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Finding Aid for the Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers, circa 1913-1998
0000126
0000126
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Title: Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000126
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
4.0 Linear feet
(2 half record storage boxes and 1 flat file drawer)
Date (inclusive): circa 1913-1998
creator:
Cutter, Kirtland Kelsey, 1860-1939
Processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. Poper, 1999.
Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Kirtland Kelsey Cutter was born in East Rockport, Ohio on August 20, 1860. At age 17, Cutter attended Brooks Military Academy.
After military school, Cutter enrolled in the Art Students’ League of New York, intent on becoming an illustrator. Following
art school, Kirtland Cutter traveled to Europe and studied art in Dresden and Florence. In 1886, Cutter moved back to the
United States to Spokane Washington, where he made the decision to practice architecture rather than pursue a career in art.
Cutter recruited John C. Poetz, a young draftsman who had just moved to Spokane from Los Angeles, to be his partner. After
fire destroyed most of downtown Spokane in 1889, Kirtland Cutter and his partner John C. Poetz helped to rebuild the city.
Notable buildings from this period include: First National Bank, Rookery Building, White House Store, Sherwood Building, and
Spokane Club. Work began to pick up for Cutter after he had finished rebuilding downtown Spokane, and he began receiving residential
commissions in Seattle, Tacoma, and Santa Barbara. In 1923, Cutter sold his practice to his longtime assistant Henry Bertelsen
and moved to California, where he set up a new firm in Long Beach. From 1923 through 1929 Cutter was in a partnership with
architect Jess Jones. In California, Cutter designed residences in Long Beach, Palos Verdes, Beverly Hills, and San Marino.
Kirtland Kelsey Cutter died September 26, 1939 at the age of 79 in Long Beach.
The following books were transferred to the UCSB Arts Library in February, 2000:
Book of the Boston Architectural Club, "signed Kirtland Cutter"
Borghese: An Illustrated Catalogue, signed "Kirtland Cutter, Long Beach"
Garrisson, G. Richard and George W. Rustay
Mexican Houses: a Book of Photographs and Measured Drawings, signed "Kirtland Cutter, 1930"
General Catalogue of Jacobson and Company
Humphreys, John S.
Bermuda Houses, signed "Kirtland Cutter, Long Beach, 1930"
Lowell, Guy
Smaller Italian Villas and Farmhouses, signed on flyleaf "Kirtland Cutter."
Lowell, Guy
More Small Italian Villas and Farmhouses, signed "Kirtland Cutter, 1927"
Mack, Gerstle and Thomas Gibson
Architectural Details of Southern Spain: One Hundred Measured drawings and One Hundred and Thirteen Photographs, signed "Kirtland Cutter, Long Beach"
The arrangement scheme for this collection was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order, and is
organized alphabetically by subject and/or name.
The Kirtland Kelsey Cutter papers span 4 linear feet and date from 1913 to 1998. The collection primarily contains material
related to Cutter's work in Southern California and is composed of black-and-white photographs of Southern Californian residences
that Cutter designed, newspaper clippings and ephemera about Cutter that date from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Cutter’s
handbook on architectural practice dated 1928, architectural drawings (primarily presentation drawings) as well as architectural
reprographic copies. A few files hold information about buildings in Washington State.
Related Archival Materials note
Cutter & Malgren Records, 1889-1923, Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane,
WA, Collection Number Ms 49.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cutter, Kirtland Kelsey, 1860-1939
Architectural drawings
Architecture -- California -- 20th century
Architecture, Spanish Colonial -- California, Southern
Photographic prints
Presentation drawings (proposals)
Reprographic copies