Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Library Special Collections

The Allied Architects Association of Los Angeles, California was founded ca. 1921 to provide municipal, county, state, and national governments with professional architects at a reasonable cost. AAALA did not accept or perform architectural services for private individuals or firms. The collection consists of the Association's minutes, financial records, publications, clippings, photographs, and contracts. Also includes minutes and financial records of the Architects Bureau Limited, Los Angeles.

The American Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) began as the Southern California Landscape Architects (SCLA) in 1954 after the appointment of the State Registration of California Landscape Architects Board by California Governor Goodwin Knight. The institute was renamed the California Institute of Landscape Architects (CILA) then incorporated as the AILA in 1957. AILA became a national and international group before merging with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1982. The collection consists of newsletters, correspondence, business records, and membership lists assembled from various sources related to the American Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

Rita and Max Lawrence began the firm Architectural Pottery (1950) to produce and market the pottery container designs of students of LaGardo Tackett, professor at California School of Art. In 1971, the company name was changed to Group Artec and began producing office furniture, public seating, tile, kiosks, modern dinner ware, and building directories (signage). The collection consists of records of the firm Architectural Pottery/Group Artec and includes correspondence, publicity materials, photographic slides and scrapbooks.

Collection contains newspaper clippings relating to architecture and urban affairs, including smog control, freeways, and public transit. Also contains reports of the Community Analysis Bureau of Los Angeles.

John Corneby Wilson Austin (1870-1963) was a 20th century Los Angeles architect. He designed and supervised the construction of the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, California State Building, St. Vincent's Hospital, Griffith Observatory, and St. Paul's Church. In conjunction with two other firms, Austin helped design and supervise the building of Los Angeles City Hall. The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, and printed material.

Ayres & Fiege was a prolific Los Angeles architectural firm founded in 1946 by Donald Ayres and Herbert F. Fiege. The collection consists of the firm's architectural drawings, plans, and specifications from school, church, commercial and residential projects.

Mae Babitz (1911-2003) illustrated architectural landmarks of Los Angeles from 1940 to 1970 and was instrumental in saving Simon Rodia's Watts Towers from destruction. The collection includes artwork as well as personal correspondence and correspondence with the City of Los Angeles with respect to exhibitions, acquisitions and saving the Towers. Babitz is most known for mid-century illustrations of Los Angeles architecture, some of the only surviving records of buildings that no longer exist. Examples include buildings at Bunker Hill, the Bradbury Building, Hollywood Hotel, Watts Towers, and various Victorian homes. A self-trained artist, Babitz used pencil, quill and ink on watercolor paper; she painted at site, primarily of Victorian buildings. After many years of working to get the City of Los Angeles to acquire Babitz's artwork for posterity, her daughter, Mirandi Babitz donated the materials to UCLA in 2006. Collection consists of extensive personal and professional correspondence, personal photographs, loose papers, exhibition fliers and booklets, newspaper and magazine clippings and ephemera of Mae Babitz's life as an artist. In addition to personal and work related papers, the collection includes over 70 illustrations that were shown in galleries and public buildings, and many other earlier sketches and drawings. Also included are correspondence and internal documentation related to and generated by the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts.

The collection contains the records of the administration of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, whose tenure in office covered an unprecedented five terms. Although the bulk of the collection spans Bradley's years as mayor (1973-1993), the collection also contains some material from Bradley's service in the Los Angeles Police Department, as an LA City Councilman (1963-1973) as well as materials related to his candidacy for Governor of CA in 1983 and 1986. The collection covers a variety of subjects pertinent to Los Angeles, including transportation, water conservation, offshore oil drilling, education, the 1984 Olympic Games, the Los Angeles Convention Center LA Produce and Flower Markets, and the riots in 1992. The records are in a variety of formats, including correspondence, photographs, reports, publications, architectural drawings, cassette recordings, video tapes, and memorabilia.

Philip Edward Chandler (1908- ) worked in nurseries in Los Angeles area, and became a highly respected garden designer. He also taught at Santa Monica College for many years. The collection consists of correspondence, client files, plant lists, teaching and research notes, horticultural slides and photographs related to Chandler's career as a landscape architect.

Ralph D. Cornell was the supervising landscape architect at UCLA from 1937-72. Some of Cornell's other landscape architecture projects included Pomona College, Torrey Pines Park, Los Angeles Music Center, and La Brea Tar Pits. The collection consists of office files, business records, correspondence, photographs, slides, glass negatives, and books related to Ralph D. Cornell's career as a landscape architect and designer.

Ralph D. Cornell was the supervising landscape architect at UCLA from 1937-72. Some of Cornell's other landscape architecture projects included Pomona College, Torrey Pines Park, Los Angeles Music Center, and La Brea Tar Pits. The collection consists of office files, business records, correspondence, photographs, slides, glass negatives, and books related to Ralph D. Cornell's career as a landscape architect and designer.

Roy Doumani graduated from UCLA with a BA in business and finance in 1958. In 1978, architect Robert Graham started construction on their 7500 sq. ft. seaside home in Venice, California. The house, containing works by prominent artists, was bequeathed to UCLA at the end of 1988, and serves as a setting for UCLA arts activities and events. The collection consists of architectural drawings, records, correspondence, and memorabilia relating to the construction and history of the Doumani House.

Scrapbooks, ephemera, photographs, and correspondence related to architect Robert D. Farquhar and his work, particularly buildings commissioned by William Andrews Clark, Jr.

Jay D. Frierman was a professor of history and archaeology at UCLA and served as the curator of the Near Eastern archeology and ethnography at UCLA's Museum of Cultural History. The collection consists of approximately 148 photographs taken by Frierman of Southern California architecture built ca. 1880-1930.

Edward Huntsman-Trout (1889-1974) was a landscape architect. He worked in Boston and Ohio before starting a practice under his own name in Los Angeles. The collection consists primarily of blueprints and tissue designs as well as correspondence, sketches, and photographs related to Huntsman-Trout's work.

Archibald Quincy Jones established a private architectural practice, partnering with Frederick E. Emmons, 1951-69; Jones served as visiting professor and fifth year design critic (1950-78) and dean (1975-78) at the School of Architecture and Fine Arts at USC; served as visiting design critic and lecturer at a number of U.S. academic institutions; he initiated design for perforated curved beam for steel construction, 1956; from 1953-72, he worked on special and innovative projects including U.S. Gypsum, U.S. Steel Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Defense; he lectured and participated in seminars and panels all over the world and was involved in public committees concerned with architecture and planning; Jones was an active participant in national and regional chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); he was the winner of numerous awards, including the National AIA's First Honor Award in 1950; his credits include: Mutual Housing Association Development, Los Angeles (1950), Biological Sciences Building, UC Santa Barbara (1959), Faculty Center, USC (1960), University Research Library, UCLA (1971), Annenberg School of Communications, USC (1976, 79); he died in Los Angeles, August 3, 1979. Collection consists of material related to Jones's career as an architect. Includes architectural plans and drawings, presentation boards, company chronology files, building specifications, travel sketches, doodles, ephemera, and publications by and about Jones.

George Alexander Kern (1880?-1957) was a Los Angeles based landscape architect and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The collection consists of notes, clippings, blueprints, photographs, drawings, and memorabilia relating to George Alexander Kern's career as a landscape designer.

S. Charles Lee (1899-1990) graduated from Technical College, Chicago in 1918 and the Armour Institute of Technology in 1921. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1922 where he designed numerous theaters and office buildings (1927-40), developed the Los Angeles International Industrial District (1948) and built several theaters in Mexico City (1942). The collection contains drawings, renderings, blueprints, photographs, and surveys relating to Lee's professional career including his work as a developer and the most prolific architect of art deco movie palaces in Los Angeles.

Drawings, renderings, blueprints, photographs, and surveys relating to the professional career of architect S. Charles Lee. Most of the collection reflects his work as a developer and the most prolific architect of art deco movie palaces in Los Angeles.

Harold H. Martin was an architect in Southern California in the early twentieth century. The collection consists of drawings, hand-colored photographs, and plans for Mission Style churches and homes Martin designed.

Frederick Monhoff (1897- ) was a design instructor at the Otis Institute in Los Angeles, California (1926-50), lectured for UCLA Extension, and was a design architect for the Los Angeles county Architectural Divisions. The collection consists of material related to Monhoff's career as artist and architect.

Richard Josef Neutra (1892-1970) was born in Vienna. He was the city architect for Luckenwalde, then worked as a draftsman-collaborator with Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin before immigrating to the United States in 1923. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright (1924) before settling in Los Angeles. His most productive years were during 1930s and 1940s. The collection consists of travel sketches, papers, drawings, rolled plans, blueprints, audio recordings, and photographs related to Richard Neutra's career as an architect.

Donald Perry Polsky (born September 20, 1928) is an American mid-century modern style architect. Polsky worked for the Richard Neutra firm early in his career (1953-1956), then continued with other firms and established his own in 1956. Polsky's works are influenced by Neutra and modernist architecture. Located in Southern California and Nebraska, his works are primarily single family residences, with some multi-family residential and commercial buildings. The Polsky papers contain publication features, a book of career highlights, and portfolios that define design problems faced by clients and Polsky's solutions using photographs and architectural plans.

Mark Daniels was a Southern California architect who designed homes and gardens in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles and vicinity. Ernest Mitchell Pratt and Viroque Baker photographed Daniels's houses and landscape architecture to be published in magazines such as and , mostly in the 1920s. The collection consists of 148 mounted photographs of Mark Daniels's architecture and landscape architecture in Southern California, mostly in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles.

Fred Rochlin worked most of his life as an architect, and pursued artistic endeavors, including writing, upon retirement. Collection consists of materials related to Fred Rochlin's career as a monologist, artist, and writer.

Ruth Patricia Shellhorn (1909-2006) was a landscape architect who practiced in Southern California. She is best known for her contributions to the creation of a new commercial shopping center landscape style through her work at the Bullock's Department Stores and Fashion Squares. In addition to her work at Bullock's, Shellhorn's projects include Disneyland and University of California, Riverside, as well as residential gardens for many prominent Southern Californians. The collection consists of business records, drawings and plans, visual materials, correspondence, diaries, and other personal items.

Albert R. Walker (1881-1958) was a architect who collaborated with Percy A. Eisen to design the Ardmore Apartments in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Plaza Hotel, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, the Edwards and Wildey Building and the Fine Arts Building (Signal Oil Building) in Los Angeles, the Bay Cities Guaranty Building in Santa Monica, and the Texaco Building in Los Angeles. The collection consists of photographs, newspaper articles and scrapbooks of buildings designed by Walker.

Lloyd Wright (1890-1978) was the eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright. He trained as a draftsman/delineator in his father's Oak Park Studio, and studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin (1908-09). He was a landscape architect for various Los Angeles projects (1922-24), provided the shells for the Hollywood Bowl (1924-25 and 1928), and produced the Swedenborg Memorial Chapel (or Wayfarer's Chapel) at Palos Verdes, California (1946-71). The collection consists of Wright's original drawings, renderings, blueprints, photographs, models and office files. Many of the photographs in the collection are by Will Connell.

Collection consists of letters from friends and relatives to landscape architect Florence Yoch, two photographs, and one typescript draft of a letter from Yoch. Most of the letters are not dated. Many of the letters are from Anne Trevithick, wife of New Zealand architect Cecil Trevithick. Photographs include a group picture of a tour group (1967) and a snapshot of the Trevithicks.

Collection consists of broadsides, clippings, brochures, and other ephemeral materials relating to California. Subjects include: abortion, Alcatraz Island, building and loan associations, California politics and government, Covina, drugs, Fort Ross, Greek-Americans, International Gay and Lesbian Archives, Japanese American National Museum, Hiram Johnson, William Kerckhoff, Los Angeles riots, motion picture theaters, Olympic Games, Rancho Santa Anita, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and others.

The Charles M. Carton Print Collection consists of American and European Antiquarian and Natural History prints. It includes botanical prints, nature prints, ornithological prints, architectural prints, satirical prints, and miscellaneous loose prints from the 17th to 19th century with several interesting 20th century images.

Joseph Copp opened his first landscape architecture business in 1937 and was the landscape architect for various political and professional people in the U.S. The collection consists of architectural drawings, blueprints, and tracings.

The Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company was founded on July 23, 1925 in Los Angeles by William Nickerson Jr., George A. Beavers, Jr., and Norman O. Houston. Their mission was to provide dignified employment for African Americans and to provide them with insurance protection. Golden State Mutual operated for eighty-four years and grew to become one of the largest Black-owned companies in the United States. The collection spans from 1909 to 2009 and consists of minutes books, annual reports, corporate history files, ledgers, public relations and advertising files, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, plans, reports, agreements, manuals, policy specimens, Certificates of Contribution and Advancement, publications, files about the company's historical murals and Afro-American art collection, architectural drawings, awards, memorabilia, and audiovisual materials.

Collection consists of business records, publication and poster samples, architectural drawings, newspaper clippings, videotapes, slides and other photographic material, audio recordings, awards and certificates of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) in the staging of the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in LA in 1984.

During its peak years Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM) lineup included many of the most creative artists, technicians, and stars in the film industry. The collection consists of original architectural designs, sketches, and blueprint set plans for MGM motion picture productions.

The collection consists of posters from Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Poster topics are related to ancient civilization, architecture, art, asthma, conflict, culture, disability, environment, equestrianism, family, Kurds, population, public health, recycling, reproductive health, road safety, theater, tourism, waste, and wildlife. Also included are posters from France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, related to Arabic history and culture.

The cinerama process, originally developed by Frederick Waller (1939), was the first effective wide-screen process. The Cinerama Releasing Corporation (CRC) faced competition from cheaper wide-screen processes and began major construction on new buildings designed specifically for the Cinerama process (mid-1950s). CRC dissolved (mid-1970s), leaving the buildings, many doomed to technological obsolescence. The collection consists of nearly all the architectural plans, including brown lines, prints and unique pencil renderings on tissue from 1960 through the late-1960s collected by Miller for 263 theatres.

Contains record album 'Conversations regarding the future of architecture, 1956'. Collected and edited by John Peter and containing the opinions of Ernest Kump, Gordon Bunshaft, Eero Saarinen, Phillip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Richard S. Neutra recorded as informal conversations.

Donald Perry Polsky (born September 20, 1928) is an American mid-century modern style architect. Polsky worked for the Richard Neutra firm early in his career (1953-1956), then continued with other firms and established his own in 1956. Polsky's works are influenced by Neutra and modernist architecture. Located in Southern California and Nebraska, his works are primarily single family residences, with some multi-family residential and commercial buildings. The Polsky papers contain publication features, a book of career highlights, and portfolios that define design problems faced by clients and Polsky's solutions using photographs and architectural plans.

Harriet Shapiro (b.1924) was a freelance writer and contributor of articles, feature stories, and reviews to magazines and scholarly journals. She also published the novel, (1981) and the photodocumentary, (1984). She married Fred Rochlin in 1947. The collection consists of articles, clippings, correspondence, and photographs collected by Harriet Rochlin about women architects.

The Randolph Scott Collection consists of 19.2 linear feet of photographs, film stills, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, sheet music, sound recordings, correspondence, scripts, financial records, architecture and design plans, and various entertainment publications.

Collection consists of broadsides, clippings, brochures and other ephemeral material relating to the US.