Description
The Soule, Murphy and Hastings drawings span 22 linear feet and date from circa 1913 to circa 1953. The collection contains
architectural drawings, reprographic copies and presentation boards. The majority of the drawings present in the collection,
however, were produced by the firm Soule and Murphy (after Hastings retired post 1926). Also present in the collection is
the work of Soule and Russell Day, as well as, the independent work of Winsor Soule.
Background
The firm Soule, Murphy and Hastings, composed of Winsor Soule, John Frederic Murphy, and Theodore Mitchell Hastings, was founded
in 1921 and dissolved in 1926, when Hastings retired. After Hastings retirement, Soule and Murphy continued in partnership
from 1926 to 1953. Winsor Soule was born in New York State in 1883; he earned degrees in architecture at Harvard and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Upon graduation Soule worked as a draftsman for two Bostonian architectural firms before moving to
California, eventually settling in Santa Barbara in 1911. John Frederic Murphy was born in Winterset, Iowa on September 25,
1887. From 1906-1908 he attended Grinnell College and in 1912 graduated with his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Columbia
University. Murphy worked with the architectural firm of Poudgood, Bird and Tawson of Des Moines and in 1914 came to Santa
Barbara and was associated with Winsor Soule from 1915 to 1921, until he became a partner. Theodore Mitchell Hastings was
born in Philadelphia on July 16, 1876. He studied architecture at Harvard and continued his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts
in France. From 1903 to 1919, Hastings was a partner in the firm Brockie and Hastings in Philadelphia and then relocated to
Santa Barbara where he became a partner with Soule and Murphy.