Category Archives: alexander architectural archives

alexander architectural archives, News Items, special collections

General Libraries acquires Cret Library

The General Libraries has acquired the library of Paul P. Cret (1876-1945), the architect responsible for The University’s 1933 Master Plan, the design of the Main Building and UT Tower, and 18 other buildings on the UT campus.

The collection totals approximately 700 volumes published between 1560 and the 1930’s plus 43 albums, portfolios, and boxed sets of photographs. The books, many of which are rare, are mostly large, folio-size, and profusely illustrated. Many are in their original leather or cloth bindings. Most of the books are classic texts still in use today by architects and architectural historians.

Included in the collection are offprints, exhibition catalogs, prospectuses, annual reports, monographs, trade and industrial materials catalogs, journals, and periodicals regarding architecture and planning, housing, restoration, and bridges. The photographic materials consist of documentation of the work of Paul P. Cret and his successor firm. The books in the Cret Library will be housed in the Architecture and Planning Library. Photographic materials will be cared for in the Alexander Architectural Archive.

The Cret Library was acquired with funding from the Martin S. and Evelyn S. Kermacy Collection Endowment, the School of Architecture, the General Libraries, and the UT System Academic Library Collection Enhancement Program (ALCEP).

“This is a magnificent collection of great historic value to UT Austin and of current value to a range of architectural historians and practicing architects,” said Harold Billings, Director of General Libraries. “With the addition of this collection and the continuing expansion of the Alexander Architectural Archive we now have one of the major architectural resource centers in the nation on our UT Austin campus.”

In 1907 Paul P. Cret founded what became the most successful beaux-arts architectural firm in Philadelphia. In addition to his work on the UT Austin campus, he designed such prestigious edifices as The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., the Rodin Museum, and The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. While practicing architecture, Cret also headed the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania for over 30 years. After Cret’s death in 1945, his four partners assumed the practice under the partnership of Harbeson Hough Livingston & Larson (renamed H2L2 in 1976). The Cret Library was acquired from H2L2. It is highly unusual that a collection of this type and size should survive in its entirety.

alexander architectural archives, News Items

Architectural Drawings Collection named for Professor Blake Alexander

The General Libraries Architectural Drawings Collection at The University of Texas at Austin has been renamed The Alexander Architectural Archive in honor of Prof. D. Blakeley Alexander, long-time UT School of Architecture professor and noted architectural historian and preservationist whose original collection of architectural drawings provided the foundation for the collection in 1979.

“It was Professor Alexander’s early collecting of these materials for the Architecture Library, his persuasion of donors to place their archives in the collection, the use of his own personal funds from time to time and obtaining the support of others, and the many years of unflagging effort on his part that have made this collection a reality,” says Harold Billings, director of General Libraries.

Lawrence W. Speck, Dean of the School of Architecture, observes, “It will be a great asset to the archive to bear Blake Alexander’s name. He has an extraordinary reputation as an advocate for the preservation of our architectural heritage in Texas.”

It was upon the joint recommendation of Harold Billings and Dean Speck that President ad interim Peter Flawn approved the renaming of the Architectural Drawings Collection.

Now a professor emeritus, Alexander received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from The University in 1950. After obtaining a Master of Arts degree in fine arts and archeology from Columbia University, he returned to UT Austin to teach in the School of Architecture for nearly 40 years. Alexander is the author of numerous publications relating to Texas architecture, including Texas Homes of the Nineteenth Century (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966).

The Alexander Architectural Archive contains over 200,000 drawings as well as specifications, correspondence, contract documents, photographic materials and objects documenting the architecture of Texas and the Southwest. It includes resources for projects by such prominent Texas architects as Nicholas Clayton, James Riely Gordon, Ralph Cameron, Atlee & Robert Ayres, and O’Neil Ford. The Archive also contains documentation for the work of national and international architects such as Marshall & Fox of Chicago; Smith & Brewer and Sir Aston Webb, both of London, England; Harwell Hamilton Harris of Los Angeles; Paul Cret of Philadelphia; and Charles Moore. The Archive is also the repository for historic drawings of University of Texas buildings. The material available in the Archive encompasses all aspects of the design process as well as landscape architecture, interior design, historic preservation, and community and regional planning.

The Alexander Architectural Archive is housed in historic Battle Hall on the UT Austin campus along with the Architecture and Planning Library. The Archive is open for academic and professional research. In order to insure the preservation of the materials as well as the quality of service, the Archive is accessed by appointment only. Appointments are taken Monday through Thursday, 9:00am-4:00pm. Hours of operation are subject to change according to holiday and intersession schedules.