Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Robert Henry Ainsworth papers relating to the Ward Kimball house (San Gabriel, Calif.), 1937-1941 0000217
0000217  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Custodial History note
  • Preferred Citation note
  • Biographical/Historical note
  • Scope and Content Note
  • Arrangement Note

  • Title: Robert Henry Ainsworth papers relating to the Ward Kimball house (San Gabriel, Calif.)
    Identifier/Call Number: 0000217
    Contributing Institution: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
    Language of Material: English
    Container: 553
    Physical Description: 4.0 Linear feet (2 record storage boxes and 1 flat file folder)
    Date (inclusive): 1937-1941
    Abstract: Robert Ainsworth was a California architect who worked in several popular styles. Drawings, photographs and specifications document the Ward Kimball house, a California ranch style house, designed and built in 1937 in San Gabriel, California.
    creator: Ainsworth, Robert Henry

    Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers.

    Custodial History note

    Gift of Ward and Betty Kimball, 2010.

    Preferred Citation note

    Robert Henry Ainsworth papers relating to the Ward Kimball house (San Gabriel, Calif.), Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Biographical/Historical note

    Robert Henry Ainsworth was born on June 2, 1895, in Wisconsin. He achieved a B.S.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1921 and joined the United States Navy in 1917, where he stayed for one year. He worked as a draftsman at various architectural firms from 1922 to 1926 and established his own firm in 1932. He based his practice in Los Angeles, California, and designed many residences in Pasadena. In addition to these private homes, Ainsworth headed the architectural projects at Grover Cleveland Elementary School and the Pasadena Human Society Building in Pasadena. Robert Henry Ainsworth died in Los Angeles on April 18, 1970.

    Scope and Content Note

    Records, including drawings, sketches and technical drawings in blueprints, specifications, and black-and-white photographic prints, document the Ward Kimball house, built in 1936-1937, in San Gabriel. The house was located at 8910 Ardendale Avenue until its demolition. The drawings and photographs describe a "ranch style" house though the presentation drawings emphasize the rustic charm of a rural cottage. The clients, Betty and Ward Kimball, were animators who were working on Disney's Snow White at the time the house was designed, which may account for some of the presentation drawings looking like "Snow White's cottage." The final design, however, was a "California rancho." Specifications include some additional lists and invoices. The photographs date from the early 1940s and show exterior and interior views. Information from the heirs indicates that the beams were hand hewn on the site and that a local blacksmith forged the hardware for doors, cupboards and some fixtures. The materials in this collection provide one example of the various popular styles in which Robert Ainsworth worked.

    Arrangement Note

    Arranged in one series

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Ainsworth, Robert Henry
    Architectural drawings
    Photographic prints
    Reprographic copies
    Sketches
    Specifications