NEW! Richard Koch Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive recently finalized the processing of the Richard Koch Papers and Photographs. The collection consists of photographs, negatives, papers and architectural drawings associated with the personal life and preservation work of New Orleans architect Richard Koch (1889-1971). Papers date from the 1920s-1950s and relate to Koch’s support of various preservation advocacy organizations, including the Vieux Carré Association, the Vieux Carré Commission, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Preservation Committee. A majority relate to Koch’s historical reports concerning municipal squares comprising the Vieux Carré. Although the majority of correspondence relate to historic preservation efforts, some letters are personal in nature, and Koch communicated with a wide array of artists, property owners and architects, as well as with extended family in Argentina and Germany. Smaller-scaled sketches representing architectural details are included among Koch’s papers.

Image above: Richard Koch, photographer. Chartres Street [619 Congress Street]. Contact prints mounted to index cards. Richard Koch Papers and Photographs, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

NEW in the SEAA

The Southeastern Architectural Archive has recently acquired an early eighteenth-century French engineers' manual written by Nicolas Buchotte, a royal engineer during the reign of Louis XV (1715-74). Dedicated to the Marquis D'Asfeld (1665-1743), Knight of the Golden Fleece and Director-General of French Fortifications, Buchotte's Les Règles du dessin et du lavis established graphic standards (rules and maxims) for France's elite surveyors and engineers.

Buchotte's engraved illustrations serve as exemplars of his representational schemes and at the same time represent France's frontier-building endeavors: above, the book's sixth plate illustrates a barracks structure, including an officers' pavilion.

Recently, the Research Laboratories of Archaeology (RLA) have made available a number of similar drawings related to engineering projects in colonial Louisiana. RLA's selections are informed by the research of New Orleans architect and preservationist, Samuel Wilson, Jr. (1911-1993).

Image above: Plate 6 from BUCHOTTE, Nicolas, Ingenieur ordinaire du Roy. Les Règles du dessin et du lavis, pour les plans particuliers des Ouvrages & des Batimens, & pour leurs Coupes, Profils, Elevations & Facades, tant de l'Architecture Militaire que Civile: Comme aussi pour le Plan en entier d'une Place; pour sa Carte particuliere, & pour celles des Elections, des Provinces, & des Royaumes. Paris: Claude Jombert, 1722. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.