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Architecture and Urban Design: Los Angeles and Southern California

This Library Research Guide is intended as a starting place for UCLA researchers, pointing to resources and strategies for finding information related to architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California.

Selected Images - Architects, Buildings, and Styles

Researching Architects & Buildings

Most architecture books are not dedicated to a single building. The building you are researching may be discussed in books about the building's:

  • architect
  • time period
  • location such as city or country
  • building type

Search the UCLA Library Catalog in order to locate books. Searching Tips:

  1. If you know the name of the architect or firm that designed the building, use keyword searching in the Library Catalog for books under these names. Once you have the book in hand, refer to its index or table of contents to determine whether or not your building is mentioned.
  2. If the architect or firm is unknown, try searching under time period, style, place, or building type (i.e.: Architecture -- Romanesque)

To locate articles on your building, you will need to search an index that specializes in architectural subjects. The Avery Index is the most comprehensive index of this kind. Click on the Article Indexes and Databases tab above to locate this and other indexes.

TIP: Also try searching Google Books for the name of your building, then search the UCLA Library Catalog for the titles of the books retrieved.

If an individual building has enough prominence to have had an entire book written about it, then you can search the name of the building as a subject, e.g.: Schindler House (Los Angeles, Calif.) in the UCLA Library Catalog. If not, search a subject such as a building type, subdivided by California and the name of the city where the building is located, or subdivided by California, Southern.

Relevant subject headings:

Architecture and climate--California.
Architecture and energy conservation--California.
Architecture, Domestic--California, Southern.
Architecture, Domestic--California--Los Angeles.
Architecture--California, Southern--History--20th century.
Architecture--California, Southern.
Architecture--California--Los Angeles.
Architecture--California--Palm Springs.
Architecture--California--Pasadena.
Architecture--California--San Diego.
Architecture--California--Santa Barbara.
Architecture--Study and teaching--California.
Art deco (Architecture) - California.
Church architecture--California--Los Angeles.
Eclecticism in architecture California.
Hillside architecture--California.
Interior architecture--California.
Interior decoration--California.
International style (Architecture)--California, Southern--Case studies.
Landscape architecture--California, Southern.
Library architecture--California.
Modern movement (Architecture)--California.
Regionalism in architecture--California, Southern.
Theater architecture--California.
Vernacular architecture--California.

Southern California Architects

Southern California Buildings & Landscapes

Selected Southern California Styles

Los Angeles Neighborhoods

Greater Southern California Cities & Neighborhoods