University Libraries’ Drawings and Documents Archive Exhibit Opens in Indianapolis for Super Bowl Weekend

Edward Pierre: Civic Pride Begins in Your Backyard

Exhibit opening at Blackline Studio for Architecture, February 3, 2012, 6-9pm.

1043 Virginia Avenue, Studio 211, Indianapolis, Indiana

To celebrate the hard work and civic pride that has been taking place around Indianapolis in preparation for this weekend's Super Bowl, Ball State University Libraries’ Drawings and Documents Archive and Blackline Architecture Studios have partnered to present the exhibit Edward Pierre: Civic Pride Begins in Your Backyard, opening at the Blackline Studio in Fountain Square’s Murphy Building, on Friday, February 3, 2012, from 6-9 p.m.

Curated by Carol Street, archivist for architectural records, and Vessel von Ruhtenberg, architectural historian, the exhibit highlights Pierre’s Modernist work throughout Indianapolis with large photographs and renderings from the Drawings and Documents Archive’s collection. Blackline Studios, where the exhibit will be held, is comprised of architects Craig Von Deylen, Scott Perkins, and Craig McCormick, all graduates from Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning.

Architect Edward Dienhart Pierre, FAIA, could be called the man who built Indianapolis due to his lifelong career shaping Indiana’s built environment and overwhelming dedication to make the city shine as brightly as possible. It is fitting to honor this extraordinary architect at a time when the city is shining brighter than it has in years, thanks to the Super Bowl coming to town. Much in the vein of today’s extraordinary Cultural Trail and the projects to beautify the city’s near east side, Pierre felt good design should engage the public and he pursued this through a wide array of buildings and civic events that we continue to enjoy today.

If you’ve ever seen Monument Circle lit up at Christmas, shopped in the Sears and Roebuck building on Mass. Avenue, eaten at Yats on College, visited the State Library, experienced a game at Bush Stadium, or driven around Meridian Kessler, Meridian Hills, or Butler Tarkington, you’ve experienced the benefits of having an architect like Edward Pierre in Indianapolis. He also designed, along with architect George Caleb Wright from 1925-1944, and in his own practice from 1945-1960s, the Old Trails Building, Oxford Gables Apartments, numerous schools (including IPS School 78, which is currently being repurposed into a IPD building), fire stations, and many jewel-like modest houses as well as expansive mansions throughout the city.

Of course, not all Pierre buildings are still standing or in use as originally intended. Bush Stadium is undergoing renovation and will be turned into condominiums, the Art Moderne-style Fire Station No. 18 on Washington Street stands vacant, and we just lost the small, but well-designed Tarkington Park Tennis Shelter to the wrecking ball in October. The exhibit will highlight numerous Pierre designs, buildings both lost and loved, and invites visitors to consider a little civic pride for Indiana’s architecture, as well as a thank you for all the hard work everyone has accomplished lately to make the city shine. The exhibit will run through March 1, 2012.

Blackline Studio is a full service architecture and interior design studio for commercial and residential architecture. Recent projects include the Speak Easy incubator space, City Gallery at the Harrison Center for the Arts, and The Hinge in Fountain Square which opens in late 2012.

Ball State University Libraries’ Drawings and Documents Archive preserves the history of Indiana’s built environment and contains over 100,000 original architectural drawings, landscape plans, blueprints, photographs, models, and building remnants. Located in Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning, the archive is open to all researchers. You can find thousands of drawings from the Pierre & Wright Architectural Records online in Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.

Images: Civic Pride Begins in Your Backyard original drawing, 1950s [3-233]
"Planning the Metropolis of Tomorrow", Indianapolis Star Magazine, February 17, 1957 [3-176.2]
Tarkington Park Tennis Shelter architectural rendering, photostat, 1957, [3-128] 
Pierre & Wright Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Wilkinson House interiors

Muncie's Wilkinson House, featured in Indiana Landmarks' book 99 Historic Homes of Indiana, is currently experiencing foreclosure and an upcoming sheriff's sale, but we're looking back at grander times in the house's history. These photographs were taken in 1936 for the architect Leslie Ayres shortly after the house was built and decorated. As you can see, little expense was spared in creating a fashionable home for its inhabitants, Theodore and Edna Wilkinson and their daughter, Helen.

From the custom three-panel circular mirror built-in vanity to the Art Deco piano, this house is a marvelous example of blending high style design and modern materials in the 1930s. The house boasts a meandering key pattern on the switchback staircase and throughout, telephone nook, geometric chrome chandelier, custom bas-relief plasterwork, and custom woodwork in the study, among other interesting features.



Images: Wilkinson house photographs, 1936. (G-93.004) General Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Wilkinson House, Muncie, Indiana

Every town has a house that really captivates the imagination. Muncie has numerous houses that fit this category--the Ball family mansions at Minnetrista and the gas-boom Queen Anne-style Victorians downtown. Closer to campus, we have the beautiful houses in the Westwood district. For me, the house that stands apart from them all is the Wilkinson House at 3100 W. University Avenue.

Designed in 1933-34 by Leslie F. Ayres, who regular readers will recognize as a very skilled and prominent architect from Indianapolis, the house is a remarkable example of exciting, art moderne-style architecture in a city known for traditional building styles. It was built for Theodore and Edna Wilkinson, who moved from Chicago to Muncie due to Theodore's job as an investment advisor to the Ball family.

While it has housed decades of family life, bridge games, parties, and weddings on the lawn, the property is currently in foreclosure and is expected to go to Sheriff's sale February 8th. Its unfortunate circumstances are indicative of the greater housing problems facing Muncie since the city lost its manufacturing base. According to the 2010 Census, there are 4600 other vacant housing units available in the city.

The Archive is fortunate to have a set of architectural plans as well as these extraordinary black and white photographs of the house in happier times, soon after the house and interior decorations were completed in 1936. The photographs illustrate the grandeur of the home and the extraordinary attention to detail for every feature of the house, from the front porch railing to the powder room vanity. Tomorrow we'll post the interior photographs. Stay tuned for the unbelievable piano!

Images: Wilkinson house photographs, 1936. (G-93.004) General Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

A Few Recent Buildings by Johnson & Miller Architects

This is a question for our preservation friends in the Terre Haute, Indiana, area: which of these Johnson & Miller designed schools are still standing?

The advertisement likely dates from 1915-1918 when MacMillan "Mac" Houston Johnson, Jr. and Warren D. Miller were well-established with their firm in Terre Haute. Johnson, who had studied at DePauw University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, originally opened his practice in Brazil, Indiana, in 1910. Miller, after his graduation from the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania, joined him the following year and the firm changed its name to Johnson & Miller. The partners established a second office in Terre Haute's Ball Building on Ohio Street a year later and maintained both offices until 1915. At that time they closed the Brazil branch and moved the Terre Haute branch to 105 S. Seventh Street.

Warren's brother, Ewing H. Miller, also studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and joined the firm in 1919 after completing military service. The firm was then known as Johnson, Miller and Miller.

Numerous iterations of the firm's principals were to follow in quick succession due to the untimely deaths of Johnson and Ewing Miller a few months apart in 1923 and the additions of other architects. It became Johnson, Miller, Miller & Yeager (1924-29), Miller & Yeager (1930-45), Miller, Yeager & Vrydaugh (1946), Miller & Vrydaugh (1947-54), and then Miller, Vrydaugh & Miller when Ewing H. Miller's son, Ewing H. Miller II joined the firm. When Vrydaugh left the firm, it became Miller, Miller & Associates (1962-65) until Warren Miller's retirement which resulted in the name Ewing Miller Associates (1966-70). Ewing Miller later started Archonics Corporation, which had offices in Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, and Indianapolis.

Over the years, Johnson & Miller and its successor firms were responsible for designing numerous schools, university buildings, government offices, and businesses in Terre Haute and the surrounding area. Many of the drawings for these projects can be found in the Drawings + Documents Archive's Johnson & Miller Architectural Records Collection.

*An addendum to the post: We've heard that only one of the eight schools featured in this advertisement still stands today, the Elizabeth B. Warren School.

Image: Johnson & Miller advertisement, ca. 1918 (24-113). Johnson & Miller Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Happy New Year 1948

Architect Leslie Ayres drew a sketch of the Columbia Club, located prominently on Monument Circle, for this New Year's card to ring in 1948. It was likely commissioned by Pelham Blue Print & Supply, Inc., due to the logo on the back, and intended to advertise their services to architects and engineers. This card can be found in the Fran Schroeder Architectural Records.

Image: New Year's card, 1948. (34-6) Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Holiday Archives

This lovely undated holiday card from architect Francis [Fran] Schroeder is printed on blueprint but handcolored to add depth. A clever use of the negative space makes it look like snow falling on this sweet cottage scene.

Image: Francis Schroeder Christmas Card, n.d. (34-6). Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

The Holiday Office Party

While the Holiday Office Party is a tradition that continues on today, thankfully it doesn't usually occur on the morning of Christmas Eve like it did for the Pierre & Wright office in circa 1928. At that time Pierre & Wright, like other architectural firms, operated their office out of the Hume-Mansur Building located at 23 East Ohio Street. The invitation, wittily printed on blueprint, depicts two men moving a stack of drawings to clear out the office and calls for other firms to join their party on December 24th.

Image: Pierre & Wright Christmas Party Invitation, ca. 1928 (34-6). Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Holiday Archives

Images: Leslie F. Ayres Christmas Cards, 1941-47 (34-6). Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Holiday archives

Leslie Ayres (1906-1952) was an accomplished architect and illustrator responsible for many of the beautiful presentation drawings in our collections. If you've appreciated the color renderings in the Pierre and Wright Architectural Records Collection, you've likely seen his work. As an innovative architect, he's also responsible for the fascinating, Art-Moderne T. G. Wilkinson house here in Muncie.

Born in Indianapolis and educated at Arsenal Technical High School, Ayres began working at Pierre and Wright as a delineator while he was still in high school. Winning the 1926 Princeton Prize in Architecture allowed him to study architecture at Princeton University, and he credited his year of study for developing his understanding of modern design.

The holiday cards above represent our earliest cards from Ayres. More will follow. But these represent a significant period in his life--you will notice the first one, from 1936, is signed with his name but there's an addition of Mr. and Mrs. in 1938. Unfortunately, we don't have the card from 1937, the year he and Edna Carolyn Silcox married.

Leslie Ayres seemed to enjoy sketching scenes of Indianapolis that place impressive churches, such as Christ Church Cathedral seen above in the cards from 1936 and 1940, within the larger context of the cityscape for his Christmas card designs. As an ardent Modernist, perhaps he is showing how the traditional and the contemporary can coexist? Tomorrow we'll post Ayres' cards from the years 1941-1947

Images: Leslie F. Ayres Christmas Cards (34-6) Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Holiday Greetings

 Indianapolis architect Fran Schroeder (1908-1988) appears to be working out the details from his ca. 1930 holiday card design  by printing them on different papers and with different inks. The fanciful castle architecture combined with stylized art-deco clouds and a banner declaring "Greetings" that is largely obscured by the structure make for a rather interesting holdiay card from this young architect.

Images: Fran Schroeder Christmas Card designs, ca 1930. Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Holiday Archives

Every year we explore the collections for holiday cards that architects sent to clients, staff, and family. This year we discovered a wonderful collection of cards in the Fran E. Schroeder Architectural Records Collection. Schroeder (1908-1988) worked in the Pierre & Wright architectural firm from 1929-40, then the Curtis-Wright Corporation during World War II. After the war her joined McGuire & Shook before starting his own firm in Indianapolis, known as Fran E. Schroeder and Associates. He also enthusiastically participated in the Indiana Society of Architects, the Architectural Guild of Indianapolis, and the American Institute of Architects. The collection contains holiday cards that he received from fellow architects and firms, such as Ed Pierre, Leslie Ayres, and Pierre & Wright, as well as cards he designed.

To start off our blog celebration of holiday cards is this undated card from Edward Pierre and family with a gatefold design on blueprint. As is often found in the Pierre & Wright collection, Pierre seems to have drawn portraits of himself, his wife Louise, and their daughter caroling at the gate to their house. It exemplifies the creativity and familial joy that can typically be found in Pierre's sketches.

Front:

Center, open:

Back:

Images: Christmas card from Edward Pierre and Family, n.d. (3-117C) Pierre & Wright Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Unity + Utopia: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

Our latest exhibit Unity & Utopia: The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is currently on display in the Ball State University College of Architecture & Planning Gallery. The photographic profile features photogravure plates selected from William Henry Jackson’s The White City (as it was) and Jackson’s Famous Pictures of the World’s Fair, published in 1894 and 1895. Both publications are part of the archival collections of the Drawings + Documents Archive.

Augmenting this photographic tour of the fair is a series of HD 3D animations developed by the Urban Simulation Team, School of the Arts and Architecture, UCLA. These were created from original building, site and landscape construction documents for the Exposition and present a fascinating and colorful contrast to the detailed black and white photography in the Jackson publications. The trips through the exhibition are accompanied by Dvorak’s Symphony # 9, The New World Symphony, first performed in 1893.

The exhibit is a joint project of the University Libraries’ Drawing + Documents Archive and the CAP Exhibits Program. It continues through December 7th.

The CAP gallery is located in Architecture Building room 121 and is open M-F 8-4:30. Please visit.

Images: Golden Door of the Transportation Building and Ferris Wheel, 1894 and 1895 (G 2010.001 and G 2010.002). Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Ed Gibson (1925-2011), Indiana's first African-American architect

It is with great sadness we heard the news that architect Ed Gibson died last week. He was a man of many firsts--first African-American architect registered in the state of Indiana, first African-American architect to hold the position of Indiana's State Architect, and the first African-American architect to have his own architectural firm in Indiana. To say he broke new ground in Indiana is an understatement.

A graduate of Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Gibson went on to the University of Illinois where he received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Architectural Engineering.

His long career, which spanned from 1945 to 2002 included work in both the public and private sectors. Some of the buildings he designed or renovated were located at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Evansville State Hospital, Central Elementary in Plainfield, Broad Ripple Library, renovations at Central Library in Indianapolis, IUPUI, IU Bloomington, including renovation of Ernie Pyle Hall, Hudnut Plaza and other HUD projects throughout Indiana. 

When Gibson closed his private practice in 1987 to work exclusively for Methodist Hospital, the Drawings + Documents Archive received a small collection of drawings that were left. Unfortunately most of the drawings in the office had already been discarded. But today we are glad to have a small but representative collection of the work of a man who broke tremendous ground and altered our built environment.


Edwin Gibson's obituary from the Indianapolis Star can be found here:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?n=edwin-a-gibson&pid=154741286

86, died in Danville, Indiana on Sunday, November 20, 2011. Born June 2, 1925, in Cumberland, Maryland, as a youth he moved to Indianapolis. Ed graduated in the top five percent of his class from the University of Illinois where he received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Architectural Engineering. Ed enjoyed a long career as an Architect. His first job as an architect was in Ft. Wayne, Indiana until he returned to Indianapolis in the mid-40s. He was the first African-American architect to be registered in the state of Indiana, to be appointed to an Indiana State Government position and to open his own architectural firm in the state of Indiana.

The family of Ed and Mary E. Gibson (deceased) include his sons, Edwin A. Gibson, Jr. (deceased), and Gary A. Gibson; his daughter Eve. M Williams; and five grandsons, Edwin A. Gibson, Elliott A. Gibson, Jason P. Gibson, Delford G. Williams IV, and Brenton P. Williams. He is also survived by his daughter-in law, Elizabeth Booth-Gibson, and two step granddaughters, Laura E. Hanley and Melinda L. Hanley.


Images: Hudnut Plaza, 1985 (22-10) and IMCPL renovation, 1970s (22-6), Ed Gibson & Associates Architectural Drawings Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Mid-Century Modern Edward Pierre

Edward Pierre, like many Indianapolis architects, participated in the Indianapolis Home Show for numerous years throughout his career. His design for the 1954 ranch-style show home is well documented in the Pierre & Wright Architectural Records Collection with drawings, boards, and the above photograph of the house installed in the exhibition hall. You can find them online in the Ball State University Libraries' Digital Media Repository

Images: Indianapolis Home Show presentation board and photograph, 1954. [3-123] Pierre & Wright Architectural Records Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Blueprints Assist in Creating Virtual World

Our patrons and partners are constantly coming up with innovative ways to utilize architectural drawings in our collections. We recently provided Ball Brothers' factory and office blueprints from the Kibele and Garrard Architectural Records Collection to Ball State University's Center for Middletown Studies and Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA), who used them to map a virtual world in Blue Mars.

According to James Connolly, director of the Center for Middletown Studies and professor of history, "the key that unlocked the whole reconstruction came from Cuno Kibele's original drawings for the main offices of the Ball Brothers plant, which are held in BSU's Drawings and Documents Archive. While we had an array of source materials, including plant maps and photographs, only the Kibele blueprints had precise scale measurements. The designers used them, along with photos, to reconstruct that building. From there, they used the digital model of the office building as the point of comparison to determine the height, length, and width of Factory No. 1 and its constituent parts, along with the scale of the other structures that are part of the virtual plant."

More information about the project from IDIA:

The Virtual Middletown Living Museum Project, which brings to life aspects of the 1929 and 1937 Lynd Study of Middletown America, is now live in the virtual world of Blue Mars. The project, which simulates the Ball Glass factory, incorporates various modes of learning and interaction while maintaining an immersive experience. Life and conditions in the factory were one of the key elements of the Middletown Studies by Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd in their landmark studies Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937). These in-depth accounts of life in Muncie, Indiana, became classic sociological studies and established the community as a barometer of social trends in the United States. In the years since, scholars in a variety of fields have returned to Muncie to follow up on the Lynds’ work, making this small
city among the most studied communities in the nation.

This simulation of industrial life, built as a prototype for a much larger project dealing with all aspects of the Lynd Study, has aimed to create a virtual living museum experience expanding the opportunities for both learning and interpretation. The approach to interactive design embeds learning and navigation experiences subtly into the project to maintain the sense of immersion. IDIA has prototyped several techniques to accomplish this - including interactive objects that allow for close up inspection, objects that when clicked bring up web-based content, and annotated plans or photographs used in the interpretation.

Also, non-player character factory workers, a live interactive avatar of Frank C. Ball who greets visitors and introduces them to the factory, video and audio files of factory experts, and archival films - all assist in bringing the project to life. IDIA designed an in-world interactive Heads-Up-Display (HUD) that provides deeper investigation and navigation throughout the factory as well as a supporting webpage with complete documentation on all resources used in this interpretation. Project partners include the Center for Middletown Studies and University Libraries. This project was funded by the Emerging Media Initiative at Ball State University.

Video walkthrough here: http://www.youtube.com/user/IDIALab#p/u/2/MYT4TRnRzqcTo download the Blue Mars client, create an account and tour Virtual Middletown, please visit: http://blink.bluemars.com/City/IDIA_IDIALabExhibitions/

Losing Edward Pierre

As many of you know, our collection of Pierre and Wright Architectural Records is one of our most important collections at the Drawings + Documents Archive. It gets that distinction not just from the quality of materials in the collection itself, but what it represents of the architecture in Indianapolis from the early 1920s to the 1960s. From art deco to the birth of the cool; that's when the architectural fabric of Indianapolis was largely built. And Edward Pierre and George Wright were committed to doing it well.

They were also committed to civic engagement. We can thank them for having the idea of decorating the circle at Christmas, for designing gracious estates as well as small houses that were affordable to all, and for trying to make Indianapolis a greater city. Another one of their gifts to generations of Indiana residents is the elegant Indiana State Library.

AIA Indiana's website describes Edward Pierre as "a crusader for the welfare of children, decent housing for all, peace and progressive urban planning. He was honored repeatedly for his outstanding service to the architectural profession and the public." The yearly AIA Edward D. Pierre Award is meant to honor contemporary architects who display the same commitment to public service.

The recent photograph and historic architectural rendering above show an example of the architecture from Edward Pierre's later years: a graceful solution to the modest problem of needing to change into tennis attire in Tarkington Park, at 40th and Meridian. Pierre didn't cling to outdated styles during his career, but embraced the best of every era. Built in 1957, the tennis shelter's lowslung modernist design offers both privacy and openness while mirroring the architectural character of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, we just heard the news that this building was torn down yesterday. 1957-2011.

Images: Tarkington Tennis Shelter, 2011, photograph courtesy of Vess von Ruhtenberg
Tarkington Tennis Shelter architectural rendering, 1957, photostat, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.

Photos from the CAP Images Collection

Images: College of Architecture & Planning students, 1960s-1980s, CAP Images Collection, Drawings + Documents Archive, Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries.