Thursday, July 30, 2015

NEW! Nolan Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive recently finalized the processing of the William T. Nolan Office Records. The collection consists of architectural drawings, correspondence, building trade catalogs, specifications and photographic materials.

William T. Nolan was born in Quebec City, Canada, where he studied law before serving as English secretary to Quebec Bridge and Railway Company president Simon-Napoléon Parent. He relocated to New Orleans in 1900 and within two decades, he had become a prolific designer of buildings in Louisiana and Mississippi. His architectural practice and that of his successors spanned eight decades of the twentieth century. Nolan’s legacy included nearly two hundred schools.

Read more about the architect in the online finding aid here.

If you are unfamiliar with the Southeastern Architectural Archive's holdings, consult its list of "Finding Aids by Collection Name."

Posted by Keli Rylance at 30.7.15
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4 comments:

Thomas Rosell said...

Two plans that piqued my interest are the Lamar Life Insurance Plans the Bank of Gulfport.

The AIA records for RH Hunt state that NW Overstreet and Nolan were in competition for the Lamar building commission. It would be interesting to see how Nolan's design differed from the Gothic structure designed by Overstreet.

Being in competition I wonder how Nolan ended up with a set of plans for Overstreet's Bank of Gulfport building? Might have Nolan been in competition for that design also?

August 7, 2015 at 2:08 PM
Keli Rylance said...

Nolan created multiple designs for the Lamar competition -- all of them skyscrapers, but with different stylistic associations.

The Nolan firm renovated the First National Bank in Gulfport, and my assumption is that this was a modernization of Overstreet's earlier Bank of Gulfport...so they needed his plans to recondition the building.

August 10, 2015 at 9:16 AM
Thomas Rosell said...


Ill have to remember to see those designs for the Lamar tower next time I stop by!

The First National Bank on the corner of 13th st and 26th ave Gulfport was a Sully design, which I believe y'all have a beautiful rendering of. That is a different building from Overstreet's Bank of Gulfport tower on the corner of 14th st and Hwy 49. Nolan's work on the Bank of Gulfport tower either dates to when Hancock moved into that building in 1933 or perhaps in the 1950s?

August 10, 2015 at 2:41 PM
Keli Rylance said...

Nolan's office took a lot of photographs of the Bank of Gulfport tower. The snapshots were developed 20 March 1956, and include 20+ images of the interior, and about the same for the exterior, including the mercantile intersection and alley. So perhaps Nolan was vying for a project in the mid-50s? Not sure whether they got the job as some of firm's mid-century architectural drawings are not yet processed.

August 10, 2015 at 4:14 PM

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