcliffe College in 1911, attended the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and received her
Bachelor of Architecture from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1919. After graduation, she worked as a
drafter, designer, and drafting supervisor at the office of
Grosvenor Atterbury, and in 1926, she became a licensed architect in
New York State. She began working part-time on her own projects while still employed by Grosvenor Atterbury, and opened her own firm in
New York City in 1930, which she ran until 1942. Her office designed houses mainly for women outside of the city and for businesses in the state. In 1941, she published "Design and Construction of the Dwelling Unit for the Low-Income Family," which was a study about low-income housing in the United States. From 1942 - 1947, she was the technical standards editor for the
United States Housing Authority's
Public Housing Design in
Washington, D.C., followed by a research position at Mayer and Whittersley from 1947 - 1948. In 1948, she became the principal planner for the
New York City Housing Authority, where she worked until her retirement in 1962. Even in retirement she continued to serve as an adviser for government and private housing organizations. In 1973, she was elected into the
National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician. Coit contributed to numerous pamphlets about housing, was a book reviewer for the
Architectural Record, and in 1968, became the editor for the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. She was the first woman to receive Langley Award from the
American Institute of Architects (AIA). She was elected as a Fellow of the AIA in 1955, and received a Pioneer in Architecture from the New York Chapter of the AIA in 1969. == Awards and honors ==