Selected Projects

This section covers selected work by architects, engineers, and designers for whom important projects are in the Prints & Photographs Division collections, but not a full archive.

Selected projects include:

Bruff (Joseph G.) Drawings of Building Elements (ca. 1850s-ca. 1880s)
Bulfinch (Charles) Drawings (1787-1860, bulk 1787-1832)
Costantino (Frank M.) Architectural Renderings (1990-2006)
Craig (James O. & Mary M.) Drawings, the Skews-Cox Collection (ca. 1921)
Dearstyne (Howard), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1951, bulk 1928-1933)
Engineering Societies Library Collection (ca. 1790-1990, bulk 1850-1950)
Francis (Henry M.) & Sons architectural drawings and specifications (1897-1910)
Freed (James I.) Sketchbooks (1970-1995)
Fulton (Robert) Engineering Drawings (1806)
Gidoni (Elsa) Architectural Projects in Washington, DC (1930-1970)
Latrobe (Benjamin H.) Drawings (1795-1850, bulk 1795-1820)
Le Brun (Napoleon) Drawings (1860-1901)
Mies van der Rohe (Ludwig), Visual materials from his papers (ca.1930-1970)
Neutra (Richard J.) Drawings for residential architectural projects in the Philadelphia area (1950-1959)
O’Connor (E. Jerome) Drawings (1941-1977)
Oles (Paul S.) Drawings and illustrations (1996-2004)
Owings (Nathaniel A.) Visual Materials from his papers (1927-1970)
Pei (I.M.), Visual materials from his Papers (1920-2005, bulk 1960-2000)
Pelli (Cesar) Drawings (1980s)
Pelz (Paul J.) Drawings (1865-1918)
Poor (Alfred Easton), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1970)
Reiss (Winold) Collection (1905-1950)
Renwick (James, Jr., and William W.) Drawings (1847-1911)
Ross (Albert Randolph) Drawings (1894-1933)
Saarinen (Eero) Archival Materials (1930-1969)
Skidmore (Louis), Visual materials from his papers (1869-1969)
St. Elizabeths Hospital, Drawings in the AIA/AAF Collection (1850s-1980s)
Thornton (William) Drawings (1780-1828)
Upjohn (Richard) Drawings (1802-1878)
Victorian house architectural drawings ([1866-1890])
Wright (Frank Lloyd) Drawings, the Donald D. Walker collection (1907-1970, bulk 1920-1929)
Walter (Thomas U.) Drawings (1804-1887)

Each collection is briefly described below. Primary links display fuller bibliographic information about the collection in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog if available. Links are provided to digitized primary source content, finding aid and research guide for the collection, collection overview of the Collection, and background information page when available. The background information page includes more inks to the left side under "This Collection." Additional links to related secondary sources are provided below each collection description, followed by books, periodicals, dissertations & theses, articles & blogs, and webcasts related to each collection when available.

Bruff (Joseph G.) Drawings of Building Elements (ca. 1850s-ca. 1880s)

Bruff (Joseph G.) Drawings of Building Elements
View digitized content from the Bruff Drawings
Approximately 60 drawings of building elements (selections digitized) by Joseph Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1889), including those for capitals, fireplace mantles, and decorative brackets. Items are organized by ca. fifteen groups (called UNITs), which are usually based on separate building projects. Bruff was a topographical and architectural draftsman and "designing artist" in United States Government service for almost sixty of his nearly eighty-five years. Drawings unrelated to building by Bruff can also be found in P&P’s drawing collection (DRWG/US – Bruff).
[Image: LC-USZ62-116909]

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Joseph Goldsborough Bruff Diaries, Journals, and Notebooks External (Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Collection)

Bulfinch (Charles) Drawings (1787-1860, bulk 1787-1832)

Bulfinch (Charles) Drawings
View digitized content from the Bulfinch Drawings
View finding aid for the Bulfinch architectural drawing archive
135 items by Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), chiefly architectural drawings, ranging between 1787 and 1860 (bulk 1787-1832), organized into fifty eight groups (called UNITs or LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects (selections digitized). Projects include buildings in Boston, Massachusetts where he had a significant influence on architecture, as well as those in Washington, DC where he undertook the position of Architect of the Capitol.
[Image: LC-USZC4-355]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Charles Bulfinch correspondence, 1818. (Manuscript Division Collection): ALsS (1818 January 30, February 25, and June 6) from Bulfinch in Washington, D.C., to Solomon Willard in Baltimore, Md., attempting to enlist Willard's assistance on the U.S. Capitol building and its scale model.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch Architect with Other Family Papers by Charles Bulfinch; Ellen S. Bulfinch (Editor); Charles A. Cummings (Introduction by)
Call Number: NA737.B8 A3
ISBN: 0833704176
Published/Created: 1973-08-01
The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch by Harold Kirker
Call Number: NA737.B8 K5
ISBN: 0674043901
Published/Created: 1978-04-01
A study of the career of America's first native-born architect.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The American Magazine of Art
Shannon, Martha A. S. “The Architecture of Charles Bullfinch” The American Magazine of Art, vol. 16, no. 8 (1925): 431–437.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
McLanathan, Richard B. K. “Bulfinch's Drawings for the Maine State House.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 14, no. 2 (1955): 12–17.

Dissertations and theses listed below are accessible via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (On-site access only). If you are searching at the Library of Congress or an institution which subscribes to the Database, clicking the hyperlink will bring you directly to the publication. Abstracts are retrieved from the Database when available.

McLanathan, R. B. K. (1951). Charles Bulfinch And The Maine State House: A Study In The Development Of American Architecture
(ProQuest document ID: 302066017)
Conroy, Thomas E., I.,II. (2005). The politics of style: Building, builders, and the creation of federal Boston
(ProQuest document ID: 304993847)
Abstract: This dissertation examines the political, social, and aesthetic purposes that building and buildings served in the early American republic by exploring post-revolutionary politics, society, and architecture in a single community: Boston from 1783–1803.
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Its main chronological narrative traces the process by which younger members of the Federalist elite, frustrated with post-war developments that prevented them from claiming political and social power, came to remake the town in an English-influenced style and why other stylistic influences (especially those from France) were de-emphasized. The argument is that younger Federalists used building and buildings to gain hegemonic control of post-revolutionary politics and society, quell the radicalism of the American Revolution, and communicate their elite status in a supposedly classless society by fundamentally altering the physical and built environment of the early republic town. Rather than a celebration of revolutionary-era republicanism, then, the building projects undertaken by young Federalists were actually un-republican attempts to create visible distinctions between classes, bring voters into dependent relationships with them, and re-establish an elite-led political and social order that the American Revolution temporarily interrupted. Thus, it explores the ways in which architecture and building were embraced, eschewed, and harnessed in response to and in an effort to shape politics and society.

Fusing political, social, and economic with architectural and building history, this study combines documentary and material culture evidence to contribute to an ongoing effort to use material culture to advance historical inquiry and reveal previously under-explored territory. Consequently, sources include traditional documentary sources as well as the most important buildings erected or enlarged in Boston between 1787 and 1807, including: the Hollis Street Meeting House, the Massachusetts State House, the houses of Harrison Gray Otis, India Wharf, Holy Cross Cathedral, the Tontine Crescent, and Faneuil Hall. While offering a new interpretation of post-revolutionary building, this study also offers a different view of Charles Bulfinch, Boston's first native architect, as it casts him not as the main agent of change to the post-revolutionary Boston built environment, but more as a dependent cog in a larger process that remade Boston in the first decades of the republic.

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibition.

Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation
Online version of the exhibition held at the Library of Congress between February 24 and July 4, 1994.

Costantino (Frank M.) Architectural Renderings (1990-2006)

Costantino (Frank M.) Architectural Renderings
135 drawings by Frank M. Costantino (1946-), one of the founders of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators. The collection include sketches, processing drawings, and final renderings for the Iowa Child Project by Chermayeff, Sollogub & Poole, the Boston South Station by Cesar Pelli & Associates, the Bass Berry & Simms Tower in Nashville by Pickard Chilton Architects, the Chubu Central International Airport in Tokoname, Japan by Cesar Pelli & Asociates, the Futako-Tamigawa Shopping Complex in Tokyo Japan by Jun Mitsui & Associates, Inc. and Pelli Clark Pelli Architects Japan, Inc., the Yale University St. Thomas More Student Center by Cesar Pelli & Associates, SQUARE 67 G Place and Capitol Square in Washington, D.C. by Shalom Baranes, Terrell Place in Washington, D.C. by Kling Partnership, the Vassar Colelge Observatory by Roth & Moore and the Hampton Jazz Center atr the University of Idaho by Cesar Pelli & Associates.

Craig (James O. & Mary M.) Drawings, the Skews-Cox Collection (ca. 1921)

Craig (James O. & Mary M.) Drawings, the Skews-Cox
View digitized content from the Craig Drawings
Approximately 500 architectural drawings, photographs, specifications, and correspondence for structures in Montecito and Santa Barbara, California (selections digitized) by James Osborne Craig (1888-1922) and Mary McLaughlin Craig (1889-1964), donated by their daughter Mary C. Skewes-Cox.
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-04583]

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Spanish Colonial Style by Cox P. Skewes
Call Number: NA7238.S36 S54 2015
ISBN: 9780847846122
Published/Created: 2015-10-13
A must-have for lovers of traditional Spanish-style houses and interiors, Spanish Colonial Style reveals the work of two masters of this much-loved style of architecture in a volume that recalls California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission Style Houses and Haciendas. This is the first book to feature the work of architects James and Mary Craig, and as such has no direct competition. Spanish Colonial Style is a celebration of the uniquely vibrant architecture and interiors of the classic Spanish-style houses of Santa Barbara, offering a fresh perspective on the work of two of the most influential yet widely unknown figures of American design.

Dearstyne (Howard), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1951, bulk 1928-1933)

Dearstyne (Howard), Visual materials from his papers
View digitized content from the Dearstyne visual materials
557 items, chiefly architectural and design drawings (selections digitized), by Howard Dearstyne (1903-1979), ranging between 1910 and 1951 (bulk 1928-1933). Primarily student work executed during his study with Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), Ludwig Hiberseimer (1885-1967), and Joseph Albers (1888-1976), both at the Bauhaus and privately. Also includes working drawings for projects by Mies, Lilly Reich (1885-1947), Fritz Schreiber (1887-1956), Karl Lindner, and Ivo Pannaggi (1901-1981) and a rendering by Hinnek Scheper (1897-1957). Items are organized into twenty eight groups (called UNITs or LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects.
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-11815]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Howard Dearstyne papers, 1911-1988 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Howard Dearstyne papers, 1911-1988.

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Inside the Bauhaus by Howard Dearstyne; David Spaeth (Editor); Rizzoli Staff
Call Number: N332.G33 B443 1986
ISBN: 0847806995
Published/Created: 1986-06-15

Engineering Societies Library Collection (ca. 1790-1990, bulk 1850-1950)

Engineering Societies Library Collection
View digitized content from the ESL Collection
Approximately 10,000 items including drawings, photographic prints, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and ca. 600 books (selections digitized). Items cover various structures, such as bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, aqueducts, sewers, railroad, and highways.
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-10305]

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Ahead of Its Time by Ellis Mount
Call Number: Z675.E6 M68 1982
ISBN: 0208019138
Published/Created: 1982-02-01

Locomotive engineering; a practical journal of railway motive power and rolling stock
Call Number: TJ1 .R2
Published/Created: 1892-1900
Many of the drawings in the Collection appear in the journal.

Mount, E. (1979). History Of The Engineering Societies Library, 1913-1973
(ProQuest document ID: 302928999)

Francis (Henry M.) & Sons architectural drawings and specifications (1897-1910)

Francis (Henry M.) & Sons architectural drawings and specifications
Approximately 1,000 drawings and 30 manuscript specifications by industrial architect H. M. Francis (1836-1908) alone or with his two sons. Francis developed his architectural practice in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Buildings he designed include Fitchburg City Hall and the Hazen Memorial Library. His two sons Frederich and Albert began to work in the firm in 1902.

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Henry M. Francis Architectural Collection External (Historic New England Collection)

Freed (James I.) Sketchbooks (1970-1995)

Freed (James I.) Sketchbooks
View Freed sample sketchbook
Ninety five sketchbooks showing James Ingo Freed’s (1930-2005) renderings of ideas for various projects, ranging between 1970 and 1995.

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

An Architect's Journey by James Ingo Freed; Janet Adams Strong
Call Number: NA6700.W37 F74 2012
ISBN: 9780615517056
Published/Created: 2012-01-01

Fulton (Robert) Engineering Drawings (1806)

Fulton (Robert) Engineering Drawings
View digitized content from the Fulton Drawings
A set of sixteen engineering drawings for a submarine ("Submarine Vessel, Submarine Bombs and Mode of Attack") for the United States government (selections digitized).
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-12248]

Gidoni (Elsa) Architectural Projects in Washington, DC (1930-1970)

Gidoni (Elsa) Architectural Projects in Washington, DC
View digitized content from the Gidoni Projects
A relatively small collection with about thirty architectural drawings for buildings in Washington, DC area, Virginia, and New York by Elsa Gidoni (1901-1978) (selections digitized). Collection also includes other types of materials, such as manuscript, photographs, and pamphlets.
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-05327]

Latrobe (Benjamin H.) Drawings (1795-1850, bulk 1795-1820)

Latrobe (Benjamin H.) Drawings
View digitized content from the Latrobe Drawings
View finding aid for the Latrobe architectural drawing archive
Approximately 250 items, mainly architectural, engineering, and landscape drawings (selections digitized), by Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), created between 1795 and 1850 (bulk 1795-1820), organized into twenty nine groups (called UNITs or LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects. Projects include residential, government, bank, and military buildings, canals, monuments, health care facilities, engines, and waterworks in Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Amongst the designs represented are the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and Decatur House, from competition and presentation drawings to working drawings. The collection also includes architectural drawings formerly attributed to Latrobe.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-40095]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Benjamin Henry Latrobe papers, 1803-1817 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Benjamin Henry Latrobe papers, 1803-1817.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Paris on the Potomac by Cynthia R. Field (Editor); Isabelle Gournay (Editor); Thomas P. Somma (Editor)
Call Number: NA735.W3 P37 2007
ISBN: 9780821417591
Published/Created: 2007-10-19
In 1910 John Merven Carrère, a Paris-trained American architect, wrote, "Learning from Paris made Washington outstanding among American cities." The five essays in Paris on the Potomac explore aspects of this influence on the artistic and architectural environment of Washington, D.C., which continued long after the well-known contributions of Peter Charles L'Enfant, the transplanted French military officer who designed the city's plan. Isabelle Gournay's introductory essay provides an overview and examines the context and issues involved in three distinct periods of French influence: the classical and Enlightenment principles that prevailed from the 1790s through the 1820s, the Second Empire style of the 1850s through the 1870s, and the Beaux-Arts movement of the early twentieth century. William C. Allen and Thomas P. Somma present two case studies: Allen on the influence of French architecture, especially the Halle aux Blés, on Thomas Jefferson's vision of the U.S. Capitol; and Somma on David d'Angers's busts of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. Liana Paredes offers a richly detailed examination of French-inspired interior decoration in the homes of Washington's elite in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cynthia R. Field concludes the volume with a consideration of the influence of Paris on city planning in Washington, D.C., including the efforts of the McMillan Commission and the later development of the Federal Triangle complex. The essays in this collection, the latest addition to the series Perspectives on the Art and Architectural History of the United States Capitol, originated in a conference held by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society in 2002 at the French Embassy's Maison Française.
Latrobe, Jefferson, and the National Capitol by Paul F. Norton
Call Number: NA4413.W37 N67 1977
ISBN: 0824027167
Published/Created: 1977-10-01
The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe by Michael W. Fazio; Patrick A. Snadon
Call Number: NA737.L34 F39 2006
ISBN: 9780801881046
Published/Created: 2006-06-19
Winner of the Publications Award given by the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and an Honorable Mention in the Architecture and Urban Planning category of the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Awards given by the Association of American Publishers This deeply researched and abundantly illustrated study catalogs all of Latrobe's domestic commissions, offering an authoritative treatment of the concepts, designs, and unique interior and exterior features of his houses. Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an English émigré and the first professional architect of international stature to practice in the United States, invented an American house type for the new democratic republic. Calling upon his diverse education and travel experiences in Europe and his training with eminent architects and engineers in London, Latrobe responded to American manners and climate by producing what he called his "rational house," an application of Enlightenment thinking to the design of a proper living environment for the citizens of the world's most recent democracy. Establishing a new benchmark in Latrobe studies, Michael W. Fazio and Patrick A. Snadon extend their analysis to Latrobe's training and career in England and Europe, his principles of design, and his methods of architectural practice. The authors trace the evolution of his design thinking through analytical essays on all of his major domestic commissions and conclude with a summary discussion of his position within the international architectural scene, his design theories, the integration of interior design and engineering into his architectural practice, and the preservation of his houses.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Norton, Paul. “Latrobe's Ceiling for the Hall of Representatives.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 10, no. 2 (1951): 5–10.
Records of the Columbia Historical Society
Carter, Edward C. “Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the Growth and Development of Washington, 1798-1818.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. (1971): 128–149.

Formwalt, L. W. (1977). Benjamin Henry Latrobe And The Development Of Internal Improvements In The New Republic 1796-1820
(ProQuest document ID: 302835531)
O'Malley, T. M. (1989). Art and science in American landscape architecture: The national mall, Washington, D.C., 1791-1852
(ProQuest document ID: 303715452)
Abstract: This dissertation concerns the history of the National Mall in Washington which was the site of a series of public and botanic gardens designed from 1791-1852. Although nothing remains of these early gardens, it is possible to study the plans for the Mall through several drawings made by the most important architectural figures in America; Thomas Jefferson, Charles Pierre L'Enfant, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Robert Mills and Andrew Jackson Downing.
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This group of drawings, considered together for the first time, is evidence of the conception of the Mall as a profoundly significant symbol of the nation during the first years of its existence. This study of the Mall is organized around three critical points in the early history of the City of Washington; the city's founding, the period just after the War of 1812, and the decades just before the Civil War. It is also linked with the history of the earliest institutions of learning in the capital city: the Columbian Institution, the National Institute, and the Smithsonian Institution. Through a review of contemporary landscape aesthetics, design theory and a survey of American gardens, this dissertation provides a background of garden history against which to study the Mall. In addition to establishing the location, purpose and form of these public grounds it also considers the extent to which landscape aesthetics, natural sciences, and the politics of Washington in the period influenced the design and meaning of the first national gardens.

In order to assert itself in the minds of Americans as a permanent, stable and urbane seat of government early designers used English and French landscapes and town plans as models that were "Americanized" to meet current notions of environmental appropriateness and nationalistic distinction. The first several years of the city of Washington tells a story of driving aspiration and repeated attempts to create a physical environment that celebrated the natural gifts, cultural acumen and political vitality of the nation.
Sienkewicz, J. A. (2009). Citizenship by design: Art and identity in the early republic
(ProQuest document ID: 304894478)
Abstract: This dissertation offers a study of the ways in which some artists active in the United States between 1790 and 1850 theorized that their work could participate in the process of creating and shaping the nation's citizens.
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Through the detailed analysis of four artists—Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), Thomas Cole (1801-1848), and Horatio Greenough (1805-1852)—this project explores a process of citizenship by design theorized by these artists, a process which grew out of their belief that the physical environment could directly shape the character of its inhabitants. Buildings, landscapes, paintings, and sculptures were, for these artists, the means by which the moral and social precepts of democracy could be communicated most effectively to the public. Building on a long tradition of European aesthetic theory, these artists believed that through the process of perception such material objects could influence the mind and character of viewers. In short, I argue that by creating paintings, sculptures, landscapes and buildings, these artists believed that they were also crafting citizens.
Reynolds, C. A. (2015). Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the federal district and the national capitol, 1776-1826
(ProQuest document ID: 1685483260)
Abstract: This dissertation examines six major points: 1) it argues that Jefferson is an architect of the United States Capitol, having direct and final say over its design; 2) it asserts that Jefferson set two nationally influential models of architectural taste as part of his movement to reform American architecture, first in Richmond as the Virginia State Capitol and second in Washington as the United States Capitol; 3) it explores those models to define what Jefferson called “cubic” and “spherical” architecture; 4) it suggests that Jefferson used his political appointments to maximize his influence over the design of the United States Capitol in order to ground the building in classical sources; 5) it surveys the sources Jefferson looked to for inspiration, both printed texts and images as well as extant buildings in Europe and America; and 6) it proposes that Jefferson and B. Henry Latrobe worked hand in hand to execute a design for the United States Capitol that subdued and at times even replaced the official plan adopted from William Thornton’s winning design.
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This dissertation starts with the idea that Jefferson’s architectural reform consisted of conjoining vernacular building custom with architecture of the classical tradition. Most of what Jefferson knew about classical architecture came from books. Chief among them are Claude Perrault’s 1684 French translation of Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture and the three London editions of Giacomo Leoni’s versions of Andrea Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture in English translation. Using these print sources, Jefferson reinterpreted many of the standard public buildings of Virginia into temple forms. In addition, Jefferson’s plan to reform public architecture rested on two overriding principles: erecting buildings with masonry and organizing those buildings using the classical orders.

Furthermore, this dissertation proves that, like the ancients, Jefferson wanted to build on a monumental scale. Jefferson’s own plan for a national capitol shaped like the Roman Pantheon, long misunderstood, clearly reinforces this interpretation. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that Jefferson and B. Henry Latrobe worked in concert to execute a design for the United States Capitol that subdued the official plan adopted from William Thornton’s winning design.

The Picture This blog invites you to share our love of pictures and the stories they can tell. Produced by specialists from the Prints & Photographs Division, you’ll see unique images and pictorial collections available to researchers at the Library of Congress—more than 14.5 million photos, posters, cartoons, architectural designs, and historical and fine art prints, many of which are available online.

Happy Birthday, Library of Congress: 222 Years and Still Growing
A Picture This blog commemorating the 222th birthday of the Library of Congress. Drawings by Benjamin H. Latrobe of the U.S. Capitol, the Library’s home for nearly the first century of its existence, and other photographs, are introduced in the blog. (April 22, 2022)

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibitions.

Unbuilt Washington External
An exhibition at the National Building Museum, November 19, 2011 – May 28, 2012. Approximately fifty items from the Library collections were exhibited, including proposed design for the U.S. Capitol by Benjamin Latrobe and Tortola scheme for U.S. Capitol by William Thornton.
Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation
Online version of the exhibition held at the Library of Congress between February 24 and July 4, 1994.

Le Brun (Napoleon) Drawings (1860-1901)

Le Brun (Napoleon) Drawings
Some architectural drawings for an office building and an urban house by Napoleon Le Brun (1821-1901), ranging from 1860 and 1901.

Mies Van der Rohe (Ludwig), Visual materials from his papers (ca.1930-1970)

Mies Van der Rohe (Ludwig), Visual materials from his papers
Sixty two photographs of Monument for Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg on the Friedrichsfelde-Cemetery in Berlin, transferred from the Library’s Manuscript Division where his papers are held. In 1926, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was commissioned to build the Monument.

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe papers, 1921-1969 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe papers, 1921-1969.

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: American, born Germany. 1886–1969 External (The Mies archive at the Museum of Modern Art)

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Mies in Berlin by Terence Riley (Editor); Barry Bergdoll (Editor)
Call Number: NA1088.M65 A4 2001
ISBN: 0870700189
Published/Created: 2002-07-02
This in-depth look at Mies van der Rohe's early career is the first to examine the architect's work in Europe in terms of specific historical and cultural context, rather than the more abstract and formal arguments of the International Style. While earlier studies have described a fundamental break between Mies's neo-classical work prior to 1919 and the more avant-garde work of the 1920s, recent research demonstrates that the transformation was much more gradual. Here 11 scholars and architectural historians explore particular aspects of Mies's work, together shedding new light on the continual interplay of tradition and innovation, nature and abstraction, in the evolution of his design theories and methods. With a wealth of photographs and drawings, many not previously published, this book conveys for the first time the dynamic intellectual ferment of this formative period in the life of one of architecture's towering figures. Published to accompany a groundbreaking 2001 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Neutra (Richard J.) Drawings for residential architectural projects in the Philadelphia area (1950-1959)

Neutra (Richard J.) Drawings for residential architectural projects in the Philadelphia area
View digitized content from the Neutra Drawings for residential architectural projects in the Philadelphia area
Sixteen presentation drawings of four residential projects (selections digitized) by Richard Joseph Neutra (1892-1970), ranging between 1950 and 1959.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-19890]

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Richard Joseph Neutra papers, 1927-1978 External (Columbia University Library Archival Collections)
Neutra (Richard and Dion) papers External (UCLA Library Special Collections)

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

House and home; a manual and textbook of practical house planning by Gray, Greta; Andrews, Benjamin R.; Neutra, Richard Joseph
Call Number: NA7120 .G7 1935
Published/Created: 1935
Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture by Thomas S. Hines
Call Number: NA737.N4 H5 1994
ISBN: 0520085892
Published/Created: 1994-06-01
The story of Richard Neutra's life is, in many ways, the story of modern architecture. In his lifetime, Neutra experienced the buoyant struggles of the movement's early years, the heady excesses of its mid-century ascendancy, and the strains of its slow demise. Through his study of Richard Neutra, the most distinguished architect to have worked on the west coast from the 1920s to the 1960s, Thomas Hines explores the efforts of the modernists to find new forms and meaning for their work in the twentieth century.

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Assemblage
Lavin, Sylvia. “Open the Box: Richard Neutra and the Psychology of the Domestic Environment.” Assemblage, no. 40 (1999): 7–25.

Song, H. (2005). Facade -poche: The performative representation of thickened window -walls in the works of Marcel Breuer, Richard Neutra, and Jose Luis Sert
(ProQuest document ID: 305444835)
Abstract: Facade-poche, a term introduced and defined in this dissertation, designates the surfaces and inhabitable depths enclosed with “thickened” window-walls in late modern buildings. It is configured by platforms, window-walls, and overhangs, all of which create well-shaded, inhabitable, and external depths. Unlike a facade that behaves as a visual object, like a picture plane in the street, the inhabitable depth of the facade-poche makes the building and site operative for human use. Particularly in late modern architecture, thin window-wall configurations began to adopt sectionally thickening elements in order to improve its function of sunshading and lessoning glare. Meanwhile, the thin window-wall as a representative modern style was exploited as a voyeuristic tool and picture frame. At the same time, technical considerations of moderating glare and sunlight prompted the instrumental development of new glazing systems and sunshading devices. Yet, both drives neglected the patterns of use that occur in the transitional space between the building and the site, the facade and the street.
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My emphasis on human use is motivated by a desire to redirect considerations of ‘form and function’ toward the questions of ‘what a building does to us’ and ‘what a building represents.’ This theoretical direction will question traditionally divided architectural representations—iconic, tectonic, structural, and regional—and propose a more embracing mode of architectural presence, the performative representation. Performative representation will be differentiated from functional aesthetics by considering the topics of the site and the life practices, which present tasks beyond technical and aesthetic ones. Selected examples of the facade-poche from postwar America—the works of Marcel Breuer, Richard Neutra, and Jose Luis Sert, representatively—will support this proposal and provide a diversity of human use, both in non-urban and urban situations. I will argue that these facade-poches sustain the renewal of human use and in doing so, represent traces and possibilities of inhabitation from the scale of intimate to urban experiences.

This argument suggests a new concept of the physiognomy of architecture in the perception, construction, and interpretation of the facade-poche. While the philosophical tradition of physiognomy, i.e. body and soul correlation, gave rise to an expressive, but merely surfacial facade, another tradition—the anonymous but shared tradition of cultural praxis—has given rise to another facade, one that is thicker, inhabitable, and expressive of life.
Lyu, R. (2019). Irregular spatial depth in three mid-twentieth-century single-family houses by Richard Neutra
(ProQuest document ID: 2375501402)
Abstract: Using design drawings and photographs made or commissioned by Neutra’s office as primary materials, this thesis investigates three mid-century single-family houses (Beckstrand House of 1940, Nesbitt House of 1942 and Tremaine House of 1948) designed by Neutra.
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Based on a preliminary reading of the plans and photographs, the Introduction of this thesis identifies the mismatch between the plan and the photograph in evoking the spatial experience of Neutra's houses. Based on the clues provided by Neutra's mid-century writing in Survival through Design and David Leatherbarrow's a series of contemporary studies on the issue of space in modernist architecture, the Introduction finds that the standpoint is the fundamental aspect that distinguishes the plan from the photograph, and the spatial depth is a crucial aspect in which the mismatch may be reflected. The spatial depth discussed in this thesis refers to the front and back in relation to our bodily experience. In the plan with an “impossible vantage [point]” that offers a global view, different places are shown all at once; while in everyday view with a concrete standpoint on the ground, the spatial depth appears incomplete, because some parts of it are often occluded by figures "populate its spread". This finding leads to an inference by taking into the change of standpoint into consideration, that is, when the standpoint is changed, different parts of the spatial depth can be perceived, and thereby the spatial depth that is perceived by the viewer becomes unstable. Considering Neutra's insistence on the issue of standpoint and spatial depth in his writing, this inference leads this thesis to a fresh exploration of Neutra houses by asking a question: is there incompleteness and, more importantly, instability of spatial depth in Neutra houses? The term "irregular" is employed in this thesis to describe the unstable or inconstant appearance of spatial depth.

In terms of the methods, this thesis analyzes the conflicting sense of depth of a spatial setting viewed from different standpoints. By using the photographs, this thesis reads the two-dimensional visual clues illustrated in different photographs taken from different standpoints. Unpublished structural sections, plans and details are employed to reveal the mechanisms and techniques of the instability of spatial depth. This thesis selects the aforementioned three mid-century Neutra houses as cases for two reasons. First, they show variety in structures, materials and site conditions. Second, different types of drawings (e.g. plans, sections and elevations) and a number of photographs for an in-depth analysis of the three houses are available in current publications and Neutra's archives at University of California, Los Angeles.

The three case study chapters jointly reach a conclusion that the instability of spatial depth can be observed in the three houses, despite their variety in many design aspects. In most instances of the three houses, this effect is associated with the change of the standpoint. Viewed from one standpoint, the spatial depth is compressed or extended because of the occlusion or reflection. Yet, viewed from other standpoints, some of the occluded parts are revealed or the figures in the reflection change. More interestingly, the instability of spatial depth can be also observed from a single standpoint, without the need to change the standpoint, in two of the three houses (Beckstrand and Nesbitt). From a particular standpoint, the location of spatial boundaries seems ambiguous, the perspectival foreshortening is disturbed, the different sense of distances is juxtaposed, or the angle of the room corner seems uncertain. As a result, the spatial depth from the viewer to the spatial boundaries become uncertain. The mechanisms of the two kinds of spatial depth are facilitated by the arrangement of the structure, material, furnishing and fitting. Moreover, they are also related to the surrounding environment (e.g. plants, light and shadow), which is not of the architect's making. From the perspective of the spatial effect, this thesis adds new knowledge to the understanding of Neutra's houses, and implicitly of his architecture and other mid-century domestic architecture.

O’Connor (E. Jerome) Drawings (1941-1977)

O’Connor (E. Jerome) Drawings
View digitized content from the O’Connor Drawings
View finding aid for the O'Connor architectural drawing archive
677 items, chiefly architectural drawings by E. Jerome O’Connor (1891-1977) for residential, commercial, educational, and religious buildings, and health care facilities in Washington, DC and surrounding suburbs. Also includes some drawings by other creators. Items are organized into seventy seven groups (Called UNITs and LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects.
[Image: LC-USZ62-116899]

Oles (Paul S.) Drawings and illustrations (1996-2004)

Oles (Paul S.) Drawings and illustrations
View digitized content from the O’Connor Drawings
336 renderings and illustrations, ten groups of value studies, and two annoted books of works by Paul Stevenson Oles (1936-), considered one of the world’s premier architectural illustrators. His work is also found in the P&P’s other collection, such as a rendering for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed by Maya Lin.
[Image: LC-USZC4-11477]

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Drawing the Future by Paul S. Oles
Call Number: NA2707.O44
ISBN: 0442270038
Published/Created: 1988-10-01

Owings (Nathaniel A.) Visual Materials from his papers (1927-1970)

Owings (Nathaniel A.) Visual Materials from his papers
Approximately 3,800 photographs and drawings from Nathaniel A. Owings (1903-1984) collection, a founding members of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Includes portraits and professional life as well as project files.

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Nathaniel Alexander Owings papers, 1911-1983 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Nathaniel Alexander Owings papers, 1911-1983.

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill photographs, 1945-1969 bulk 1945-1969 External (Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections)

Books

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Nathaniel Alexander Owings, Architect by Dale E. Casper
Call Number: Z8649.7 .C37 1988 NA737.O94
ISBN: 1555906958
Published/Created: 1988-03-01
The Spaces in Between by Nathaniel Alexander Owings
Call Number: NA737.O94 A28
ISBN: 0395154685
Published/Created: 1973-01-01

Pei (I.M.), Visual materials from his Papers (1920-2005, bulk 1960-2000)

Pei (I.M.), Visual materials from his Papers
View digitized content from the Pei materials
Over 1,900 items (selections digitized) by Ieoh Ming Pei (1917-2019) transferred from the I.M. Pei papers held at the Library’s Manuscript Division, ranging between 1920 and 2005 (bulk 1960-2000). Materials include drawings and sketches, photographic materials, posters, correspondence, and models. Drawings and sketches represent his ideas for important projects, such as Museé du Louvre, National Gallery of Art East Building, and J.F.K. Library. Additionally, construction drawings, photographs, office records, correspondence, and study models for the Shinji Shumeikai Museum (a.k.a. Miho Museum) are located in AIA Gold Medalist Collection in the AIA/AAF Collection.
[Image: LC-DIG-ds-13547]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

I.M. Pei papers, 1920-2016 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the I.M. Pei papers, 1920-2016.

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Les grands desseins du Louvre by Pei, I. M.
Call Number: N2030 .P4 1989
Published/Created: 1989

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Studies in the History of Art
Brown, J. Carter. “The Designing of the National Gallery of Art's East Building.” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 30 (1991): 278–295.
Legault, Rejean. “I. M. Pei's East Building and the Postwar Culture of Materials.” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 73 (2009): 80–105.
Bergdoll, Barry. “I. M. Pei, Marcel Breuer, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the New American Museum Design of the 1960s.” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 73 (2009): 106–123.
Nitzan-Shiftan, Alona. “Toward a Modernist Civic Monument: Pei's East Building and the City of Washington.” Studies in the History of Art, vol. 73 (2009):124–147.

Clark, M. M. (2017). I. M. Pei, William Zeckendorf and the architecture of urban renewal
(ProQuest document ID:1898779321)
Abstract: This dissertation reevaluates the practice of design and real estate in the United States through an insufficiently understood case study of the architect-developer team of I. M. Pei and William Zeckendorf and their twelve-year partnership in urban renewal.
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William Zeckendorf (1905-1976) was the most ambitious real estate developer in the United States in the 1950s, with an outsize personality and larger-than-life plans. Unlike most developers of the era, Zeckendorf believed that quality design and visionary planning were critical to remaking city cores through urban renewal. To accomplish this, he hired I. M. Pei (b. 1917), a talented, young designer out of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, creating a scenario that fundamentally changed the traditional working relationship between developer and architect. In 1948, Pei joined Zeckendorf as the in-house architect of Webb & Knapp, and together, they became the most active urban renewal developer and architect in the country. Webb & Knapp’s urban empire stretched coast to coast, remaking huge swaths of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC, through federally funded urban renewal. It also developed privately funded urban renewal schemes in Denver, Los Angeles, and Montreal. Yet despite this tremendous volume of influential executed works in urban planning and design, this untold history has fallen prey to sweeping, simplistic condemnations of urban renewal as a “failed policy.”

Zeckendorf and Pei provided an alternative and effective model for real estate development and design practice within the context of the most aggressive city-rebuilding programs in the history of the United States. This study raises serious questions about practice and the history of urban architecture and modernism, which all too often privileges information about “architect-creators” to the exclusion of such important other actors as real estate developers. The pathbreaking and successful collaboration between this visionary developer and a talented, young architect offers a more nuanced—and more accurate—evaluation of urban redevelopment strategies in the United States than previous critiques. It moves beyond a scholarship that to date has been dominated by an oversimplified and distorting dichotomy between Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs—the respective avatars of “top down” and “bottom up” approaches to urban planning. Zeckendorf and Pei imagined, designed, and built large-scale urban projects imbued with substantive architecture, mixed in use, technological and financial ingenuity, a distinct modernist aesthetic, and bold new thinking about how people should live, work, move around, and entertain themselves in cities. The nature of the Zeckendorf-Pei collaboration was unprecedented, but the results were not without controversy. Pei and Zeckendorf’s unique twelve-year partnership and their urban renewal work broke design and planning barriers. Together, developer and architect skillfully played their parts in a powerful public-private collaboration that altered the American city and redefined how Americans thought about urbanism.
Xiao, S. (2017). I.M. Pei's museum architecture: A reading of identity and language
(ProQuest document ID: 2116903975)
Abstract: This thesis comprises four case studies of the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei’s museum projects to consider the representation of identity in architecture, and the role of the museum as an architectural type.
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The reading of Pei’s projects also encompasses debates on architectural styles, the relationship between modernity and history, as well as the political and cultural role of the museum in the city. The thesis has three parts. Part One looks into the representation of national identity, while also considering the manifestation of Pei’s cultural identity in their given context. The two chapters in this part delve in Pei’s earliest museum design, the Museum for Chinese Art, and a contemporary project of the extension to the German Historical Museum in Berlin, to evaluate the connection of Pei’s projects with their historical contexts, and consider the extent to which Pei’s museum projects respond to the notion of national identity and nationalism respectively. Part Two makes enquiries in the often-related relationship of architecture and language. The significance of architectural language is seen from its role in developing the meaning of the museum building as architecture. By taking the Grand Louvre as a case study, Chapter 3 and 4 discuss how the museum operates as a building type, which incorporates languages by architectural criticism and also the language of architectural drawings. Part Three is a conclusion section in my thesis and it provides an overview of Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art. While the project provides an especially helpful focus on the problems discussed in the thesis, it also provokes thinking on Pei’s role in developing the museum to its current form as an international cultural phenomenon.
Reid, L. E. (2019). Abu Dhabi, Lens, and Los Angeles: The Avant-Garde Architecture of Three 21st Century Universal Art Museums
(ProQuest document ID: 2355994823)
Abstract: Rooted in the late 18th and 19th century idea of the museum as a “library of past civilizations,” the universal or encyclopedic museum attempts to cover as much of the history of mankind through “art” as possible. The prototypes for this kind of museum are the Louvre, the British Museum, the Hermitage, and the Metropolitan Museum, which are enormous in scale and cover millennia of global cultural production.
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This dissertation will examine this model of the inclusive art museum in the early twenty-first century—essentially unbounded chronologically and geographically—and study its transformation in newer institutions less tied to national ideologies by analyzing three museums on three continents in buildings designed by three Pritzker prize winning architects.

The first museum to be analyzed is a satellite location of the Louvre, located in northeastern France in the city of Lens. Amid criticism that the Grand Louvre inordinately privileges Parisians with all the French art and culture and none for the other areas of France, the Ministry of Culture and the Louvre Directorate initiated a call for proposals, with the one from the city of Lens being selected. The Louvre is not the first museum to decentralize its holdings and use satellite locations, for the trend includes the Tate, the Guggenheim, and the Hermitage, but the location in Lens with a failing economy and no established cultural programs makes the case study intensely instructive and fascinating. The world class Japanese firm SANAA designed the new museum.

One of these institutions in a building by Peter Zumthor (LA, to start construction in 2019) was selected because it was planned after the museum had already decided to be “universal” and had selected an architect to design a building that would embody that universality in “modern” terms. This American urban museum does not have a “national” agenda, and its building is NOT rooted in the neo-classical or neo-baroque tradition of the universal museum, thus linking "universality" with "modernity."

These two museums will be contrasted with a museum in a part of the world in which the universal art museum is a “European” import—Abu Dhabi. A “branch” of the first great universal museum—the Louvre— the Louvre Abu Dhabi is situated in a massive building by the French architect, Jean Nouvel.

Remembering I. M. Pei
A Library of Congress blog post on I.M. Pei, published upon his passing in May of 2019, recognizes his extraordinary achievements. The Library mounted the display in 2017, celebrating his 100th anniversary (May 17, 2019)

Pelli (Cesar) Drawings (1980s)

Pelli (Cesar) Drawings
View digitized content from the Pelli Drawings
Approximately 300 sketches and drawings for a few architectural projects by Cesar Pelli (1926-2019) in the 1980s, such as Maryland Residence. Additionally, sketches, drawings, office records, and correspondence for Rice University’s Herring Hall are located in Cesar Pelli Collection in the AIA/AAF Collection.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-65116]

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Cesar Pelli by Mario Gandelsonas; John Pastier; Paul Goldberger (Introduction by)
Call Number: NA737.P39 A4 1990
ISBN: 0847812618
Published/Created: 1991-02-15

Pelz (Paul J.) Drawings (1865-1918)

Pelz (Paul J.) Drawings
View digitized content from the Pelz Drawings
Architectural drawing collection (selections digitized) by Paul J. Pelz (1841-1918), mainly for the Library of Congress Jefferson Building project.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-22649]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Paul J. Pelz papers, circa 1800-1921 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Paul J. Pelz papers, circa 1800-1921.

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C by Smithmeyer & Pelz; Paul J. Pelz; Edward P. Casey
Call Number: Z733.U58 A5

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress
Cole, John Y. “Smithmeyer & Pelz: Embattled Architects of the Library of Congress.” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 29, no. 4 (1972): 282–307.

Elson, B.L. (1981). The Library Of Congress: A Merger Of American Functionalism And Cosmopolitan Eclecticism
(ProQuest document ID: 303023996)
Abstract: The Library of Congress is an important example of the traditional successful merger of American functionalism and cosmopolitan eclecticism. The late nineteenth-century Beaux-Arts structure housing the Library combines utility and practicality within its derivative Renaissance-Baroque style. In this building perfectly suited to its function as a national library and national symbol, Americans adapted European paradigms of taste and style to the requirements of the New World. Citizens involved in this significant instance of government patronage simplified European models and tempered classicism with realism. They incorporated into traditional design the latest engineering and scientific advances. They created a comprehensive, unified decorative program which harmonized with a structure itself unified with its surroundings. The totality was in harmony with the official beliefs and values of an important period in American culture.
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An investigation of the history of the Library as well as an analysis of its architectural style and decorative program reveals the presence of various aspects of functionalism. In its overall vitality, the Library is representative of organic functionalism, for it is interrelated with its site and is clearly organized with parts which correspond with one another. The structure, which was meant to be an art gallery as well as library, is functional in the aesthetic sense for it is visually stimulating. It is functional in the utilitarian sense for the authorities, utilizing appropriate scientific and engineering principles, created practical solutions to the specific requirements of a national library. Economic functionalism is evident in the wise allocation of funds as well as in the efficient use of space and in the precise union of architecture and decoration. Most importantly, the Library is functional in the ideological sense for it symbolically expresses its purpose and is in accordance with the ideas and ideals of its time. For, the Library was seen as a monument to America's preeminence in the forward march of civilization--albeit an America represented and dominated by the white man and his beliefs. In creating this tribute to America's progress, particularly progress in art and science, political functionalism is evident. For, those responsible for this major national building utilized political pragmatism and occasionally political expediency to achieve their goals.
Brousseau, F. M. (1998). The library of congress, 1873-1897: The building, its architects, and the politics of nineteenth-century architectural practice
(ProQuest document ID: 304429136)
Abstract: This dissertation documents the genesis, design development and construction of the Library of Congress and positions the building in the architectural politics of the late-nineteenth-century Eastern Seaboard.
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Documented by hundreds of architectural drawings, government documents and private papers, this study endeavors to establish an accurate chronology for the drawings, correct the historical record of the building's design and determine how the Library's public role and the aspirations of the Librarian, the United States Congress and the twenty-seven architects who submitted designs to the 1873 competition were expressed in those original architectural drawings.

The Premier Prize was awarded in 1873 to two previously unknown German-speaking immigrant architects, John Smithmeyer and Paul Pelz, for their Italian Renaissance Revival design. For the next twenty years, the Congressional Committee on the Library retained them, and others as well, to redesign the building in nearly every style of the latter nineteenth-century, including the Thirteenth-Century Gothic, Victorian Gothic, French Renaissance, German Renaissance, Modern Renaissance, Romanesque and Italian Renaissance Revival styles. These drawings document the Library's design development and the progress of eclecticism.

Although historians have linked the Library of Congress to the lavish Beaux-Arts manner of Charles Garnier's Paris Opera and identified it as the most grandiose surviving Baroque Revival Style public building in the United States, it is better understood in the context of broader contemporary European trends. Informed by Carroll L. V. Meeks's identification of the early influence of German immigrant architects on the Romanesque style in the United States, Peter Collins's assessment of Renaissance Revivalism and Eclecticism and Barbara Miller Lane's analysis of European government architecture, this inquiry offers fresh documentation on the impact of nineteenth-century immigration and widens our knowledge of the genesis of an American professional architectural elite.

A widespread and profound xenophobia, which precluded fair consideration of the building by its nineteenth-century contemporaries, is part of this history. As perhaps the most multifarious and well-documented example of nineteenth-century eclectic architecture in the United States, the Library of Congress warrants this effort to properly situate the building and its architects inside our cultural history.

Poor (Alfred Easton), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1970)

Poor (Alfred Easton), Visual materials from his papers
Approximately 3,000 drawings and photographs related to Alfred Easton Poor (1899-1988), including designs for the James Madison Memorial Building at the Library of Congress; alterations work at the U.S. Capitol; and the Wright Memorial in Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Alfred Easton Poor papers, 1866-1985 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Alfred Easton Poor papers, 1866-1985.

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Colonial architecture of Cape Cod by Poor, Alfred Easton
Call Number: NA7235.M4 P6
Published/Created: 1932

Reiss (Winold) Collection (1905-1950)

Reiss (Winold) Collection
View digitized content from the Reiss Collection
Over 800 items (mostly digitized) representing Winold Reiss’ (1886-1953) work throughout his career, ranging between 1905 and 1950, chiefly drawings for restaurants, bars, hotels, cafes, apartments and graphic design drawings for various projects including those for companies. The collection also includes photographic materials. Organized into groups (called UNITs), which generally are sets of items that were grouped together by project.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-08123]

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Indian legends ... by Reiss, Winold
Call Number: E98.F6 R45
Winold Reiss by Jeffrey C. Stewart
Call Number: N6537.R385 A4 1990
ISBN: 0874748720
Published/Created: 1990-05-17

The Ephemera Journal
Nakahara, Mari. “Unity of Creation: The Comprehensive Design Work of Artist Winold Reiss.” The Ephemera Journal, vol. 25, no. 1 (2022): 14-19.

Rubin, S. I. (2002). Emigrants in Harlem: New perspectives on Miguel Covarrubias and Winold Reiss
(ProQuest document ID:304796018)
Abstract: This dissertation argues that Mexican native Miguel Covarrubias (1904–1957) and German-born Winold Reiss (1886–1953)—two artists heretofore overlooked due to their identities as non-Black “emigrants” from outside the United States—were vital contributors to the Harlem Renaissance. New Negro promoters deemed these artists' ethnographic inclinations and fusion of modern art and figurative traditions as essential for constructing a forward-looking African American identity.
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Chapter one presents a theoretical lens through which the Harlem works of Covarrubias and Reiss are viewed simultaneously as ethnographic and modern. Rigorous fieldwork methodologies espoused by Franz Boas and Bronislaw Mahnowski and reinterpreted by recent theorists James Clifford and Clifford Geertz have resulted in an ethnography that extends to artists as ethnographic fieldworkers. The chapter also explores Covarrubias's and Reiss's early twentieth-century modernity as defined by Alain Locke, Albert Barnes, Paul Guillaume, Robert Coady, Arthur Wesley Dow, and Arthur Jerome Eddy.

The second chapter traces stylistic and ethnographic influences that derive from the artists' respective homelands. Reiss's German influences may include the Neue Sachlichkeit and Jugendstil movements, the ethnographic theories of Leo Frobenius, and admiration for African art among European modernists. Mexico's indigenísmo and graphic traditions initiated Covarrubias's exploration of folk cultures and native forms of representation.

Chapter three establishes Reiss's centrality in the New Negro Movement and examines his contributions to Opportunity, Survey Graphic, The New Negro, and the 135th Street library art gallery. This chapter analyzes Reiss's “representative” portraits, type studies, and “imaginatives,” and demonstrates the artist's intention to illustrate every facet of the New Negro—its intelligentsia, diversity, and modernity. Chapter four examines Covarrubias's caricatures of blacks in the contexts of Vanity Fair's exaltation of the celebrity, the artist's fluency in modernism, and Mexican vacilada. Analyses of Covarrubias's more serious portraits and Harlem scenes in Negro Drawings (1927) and other publications demonstrate the artist's continuing ethnographic proclivities.

The final chapter addresses the reception of Covarrubias's and Reiss's Harlem works by both black and non-black viewers. The diverse opinions about the works as well as the artists' self-perceptions of their participation in the Harlem Renaissance are interpreted in light of their respective identities as outsiders.

Ready for Research: The Winold Reiss Collection
A Picture This blog introducing the Reiss Collection (September 24, 2020).
Winold Reiss: The Reiss Partnership External
A website introducing the Reiss colletion maintained by Tjark & Renate Reiss.

Unity of Creation: Every Aspect of Design in Work of Winold Reiss External
A talk by Mari Nakahara, Curator of Architecture, Design, and Engineering at the Library's Prints & Photographs Division, presented at the Ephemera Society 42 conference in 2022. In the talk, Nakahara introduced and verified Winold Reiss as a designer for architecture and talked about the unity of design in the amazing spaces that Reiss created in New York City, from murals, furniture, dishware, and even menus and lobby cards.

Renwick (James, Jr., and William W.) Drawings (1847-1911)

Renwick (James, Jr., and William W.) Drawings
View digitized content from the Renwick Drawings
305 items (selections digitized), mainly sketches of architecture and architectural details of churches in New York City but also country houses in the Italianate and Gothic Revival style by James Renwick, Jr. (1818-1895) and William Whetten Renwick (1864-1933), nephew of James Renwick, Jr. Major projects include Grace Church, All Saint’s Church, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. William Whetten Renwick’s work is also included.
[Image: LC-USZC4-5778]

Ross (Albert Randolph) Drawings (1894-1933)

Ross (Albert Randolph) Drawings
View digitized content from the Ross Drawings
Approximately 180 architectural drawings by Albert Randolph Ross (1869-1948) and 35 photographs, primarily for libraries and courthouses, including Carnegie libraries.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-35590]

Saarinen (Eero) Archival Materials (1930-1969)

Saarinen (Eero) Archival Materials
View digitized content from the Saarinen Materials
Approximately 2,700 office materials associated with the Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) collection held at Yale University, gifted by Kevin Roche (1922-2019) who took over Saarinen’ s practice upon his passing in 1961 (selections digitized). Materials include photographic prints, publications, books, albums, scrapbooks, negatives and color transparencies, ranging between 1930 and 1969.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppmsca-15446]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Balthazar Korab collection of photographs showing Eero Saarinen architecture (Prints & Photographs Division Collection): Balthazar Korab selected about 800 photographs to document 19 projects designed by Eero Saarinen. Included are corporate headquarters, airports, university facilities, embassies, private residences, churches, a museum, and a monumental arch. Korab captured their development in the 1950s and 1960s from model and site plan through construction to finished exteriors and interiors.
Photographs of Eero Saarinen collection (Prints & Photographs Division Collection): Ca. 130 photos showing Eero Saarinen in informal portraits, at work with staff and working on architectural projects, and with family, friends, and associates including Charles Eames, Joe Lacy, Kevin Roche, and Minoru Yamasaki.

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Eero Saarinen Collection External (Yale University Archive Collection)

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Saarinen House and Garden by Gregory Wittkopp (Contribution by, Editor); Roy Slade (Introduction by); Diana Balmori (Contribution by); Balthazar Korab (Photographer)
Call Number: NA737.S3 A53 1995
ISBN: 0810944626
Published/Created: 1995-02-01
Saarinen House, the home of Finnish-American architect and designer Eliel Saarinen and textile designer Loja Saarinen at Cranbrook Academy of Art, the graduate school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is an important 1920s American house and the site of a dramatic garden. This book documents the history and diverse design elements of the house and garden, which have been recently restored.

Skidmore (Louis), Visual materials from his papers (1869-1969)

Skidmore (Louis), Visual materials from his papers
View digitized content from the Skidmore Materials
Over 700 visual materials (selections digitized) by Louis Skidmore (1897-1962) transferred from the Louis Skidmore papers held at the Library’s Manuscript Division, ranging between 1869 and 1969. Major materials consist of architectural drawings, photographs, sketchbooks, and other visual materials, some of which are from the time Skidmore was a Rotch Traveling Fellow between 1926 and 1928.
[Image: LC-USZ62-93216]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Skidmore Rotch Travelling Fellow sample sketchbook (Prints & Photographs Division Collection)
Louis Skidmore papers, 1908-1976 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Louis Skidmore papers, 1908-1976.

St. Elizabeths Hospital, Drawings in the AIA/AAF Collection (1850s-1980s)

St. Elizabeths Hospital, Drawings in the AIA/AAF Collection
View digitized content from the St. Elizabeths Hospital Drawings in the AIA/AAF Collection
Over 2,000 drawings for the buildings in the St. Elizabeth Hospital campus and about ten bankers boxes containing photographs, annual reports, journals, scrapbooks, and other materials, dates ranging from 1850 to 1980s (selections digitized). The 1934 model of the site plan, created to be shown at the Government Exhibit of the St. Louis Exposition in 1934, is in the possession of General Service Administration.
[Image: LC-DIG-ppss-00885]

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

St Elizabeths in Washington, D. C. by Sarah A. Leavitt
Call Number: RC445.W183 L43 2019
ISBN: 9781467141727
Published/Created: 2019-05-06
This well-illustrated book follows an exhibition at the National Building Museum, highlighting the ways that this specialized architecture and landscape served the mentally ill. St. Elizabeth's has been a mental health hospital in Washington, D.C., since 1852, when it was established by the United States Congress as the Government Hospital for the Insane. St. Elizabeths, experienced rapid expansion in its first century Deinstitutionalization in the second half of the twentieth century emptied out the historic buildings on campus. It continues the story of St. Elizabeths, a National Historic Landmark, through its current redevelopment as a federal campus and mixed-use neighborhood.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Yanni, Carla. “The Linear Plan for Insane Asylums in the United States before 1866.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 62, no. 1 (March 2003): 24-49.
Abstract: Nineteenth-century psychiatrists believed that 80 percent of insanity cases were curable if treated early, outside the home, in carefully planned, purpose-built structures. This essay traces the development of the architecture of insane asylums in the United States. In 1854, the Quaker Philadelphian Thomas S. Kirkbride published guidelines for 250-bed asylums; they were based in part on John Notman's state hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, and dominated asylum design for decades. While followers of Kirkbride favored large aggregate buildings, other reformers supported the cottage plan, a system that broke the monolithic hospitals into small, houselike edifices. Although the doctors disagreed on many issues, they concurred that the architecture of asylums was one of the most powerful tools for the treatment of insanity. Additionally, the paper explores a concept that architectural historians and architects sometimes take for granted: that architecture shapes behavior. In this case, it was expected to help cure a disease.
Washington History
Millikan, Frank Rives. “St. Elizabeths Hospital: End of the Cathedral Era.” Washington History, vol. 1, no. 2 (1989): 26–41.
Jogues R. Prandonie and Suryabala Kanhouwa. “St. Elizabeths Hospital: Photos from 150 Years of Public Service.” Washington History, vol. 17, no. 1 (Fall/Winter 2005): 4-25.

O'Neil, M. E. (2009). The cultural construction of war and mental trouble: World war I veterans, masculinity and psychiatry at St. Elizabeth’s hospital
(ProQuest document ID: 304854445)
Abstract: This dissertation is an analysis of the ways in which military medicine, the U.S. government, and the American public understood and attempted to contain the practical and symbolic threats posed by mental illness among veterans during the First World War.
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Through an examination of veterans’ medical files institutionalized at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, I argue that the medical classification and treatment of psychological injury in war, systems of welfare provision for psychologically disabled veterans, and the ways in which servicemen understood their injuries cannot be extricated from how various sets of social actors conceptualized, idealized and imagined how masculinity should be enacted in warfare and moral mandates regarding how servicemen should respond to the terrors of the battlefield. St. Elizabeth’s was one institution among many where psychiatrists furthered their vision of healthy masculinity in warfare, ideas which centered on the exercise of “self-control” in the face of difficult and extreme circumstances. The psychologically disabled veteran’s body was a locus of social meaning against which to measure the normative standards of militarized and racialized masculinity. In Progressive America, the disabled veteran’s body was simultaneously an object of power and a public symbol of the devastating impacts of war productive of new social identities and new ways of being men.

Understanding war-related mental distress in the early twentieth century therefore leads to the problem of how to theorize the relationship between culture, warfare, medicine and power. In this dissertation, I argue that developing sociological theory about warfare requires a hermeneutic approach to the study of power. Through the case of psychologically disabled veterans at St. Elizabeth’s, I examine the multiple logics of social control in which economic imperatives and political structures were deeply implicated. However, the role of culture in shaping dominant and emergent medical and political discourse and practice and in defining the logic of social action of all the actors involved cannot be underestimated. My approach is to study power at St. Elizabeth’s through its internal ritualized interactions, its overlapping relationships with other powerful institutions, and the symbols and myths emanating from the hospital that communicated and affirmed normative social identities.

GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus: Preserving the Legacy, Realizing Potential External
A GSA website about the history of St. Elizabeths and introducing its development plans.

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibition.

Architecture of An Asylum: St. Elizabeths 1852–2017 External
An exhibition at the National Building Museum, March 25, 2017 – January 15, 2018. Approximately forty items from the Library's St. Elizabeths Hospital collection were exhibitied.

Thornton (William) Drawings (1780-1828)

Thornton (William) Drawings
View digitized content from the Thornton Drawings
Approximately 100 drawings for various projects (mostly digitized) designed by William Thornton (1759-1828). Project include Tortola scheme for the United States Capitol, Tudor Place, and the Octagon House. Additional drawings by Thornton are located in the AIA/AAF Collection.
[Image: LC-USZC4-284]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

William Thornton papers, 1741-1865 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the William Thornton papers, 1741-1865.

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

William Thornton, M.D. : gentleman of the Enlightenment by Paulson, George W.
Call Number: NA737.T47 P38 2007
Published/Created: 2007

Reynolds, C. A. (2015). Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the federal district and the national capitol, 1776-1826
(ProQuest document ID: 1685483260)
Abstract: This dissertation examines six major points: 1) it argues that Jefferson is an architect of the United States Capitol, having direct and final say over its design; 2) it asserts that Jefferson set two nationally influential models of architectural taste as part of his movement to reform American architecture, first in Richmond as the Virginia State Capitol and second in Washington as the United States Capitol; 3) it explores those models to define what Jefferson called “cubic” and “spherical” architecture; 4) it suggests that Jefferson used his political appointments to maximize his influence over the design of the United States Capitol in order to ground the building in classical sources; 5) it surveys the sources Jefferson looked to for inspiration, both printed texts and images as well as extant buildings in Europe and America; and 6) it proposes that Jefferson and B. Henry Latrobe worked hand in hand to execute a design for the United States Capitol that subdued and at times even replaced the official plan adopted from William Thornton’s winning design.
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This dissertation starts with the idea that Jefferson’s architectural reform consisted of conjoining vernacular building custom with architecture of the classical tradition. Most of what Jefferson knew about classical architecture came from books. Chief among them are Claude Perrault’s 1684 French translation of Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture and the three London editions of Giacomo Leoni’s versions of Andrea Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture in English translation. Using these print sources, Jefferson reinterpreted many of the standard public buildings of Virginia into temple forms. In addition, Jefferson’s plan to reform public architecture rested on two overriding principles: erecting buildings with masonry and organizing those buildings using the classical orders.

Furthermore, this dissertation proves that, like the ancients, Jefferson wanted to build on a monumental scale. Jefferson’s own plan for a national capitol shaped like the Roman Pantheon, long misunderstood, clearly reinforces this interpretation. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that Jefferson and B. Henry Latrobe worked in concert to execute a design for the United States Capitol that subdued the official plan adopted from William Thornton’s winning design.

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibitions.

Unbuilt Washington External
An exhibition at the National Building Museum, November 19, 2011 – May 28, 2012. Approximately fifty items from the Library collections were exhibited, including proposed design for the U.S. Capitol by Benjamin Latrobe and Tortola scheme for U.S. Capitol by William Thornton.
Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation
Online version of the exhibition held at the Library of Congress between February 24 and July 4, 1994.

Upjohn (Richard) Drawings (1802-1878)

Upjohn (Richard) Drawings
View digitized content from the Upjohn Drawings
Consists of 320 drawings for about 110 projects (selections digitized) by Richard Upjohn (1802-1878), half of which are unidentified. Majority of projects include churches and chapels, residential buildings, and monuments in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.
[Image: LC-USZC4-5942]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Historic American Buildings Survey materials on works by Richard Upjohn and his son Richard Michell Upjohn (1828-1903) (Prints & Photographs Division Collection)

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Upjohn's rural architecture. Designs, working drawings and specifications for a wooden church, and other rural structures by Upjohn, Richard
Call Number: NA4811 .U7
Published/Created: 1852

Victorian house architectural drawings ([1866-1890])

Victorian house architectural drawings
View digitized content from the Victorian house architectural drawings
Thirteen drawings for an unidentified house (fully digitized) that is typical of Victorian style.
[image]

Books

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Victorian Houses by David Spellman
Call Number: NA2707.S656 A4 2000
ISBN: 0970076908
Published/Created: 2000-09-01

Wright (Frank Lloyd) Drawings, the Donald D. Walker collection (1907-1970, bulk 1920-1929)

Wright (Frank Lloyd) Drawings, the Donald D. Walker collection
View digitized content of F.L. Wright Drawings from the Donald Walker Collection
129 items, chiefly architectural and graphic design drawings (selections digitized) by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), for houses, theaters, hotels and commercial buildings and graphic design drawings by Wright for a poster and magazine covers, ranging from 1907 and 1970 (bulk 1920-1929). Included are 110 additional photographic prints showing Wright, Walker and others, and Taliesin and Ocotilla. Items also include postcards showing buildings designed by Wright. Donald Walker worked as a draftsman for Wright at Taliesin and Ocotilla, the predecessor of Taliesin West from 1928 to 1931. The items are organized into thirty six groups (called UNITs and LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects.
[Image: LC-USZC4-2240]

Related collections at LC (links go to catalog records):

Donald D. Walker papers, 1926-1987 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Donald D. Walker papers, 1926-1987.
Frank Lloyd Wright papers, 1894-1958 (Manuscript Division Collection): A finding aid for the Frank Lloyd Wright papers, 1894-1958.

Related collections outside of LC (external link):

Frank Lloyd Wright at Avery External (Columbia University Avery Architectural and Fine Arts library Collection)

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright in seven middle western states, 1887-1959 : Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio.
Call Number: NA737.W7 B85 1963
Published/Created: 1963

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

The Art Bulletin
Smith, Kathryn. “Frank Lloyd Wright and the Imperial Hotel: A Postscript.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 67, no. 2 (1985): 296–310.
Abstract: Very little is known of the inception and building of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel beyond Wright's autobiography first published in 1932. This article addresses such fundamental concerns as the date when Wright first heard of the project and how and when he received the commission; where the building was to be located and in what context; when the drawings were executed; what the projected schedule was; the delays, and their consequences; when and how Wright traveled to Japan and how much time he spent there; when the Annex was built; and under what circumstances the building was completed.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Smith, Kathryn. “Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollyhock House, and Olive Hill, 1914-1924.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 38, no. 1 (1979):15–33.
Abstract: The decade 1914-1924 was crucial in the career of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was at work on two major projects, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and the Barnsdall commission for Olive Hill in Los Angeles. The Imperial Hotel, although vast and impressive in its grandeur as a finished building supervised closely by Wright, is not as revealing as the Barnsdall commission of the process of transition that these years represent. During the decade Aline Barnsdall called upon Wright to design for her 45 buildings, of which 2 were major theaters (one for Chicago, one for Olive Hill); 2 were her own residences (one for Olive Hill, one for Beverly Hills); 16 were stores; 21 were houses; 1 was an apartment building; 1 an entrance pavilion; 1 a motion picture theater; and 1 a playhouse-kindergarten. In addition, he designed a master plan for her property that included the majority of these buildings and anticipated his later theories of planning as developed in Broadacre City. These buildings span the range of Wright's designs from the late Prairie House to the fully worked out textile block system for concrete.

Wojtowicz, Robert. “A Model House and a House's Model: Reexamining Frank Lloyd Wright's House on the Mesa Project.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 64, no. 4 (2005): 522–551.
Abstract: This article examines Frank Lloyd Wright's House on the Mesa project, which, despite its familiarity to most historians of twentieth-century architecture, has never been thoroughly studied within the general context of Wright's expansive oeuvre and the specific circumstances of the Museum of Modern Art's 1932 Modern Architecture: International Exhibition. Numerous drawings for the project survive in the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives at Taliesin West, although only photographic evidence survives of the original model. Scattered references to the project appear in Wright's writings, most notably his correspondence with wealthy Denver businessman George Cranmer, whose family served as a kind of inspirational muse for the architect. Of special importance is a letter from Wright to critic Lewis Mumford recently discovered in the Lewis Mumford Papers at the University of Pennsylvania. Handwritten on the back of a photograph of the project's model, Wright's letter sheds new light on some of the project's technical innovations, which included textile-block walls, cantilevered roofs, and stepped casements. Less a response to the International Style, as is commonly held, the project was Wright's model of individualized, machine-age luxury for a merit-based democracy.

Siry, Joseph M. “The Architecture of Earthquake Resistance: Julius Kahn's Truscon Company and Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 67, no. 1 (2008): 78–105.

Vann, P. K. (1998). The influence of Japanese architecture on the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
(ProQuest document ID: 304469398)
Abstract: Japanese architecture played a significant role in the architectural work of Frank Lloyd Wright, demonstrated through this text and graphics. This study is a comparative analysis of Wright's architecture and the manner in which he was influenced by the architecture of Japan. Early influences were the basis for Wright's interest in the architecture of Japan and had a progressive influence on his work.
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This is a descriptive analysis of Japanese influences in Wright's youth and early adult life, which contributed significantly to his architectural style. This thesis explores the impact of Wright's travel in Japan on the spiritual evolution of his organic style by comparing Prairie style houses to various structural elements in Japanese architecture.
Losch, E. D. (2016). Frank Lloyd Wright's textile block: The essential qualities, challenges and alternative methods
(ProQuest document ID: 1841909958)
Abstract: Frank Lloyd Wright had a vision for an inexpensive and versatile concrete masonry system he dubbed the “textile block”. It was meant to be locally produced and assembled without special skills in order to help solve the middle-income housing problem. Many of the buildings constructed with the blocks were highly acclaimed (and still are), but there were practical challenges with the system and his vision never took hold outside of his own work. The system has been called a philosophical success but a practical failure. What would be required to make it a practical success as well? To answer that question, a comprehensive examination of the historical record has been undertaken to identify the essential qualities of the system as envisioned by Wright, document the main challenges, problems and barriers encountered, and finally, note any variations or alternative methods used or proposed to ovefnrcome those barriers.
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By scouring the complete historical record, 107 Essential Qualities of the system were identified, catalogued and ranked. References used included all of Wright’s written work and his recorded lectures. Also included were any relevant correspondence, documents, project drawings and specifications from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives. The multitude of books, journals and articles written about Wright were also examined. Known experts on Wright and his work were interviewed. Site visits of many of the existing textile block buildings were also undertaken, and owners interviewed.

The above references were used to document 86 problem types that were encountered with the system. These were ranked into three categories. “Challenges” are problems that could reasonably be overcome using modern materials and methods. “Problems” are more serious and may or may not be overcome with current technology. “Barriers” are problems that do not have a good solution and are likely not solvable in the near future.

Any Variations or Alternative Methods that were used or proposed were documented. If any of these could overcome a listed Challenge, it was noted. 89 Alternative Methods have been recorded. Identified Barriers were found mainly in the categories of Assembly, Cost, Prefabrication, and Society. There were many Durability issues, but these were found to be, on the whole, fixable with current technology. Unfortunately, fixing these problems would add to the cost, which was already too high. The Assembly process was flawed by Wright’s insistence on using a “one-process” method that mimicked organic growth, but was not suited to standard construction practice. The Societal issues were the most problematic, as these cannot be solved by applying modern technology.

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibition.

Frank Lloyd Wright: Designs for an American Landscape, 1922-1932
Online version of an exhibition held at the Library of Congress from November 14, 1996 to February 15, 1997 and curated by David G. De Long. Focuses on five projects by architect Frank Lloyd Wright that embodied his changing views of the fundamental relationship between building and land.

Walter (Thomas U.) Drawings (1804-1887)

Walter (Thomas U.) Drawings
View digitized content from the Walter Collection
A small drawing collection by Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887), organized in groups (called UNITs or LOTs), which are usually based on separate building projects (selections digitized). Also found in other collections, such as the AIA/AAF collection. The most significant projects include the the U.S. Capitol and the Treasury proposal.
[Image: LC-USZC4-2358]

Dissertations & Theses
Exhibitions

Wojcik, S. B. (1998). Thomas U. Walter and iron in the United States capitol: An alliance of architecture, engineering, and industry
(ProQuest document ID: 304438645)
Abstract: The alliance of architecture, engineering, and industry in mid- nineteenth-century America is revealed by studying Thomas U. Walter's use of iron in the United States Capitol extensions. Structural and decorative applications of iron were incorporated into the designs for the Capitol's wings from 1851 to 1868. Within the Capitol, Walter rebuilt the Library of Congress, which, upon its completion in 1853, was the country's first iron room. In the all-iron dome, built from 1855 to 1866, the ferrous material is subtly apparent in the dome's attenuated form, indicating the space frame structure behind the dome's classically-inspired outer shell.
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The research method focuses on the technological process of building and on the context of the iron industry in order to elucidate how these great feats of architecture came to be and how they represent the country's technical prowess. The technological process has been revealed by re-assembling, through project documentation, the chronology of the introduction of iron in Walter's works and by studying that chronology in light of biographical facts about those who contributed to the work and evidence of their jurisdictions.

This study finds that Walter, heretofore mostly remembered for works in the classical idiom, also possessed the mechanical and scientific knowledge necessary to exploit the potential of iron in his architecture. He was at the nucleus of the network of individuals who carried out their roles at the Capitol, in effect, as Walter's extended persona. Montgomery C. Meigs, a military engineer and the supervisor of the works, is found to have made important contributions through his passion for state-of-the-art materials and fame and through the talents of his assistant engineers, Ottmar Sonnemann and Charles Thomas. Critical technical know-how was provided by the principal ironworks, Janes, Beebe & Company, and its employees, Michael Raleigh and John Cuddy, in particular. This paper re-establishes the history of this previously little-known company, which began as furnace and stove manufacturers, and documents the importance of its relationship with Walter through the firm's Charles Fowler.

Items from the Collection were featured in the following exhibition.

Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation.
Online version of the exhibition held at the Library of Congress between February 24 and July 4, 1994.

Architecture, Design and Engineering Collections in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Prints & Photographs: Ask a Librarian

Selected Projects

Bruff (Joseph G.) Drawings of Building Elements (ca. 1850s-ca. 1880s)

Bulfinch (Charles) Drawings (1787-1860, bulk 1787-1832)

Costantino (Frank M.) Architectural Renderings (1990-2006)

Craig (James O. & Mary M.) Drawings, the Skews-Cox Collection (ca. 1921)

Dearstyne (Howard), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1951, bulk 1928-1933)

Engineering Societies Library Collection (ca. 1790-1990, bulk 1850-1950)

Francis (Henry M.) & Sons architectural drawings and specifications (1897-1910)

Freed (James I.) Sketchbooks (1970-1995)

Fulton (Robert) Engineering Drawings (1806)

Gidoni (Elsa) Architectural Projects in Washington, DC (1930-1970)

Latrobe (Benjamin H.) Drawings (1795-1850, bulk 1795-1820)

Le Brun (Napoleon) Drawings (1860-1901)

Mies Van der Rohe (Ludwig), Visual materials from his papers (ca.1930-1970)

Neutra (Richard J.) Drawings for residential architectural projects in the Philadelphia area (1950-1959)

O’Connor (E. Jerome) Drawings (1941-1977)

Oles (Paul S.) Drawings and illustrations (1996-2004)

Owings (Nathaniel A.) Visual Materials from his papers (1927-1970)

Pei (I.M.), Visual materials from his Papers (1920-2005, bulk 1960-2000)

Pelli (Cesar) Drawings (1980s)

Pelz (Paul J.) Drawings (1865-1918)

Poor (Alfred Easton), Visual materials from his papers (1910-1970)

Reiss (Winold) Collection (1905-1950)

Renwick (James, Jr., and William W.) Drawings (1847-1911)

Ross (Albert Randolph) Drawings (1894-1933)

Saarinen (Eero) Archival Materials (1930-1969)

Skidmore (Louis), Visual materials from his papers (1869-1969)

St. Elizabeths Hospital, Drawings in the AIA/AAF Collection (1850s-1980s)

Thornton (William) Drawings (1780-1828)

Upjohn (Richard) Drawings (1802-1878)

Victorian house architectural drawings ([1866-1890])

Wright (Frank Lloyd) Drawings, the Donald D. Walker collection (1907-1970, bulk 1920-1929)

Walter (Thomas U.) Drawings (1804-1887)