Doreen Vyllette O’Grady was born in August 1932 in Australia, where she pursued her early architectural career. By 1958 she was listed as a draftswoman in Melbourne, according to electoral registers, and as an architect in Fawkner, Victoria, by 1963. She subsequently moved to London to attend the Architectural Association’s Department of Development and Tropical Studies from 1967–68, undertaking the General Design course. The following decade of her career remains largely undocumented, however she likely stayed in the UK where she married Brian King, changing her name to Doreen Vyllette King. In 1980, Doreen joined the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong where she taught until 1987, with contemporary accounts noting that she was one of the few women architects on the faculty at that time. She appears to have pursued an academic focus on the city’s colonial-era architectural heritage, evidenced by her 1987 publication titled St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong: A Short History and Guide, which provided a concise illustrated study of the city’s oldest Anglican cathedral. After leaving Hong Kong, King returned to the UK where she became a British citizen and lived in Kingston-upon-Thames. Companies House records list her as a Director of Frailplot Ltd between the early 1990’s-2000s, serving as a residence’s representative for the property management company. It is unknown whether King took up educational roles or practised architecture in the UK during this period. 

 Sources:

• Architectural Association Archives. Architectural Association Student Register 1945–1972. London: Architectural Association School of Architecture, London.
• Architectural Association Archives. Architectural Association Department of Tropical Architecture: Student Listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27. London: Architectural Association, London.
• Australian Institute of Architects. NSW Fellows and Life Fellows List, August 2020. Accessed June 19, 2025.
  https://www.architecture.com.au/wp-content/uploads/NSW-Fellows-and-Life-Fellows-list_Aug-2020_Australian-Institute-of-Architects.pdf
• King, Doreen Vyllette. St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong: A Short History and Guide. Hong Kong: St. John’s Cathedral, 1987.
• Companies House (U.K.). “Doreen Vylette King Personal Appointments.” Find and Update Company Information Service. n.d. Accessed June 30, 2025.
  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/haBE3XUCayw250wQ4bg1iPIZcVk/appointments
• Seng, Eunice. “Working Women and Architectural Work: Hong Kong 1945–1985.” Aggregate, n.d. Accessed June 18, 2025.
• https://we-aggregate.org/piece/working-women-and-architectural-work-hong-kong-1945-1985