Finding Aid for the Robson Chambers papers, 1946-1981 0000116

Finding aid prepared by Chris Marino
The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Arts Building Room 1434
University of California
Santa Barbara, California, 93106-7130
805-893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu


Title: Robson Chambers papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000116
Contributing Institution: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 4.0 Linear feet (1 record storage box, 1 flat file folder)
Date (inclusive): 1946-1981
Location note: Box 1/ADC - regular 1 Flat File/ADC - flat files misc.
creator: Chambers, Robson C., 1919-1999

Access

Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.

Custodial History note

Gift of Robson Chambers, 1999.

Preferred Citation note

Robson Chambers papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Biographical/Historical note

Robson Cole Chambers was born in Los Angeles on March 4, 1919. He attended the University of Southern California and in 1941 graduated with his Bachelor of Architecture degree. During WWII, Chambers helped design Camp Pendleton in Oceanside during his service in the US Marine Corps. In 1946, Robson began working for John Porter Clark and Albert Frey at their Palm Springs office. Six years later, Chambers became a partner and the firm was renamed Clark, Frey, & Chambers. Once Chambers joined the firm, Clark, Frey, & Chambers took on their largest project to date, the Palm Springs City Hall. In 1956, Clark left the firm, leaving Frey & Chambers. Six years later in 1966, Chambers left Palm Springs for a job at University of California Santa Barbara, where he worked as the campus architect into the early 1980s. Robson Cole Chambers died in 1999, at the age of 80.

Scope and Content note

The Robson Chambers papers span 4 linear feet and date from 1946 to 1981. The collection contains correspondence regarding architectural projects and employment at the University of California Santa Barbara, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, Chambers’ business cards, black-and-white photographs shot by Julius Shulman of the Chambers’ residence in Palm Springs, a three-ring binder of color photographs of Chambers’ residential projects, architectural drawings and reprographic copies of houses Chambers’ designed in Palm Springs, as well as his personal residence designed in Borrego Springs, California.

Related Archival Materials note

Albert Frey papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Chambers, Robson C., 1919-1999
Architectural drawings
Architecture -- California
Photographic prints
Reprographic copies

 

Personal Papers

Box 1, Folder 1

Chambers, Robson resumes and job list 1965-1982

Box 1, Folder 2

"Robson Chambers, AIA: Last of the Campus Architects, 1966-1981" 1981

Box 1, Folder 3

Chambers, Robson retirement from UCSB 1981

Box 1, Folder 4

Scrapbook of promotion to UCSB campus architect, dis-bound 1973

Box 1, Folder 5

UCSB campus architect materials 1970-1978

Box 1, Folder 6

City of Palm Springs, letter from 1963

Box 1, Folder 7

Hope Ranch Architectural Review Board, correspondence 1981

Box 1, Folder 8

E.C.S. Jones and A. Quincy Jones, letter from and clipping 1981

Box 1, Folder 9

La Cumbre Golf and Country Club, letter to 1981

Box 1, Folder 10

Southern California Edison Co. All-Electric building of the month award April 1966

 

Projects

 

Chambers, Robson house (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1946-1956

Box 1, Folder 11

Project files

Box 1, Folder 16

Photographs

Drawer 183, FlatFile 1

Architectural Drawings

 

McKee, Betty & Bob house (Borrego Springs, Calif.) 1986-1988, 1993

Box 1, Folder 12

Project files

Drawer 183, FlatFile 2

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 17

Photographs

Box 1, Folder 13

Palm Springs Art Museum clipping (Palm Springs Calif.) 1957

Box 1, Folder 14

Palm Springs School District (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1965

Box 1, Folder 15

Palm Springs Unified School District of Riverside County (Palm Springs, Calif.) 1965

Box 1, Folder 18

Pelly house circa 1997

 

Sperberg/Strong house (Borrego Springs, Calif.) 1992

Drawer 183, FlatFile 3

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 19

Photographs

 

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (Borrego Springs, Calif.) 1985, 1994

Drawer 183, FlatFile 4

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 20

Photographs

 

Tackett Trust, Pamela / Anderson house (Borrego Springs, Calif.) 1987

Drawer 183, FlatFile 5

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 21

Photographs

Box 1, Folder 22

Taylor house (Borrego Springs, Calif.) circa 1997

Box 1, Folder 23

Unidentified house undated

 

Wheat, Francis house (Borrego Springs, Calif.) 1984-1985

Drawer 183, FlatFile 6

Architectural Drawings

Box 1, Folder 24

Photographs