Architects' Libraries

Tulane University Libraries have benefited from donations made by the region's architects and their estates. Many of these historic gifts bear the signatures of their owners or their personally designed bookplates.

Architect Frank G. Churchill (Natchez, MS 1876- New Orleans, LA 1924) created his own ex libris (shown above). After attending Tulane University during the mid-1890s, Churchill studied painting in Cincinnati, Ohio.(1) He was briefly a principal in the DeBuys, Churchill & Labouisse firm before entering private practice.

His library included a copy of George Louis Adams' L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne (Paris, 1847). The book is incredibly scarce, and Churchill's copy bears the stamp of the Mayor of Saint-Quentin (Aisne, Picardy, France).

James Gallier, Sr. (1798-1866) also owned a copy of L'architecture moderne. He pasted the plates from both volumes into a large scrapbook that he had purchased from H.G. Stetson & Company, 54 Camp Street.


(1)"Orleans Artist, Architect, Dies in Life's Prime." The Times-Picayune 7 March 1924.

Images above:  Frank G. Churchill. Ex Libris, Undated. As it appears in George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 2 (Paris, 1847). Rare Books Unit, Tulane University Libraries.  Jones Hall Rare Books (large) NA7346 .C5

James Gallier, Sr. Scrapbook.  Plate from George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1847). Sylvester Labrot Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

The Bungalow Age

In 1908 Chicago's Radford Architectural Company heralded a new building era, the bungalow age. The company published over 200 plans created in its drafting department representative of "the best modern ideas in bungalow architecture." The designs varied from California-style bungalows to Dutch revival and temple-fronted structures.The company emphasized the bungalow's popularity, convenience, versatility and moderate expense.

"The bungalow age is here. It is the renewal in artistic form of the primitive 'love in a cottage' sentiment that lives in some degree in every human heart. Architecturally, it is the result of the effort to bring about harmony between the house and its surroundings, to get as close as possible to nature.

So we see the bungalow nestling in the woods, inviting with its hospitality on the plains and roosting serenly on the crags by the sea. In every case its appearance bespeaks a blithesome geniality and an informal hospitality. There is nothing formal about it, and this very restfulness of appearance refreshes the city tired dweller who is the slave of conventionalities.

The bungalow is a tangible protest of modern life against the limitations and severities of humdrum existence. It is 'homey,' and comes near to that ideal you have seen in the dreamy shadows of night when lying restless on your couch you have yearned for a haven of rest. Maybe it has a wide, low, spreading roof, which sweeps down and forms a covering for the porch. It has a large healthy chimney, patios, with fountains, large verandas, good sized living and dining rooms, so arranged possibly that by the use of portable wood screens they may be partitioned off or thrown into one apartment.

And while primarily intended for the wilds, this form or style of home has been seized upon eagerly by home builders in every hamlet of the land, in every town and every city. So that out of this general demand for homes of this character all sections of the country are being beautified with little structures that delight the eye.

The bungalow originated in India where many types of them are seen. Frequently there the structure is built on stilts from eight to twelve feet high, to protect the occupants from wild animals and serpents. In America, however, the bungalow cannot be built too close to the ground, and, indeed, the purpose always should be to make the bungalow a harmonious part of the grounds surrounding it. Wide cemented porches are frequently laid flat on the surface, so that indoors and outdoors might be said to join hands. Rustic baskets frequently ornament porch walls built of cobble-stones or clinker brick. There really is no limit to the ornamentation of the bungalow that will be in keeping with its character. Fountains may be placed, or even miniature waterfalls, that will add to the effect. In every case the artistic sense of the builder must be expressed in accord with the immediate location. The beauty and restfulness of little sun parlors caress tired nerves and make new men out of old. A riotous, untrimmed garden of ferns may be added to the lawn decorations, or clambering roses, vines and wide-spreading trees."

Excerpt from: Radford’s Artistic Bungalows. Chicago, IL: The Radford Architectural Company. 1908. NA 7571.R2. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Also available via the Internet Archive's Building Heritage Technology Library.

From New Orleans to Minneapolis & Back

In 1921, the Architects' Small House Survey Bureau of Minnesota published a guide to home financing and building for the Southern Pine Association in New Orleans. The result of six months' research and over fifty meetings, How to Plan, Finance and Build Your Home (1921) presented potential homeowners with over 100 building plans developed by Minneapolis and New York architects. Of particular note are three plans rendered by architect Jefferson Merritt Hamilton (1891-1982), who worked in Minneapolis and later practiced in Louisiana, Georgia and Florida.

In the early 1920s, New Orleans bungalow advocate Morgan D.E. Hite (1882-1959) traveled to Minneapolis at the request of the Southern Pine Association. He went armed with renderings and photographs of raised bungalow houses that had been constructed in New Orleans. According to Hite, the Florida-born Hamilton was especially sympathetic to this house type "so foreign to the Northern architects" and developed related plans and perspective sketches that appeared in the 1921 pattern book:

"Mr. Hamilton's designs have proved among the most popular shown in the book, and, in particular, one of his raised-basement types has been used widely as a means of advertising the beauty of design."(1)

For Hite, the raised bungalow type had its origins in Louisiana's "Spanish-style" plantation homes, which united all rooms on a single floor that was raised 9-10 feet above ground to facilitate cool breezes and flood protection. For the Architects' Small House Survey Bureau, plans such as the one above were geared towards property owners in the Gulf Coast states.(2) For New Orleans builders, Hamilton's plan could be implemented on a very narrow lot, as the basement level extended only 28'6".

Image above: Jefferson M. Hamilton, architect. "A Beautiful Southern Type--Home Plan No. 615."  How to Plan, Finance and Build Your Home (Southern Pine Association and the Architects' Small House Survey Bureau of Minnesota, Inc., 1921), p. 100. Architectural Trade Catalogs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

(1)Morgan D.E. Hite. "The New Orleans Raised House Type." Architecture (May 1922): p. 150.

(2)How to Plan, Finance and Build Your Home.  Southern Pine Association and the Architects' Small House Survey Bureau of Minnesota, Inc., 1921. See plans on pages 58,99 & 100.

Venice Sojourn 1927

In 1927, Shreveport architects Samuel G. Wiener (1896-1977) and William B. Wiener (1907-1981) traveled to Venice, Italy and recorded their journey in photographs and drawings. Guido Pellizarri, then Superintendent of Fine Arts of Venetia, introduced the brothers to buildings throughout the city, many located in what Samuel described as "obscure places." Drawing on the tradition of architectural pattern books, the elder Wiener designed his resultant book's baroque title page (image above) and included his delicate sketches of ornamental ironwork, stone cartouches and balusters. Affirming his modernity, he wrote in the Foreward:

"The illustrations contained in this book give some idea of what may have been the Venetians' attitude toward their building. The value of their architecture to the modern designer is not the offering of a wealth of curiously beautiful details to be copied that they may grace our modern buildings. Venetian architecture can teach us that buildings can be beautiful without being grave, and they can delight us with their delicate charm and flaunting disregard of established principles without becoming trivial."

Samuel Wiener returned to Europe in 1931, focusing his energies in Germany and the Netherlands, and visiting Walter Gropius' Dessau Bauhaus and Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower.¹

Image above: Samuel G. Wiener. Venetian Houses and Details. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1929. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

¹ Karen Kingsley. Modernism in Louisiana: A Decade of Progress 1930-1940. New Orleans: Tulane School of Architecture, 1984.

New Publication: A Pattern Book of New Orleans Architecture

Noted artist and architectural historian Roulhac Toledano has just published A Pattern Book of New Orleans Architecture. She will be reading excerpts from the text and answering questions this coming Thursday evening, February 25th at Garden District Books (2727 Prytania Street, 5:30 pm).

From the publisher's announcement:

A stunning presentation of nineteenth-century color gouache and watercolor archival drawings and paintings of New Orleans neighborhoods from the New Orleans Notarial Archives, this volume pays tribute to the tremendous architectural richness of the Crescent City in its presentation of what old, renovated, restored, and new buildings not only might look like, but how they should look. An educational tool, home-builder’s resource, architectural pattern book, city planner’s handbook, and visual treasure, this beautiful volume invites its readers to walk down the avenues of New Orleans past to examine the footprints of the city’s original edifices in preparation for rebuilding and restoring the city to its authentic self. Photographs of examples of house types, historic plans for each house, and contemporary adaptive use floor plans to fit the original blueprints developed by architects are among the highlights of this volume.

Organized by type of house, this handsome book also includes separate sections covering the history of the archival drawings, neighborhood plans, and information about the surveyors and engineers who designed the city. The types of New Orleans residences included range from the French colonial plantation home to the Creole cottage, the American townhouse, and a variety of shotgun styles. In a conversational yet erudite tone, award-winning author and architectural historian Roulhac B. Toledano examines the characteristic elements of each architectural style and discusses the authentic materials and techniques used for original construction. [As posted at http://pelicanpub.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9781589806948]