Eugenie Dorothy Ullmann was born on 26 June 1910 in London. Her parents moved to the Rift Valley town of
Eldoret in
Uasin Gishu County, in 1913, constructing the second building in that town. She grew up in Kenya but returned to London for schooling, attending the
Architectural Association School of Architecture. She returned to Kenya and married the Kenyan
Ford agent, John Hughes, who later founded Hughes Motors. Subsequently, the couple had 6 children. Hughes became a
Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1946. She opened an architectural firm, Hughes and Polkinghorne, designing such structures as the Golden Beach Hotel, Murangi House, the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, the Rift Valley Sports Club, and
St. Mary's School, Nairobi, among many others. In 1950, she was awarded
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her design work on the hospitals in Kenya, like the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital. Between 1950 and 1951 Hughes served as vice president of the East Africa Women's League, which was formed to promote an initiative and collect funds to address the hospital shortage in Nairobi; she subsequently served as president for the 1951-1952 term. Hughes' most noted design work was of the
Cathedral of the Holy Family which she designed in 1960. Known for its modernist style and non-figurative stained glass, the building also featured
carrara marble In the late 1960s, she designed an annex to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) which held a popular
flying saucer-shaped nightclub known for its local
benga music, as well as Afro-Caribbean
calypso and
soukous rhythms. went through various name changes Late in life, Hughes donated her home in Mũthangari, in the Lavington area of Nairobi to the organization
Opus Dei as the permanent home of Kibondeni College. She had worked with the members of Opus Dei for many years to establish educational opportunities for girls in Nairobi. She died on 16 August 1987 in
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England and was buried in St. Austin's Cemetery, Mũthangari, Nairobi, Kenya. == References ==