The H. Roy Kelley papers span 6.5 linear feet and date from circa 1912 to circa 1957. The collection consists of annotated drafts of Kelley’s memoir entitled 50 Happy Years of Architecture, correspondence, interior and exterior black-and-white photographs and negatives of Kelley’s residential and commercial designs, commemorative medals, and architectural drawings.

Harold Roy Kelley was born in New York on May 2, 1893. Prior to college, Kelley gained experience working in architectural firms and was able to skip his freshman courses upon entering Cornell University. Kelley graduated with a degree in architecture in 1915, at the age of 22. Upon graduation, Kelley got a job working under architect Paul Chalfin, then under architect Herbert L. Foltz, and finally under Herb Bass until he was drafted. Kelley served in WWI and was discharged in 1919. After the war, Kelley found employment with Harry Allen and L. Andrew Reinhard before he established his own independent practice in 1925 in San Marino, California. Kelley served on the architectural advisory committees for the Bel-Air Estates and the Palos Verdes Estates and in 1931 he was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Home Building by Herbert Hoover. He retired in 1957 and died at the age of 95, in 1988. Kelley, throughout his career designed many Monterey revival style homes in the Los Angeles area, the RAND headquarters in Santa Monica, as well as the Institute of Aeronautical Science in Los Angeles, and won several first prize awards from House Beautiful Magazine.

6.5 Linear feet (7 record storage boxes and 6 flat file folders)

Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.