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Guide to the Scripps College Architectural Drawings Collection
D193X.2  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Administrative Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Administrative History of the Scripps College Architectural Drawings
  • Bibliography
  • Chronology
  • Scope and Contents of the Records
  • Index Terms

  • Administrative Summary

    Title: Scripps College Architectural Drawings
    Creator: Scripps College
    Dates: 1927-2001
    Date (bulk): (bulk 1927-1971)
    Quantity: 18 cubic feet
    Repository: Claremont Colleges. Library.
    Claremont, California 91711
    Abstract: This collection comprises architectural drawings, plans, renderings, and blueprints used in the construction of the Scripps College in Claremont, California. Materials include black images, as well as color paintings. The collection includes plans for major campus buildings such as academic units, campus support facilities, and student housing as well as plans for campus layout and infrastructure, including landscaping, and utility systems. The collection covers the years 1927 to 2001, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1927 to 1971.
    Physical Location: Please consult repository.
    Collection Number: D193X.2
    Language: English

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Collection open for research.

    Publication Rights

    All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Ella Strong Denison Library.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Scripps Architectural Drawings Collection. Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, California.

    Acquisition Information

    Records in this collection were deposited by Scripps College as part of the Scripps College Archives.

    Processing Information

    Preliminary arrangement by library staff. Processed by History Associates Incorporated, 2005.

    Accruals

    No addition to the collection is anticipated.

    Alternative Forms of Material Available

    Digital collection available via The Claremont Colleges Digital Library: Scripps College Architectural Drawings - http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/col/sca/.

    Administrative History of the Scripps College Architectural Drawings

    Scripps College is frequently described as one of America’s most beautiful college campuses. Scripps’ scenic 30-acre campus, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by architect Gordon Kaufmann in collaboration with landscape architect Edward Huntsman-Trout. The plan for Scripps campus was designed with the idea that there would be an artistic connection between the buildings and its landscape. One such example is the walkways that line the campus. Each walkway was designed to link walks and vistas to architectural approaches. Examples of such walkways include: the vista between the entrance to Balch Auditorium and the entrance to the President’s House, through a grassed lane shaded by rows of American elms; the north-south axis of the campus, the orange tree-bordered walk from the Oak Terrace above the Bowling Green to the door of Toll Hall, with the fountain entrance to the Florence Rand Lang Art Building framed in the tree-formed vista from Toll terrace; and the east-west crosswalk extending the width of the campus near the halls of residence, focused on Dorsey Hall’s great window.
    The general plan of the campus, the four residence halls, the Memorial Garden, and the Art Building were designed in 1926 by architect Gordon Kaufmann of Los Angeles. Kauffman was a leading architect during the 1920s. Sumner Hunt, also of Los Angeles, was the architect chosen - in the late 1920s - by Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch to design Balch Hall, which houses the academic interests of the College. The newer buildings on campus, which were acquired in the 1980s-1990s, have diverged from the Mediterranean style of architecture popular in the 1920s-1930s. However, the newest buildings - Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Hall, completed in 2000, and the Malott Commons, renovated in 2000 – have been designed to be in harmony with the distinctive look of the original campus.
    The landscape architect for the entire campus was Edward Huntsman-Trout of Hollywood. Huntsman-Trout was a well-known landscape architect in Southern California between 1920 and the early 1970’s, and was a prominent designer of both residential estates and larger non-residential commissions. One of the most representative examples of Huntsman-Trout’s style is Scripps College. Scripps College features one and two story Spanish Colonial Revival buildings placed on rectilinear, interlocking axes. The plan is highly complex. The open spaces are enhanced by the addition of intimate courtyards and slight changes of level. Two major axes make up the scheme; the east-west axis of the auditorium; and the art building facing north toward the bowling green and Toll Hall. These axes together make the structural backbone of the plan. They give it strength and stability to contrast with the free form of trees and other plants. Huntsman-Trout placed many rare shrubs and trees on the campus, including liquidambar, American elms, tulip trees, almond trees, and a variety of sycamores. Garden grounds are frequent throughout.

    Bibliography

    Coats, Bruce A. Guide to the Scripps College Campus: In Celebration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of Scripps College. Scripps College, Claremont, California, 2002

    Chronology

    1926 Architect Gordon Kaufmann along with landscape architect Edward Huntsman-Trout, designs a general campus plan featuring four residence halls to be built the first four consecutive years of the College.
    1927 Eleanor Joy Toll Hall is the first residence hall constructed and opens as the first building in the Gordon Kaufmann plan.
    1928 In fall, Grace Scripps Clark Hall is completed.
    1929 Janet Jacks Balch Hall, designed by architect Sumner Hunt of Los Angeles, is completed in fall and becomes the primary academic facility.
    1929 In fall Ellen Browning Residence Hall is completed.
    1930 In fall, Susan Miller Dorsey Hall is ready for occupancy.
    1931 Ella Strong Denison Library is dedicated.
    1933 Alumnae Park is dedicated to the honorary alumnae from the early years of the college before there was a true alumnae association.
    1933 The swimming pool and the first units of the field house are completed.
    1934 Architect Gordon Kaufmann designs the Margaret Fowler Garden, an enclosed, European medieval-style cloister garden for the east side of the campus to accompany the Oratory.
    1958 Music Building, designed by Smith and Williams, opens.
    1960 In fall, Mary Kimberly Residence Hall, designed by Criley and McDowell, opens to students, and becomes the fifth residence hall on the campus.
    1966 Two new residence halls are built on the east side of campus: Frankel and Routt Halls. Originally conceived as a single facility with three wings by architects Criley and McDowell.
    1966 Dorothy Drake Wing of Denison Library opens.
    1968 The four-story Harry and Grace Steele Hall and later-named Lang Art Studios are designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott of Houston in the brutalist style of concrete construction popular in Europe during the 1960s.
    1970 Bette Cree Edwards Humanities Building opens to serve as the principal classroom facility for the campus and the interdisciplinary Humanities Program.
    1994 In October, the Millard Sheets Art Center is dedicated in honor of longtime Professor of Art Millard Sheets, who was important in establishing the Art Departments at Scripps and the Claremont Graduate School
    2000 February 14, Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons opens as the central dining facility for the campus.
    2000 In fall, Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Hall, designed by architects Backen, Arrigoni & Ross (BAR), opens to students.
    2001 The Ellen Browning Scripps Reading Room is added to Denison Library.
    2001 The new Scripps pool is completed and open for business.
    2003 In fall, the Performing Arts Center opens, which is an expansion and renovation of Garrison Theater with the addition of practice rooms, music classrooms, faculty offices, the Nancy Hart Glanville Music Library, and the Mary Lou and George Boone Recital Hall.

    Scope and Contents of the Records

    This collection comprises architectural drawings, plans, renderings, and blueprints used in the construction of the Scripps College in Claremont, California. Materials include black images, as well as color paintings. The collection includes plans for major campus buildings such as academic units, campus support facilities, and student housing as well as plans for campus layout and infrastructure, including landscaping, and utility systems. The collection covers the years 1927 to 2001, with the bulk of the material ranging from 1927 to 1971.
    The largest series in the collection consists of sketches, drawings, and blueprints of the residence halls built for Scripps College between 1927 and 2000. Including Ellen Browning Hall, Grace Scripps Clark Hall, Susan Miller Dorsey Hall, Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Hall, Routt-Frankel Hall, and Mary Kimberly Hall. The next largest series is comprised of sketches, drawings, and blueprints of the Ella Strong Denison Library building, which was given to Scripps College in 1930, and dedicated on February 13, 1931.
    Architectural drawings documenting Scripps campus gardens and grounds, including the main entrance, various walkways, the Bowling Green, and the Fowler Memorial Garden were organized into series 10 entitled gardens and grounds. General plans for the campus are located in series 11, campus maps and plans.
    Miscellaneous items are in series 12, miscellaneous architectural drawings. This series consists of blueprints, drawings, paintings, and plans of various buildings located on Scripps campus. Facilities include Malott Commons, Revelle House, and the Print Shop (1965).
    The collection is organized into twelve series:
    • Series 1: Denison Library (Ella Strong Denison Library), 1920-1966
    • Series 2: Residence Halls, 1927-2001
    • Series 3: Toll Hall (Eleanor Joy Toll Hall), 1927-1994
    • Series 4: Balch Hall (Janet Jacks Balch Hall), 1928-1980
    • Series 5: Garrison Theatre, 1964
    • Series 6: Pattison Music Building, 1958-1971
    • Series 7: Richardson Dance Studio (Beatrice R. Richardson Dance Studio), 1932-1935
    • Series 8: Humanities Building (Bette Cree Edwards Humanities Building), 1967-1987
    • Series 9: Lang Art Building (Florence Rand Lang Art Studios), 1935-1981
    • Series 10: Gardens and Grounds, 1927-1935
    • Series 11: Campus Maps and Plans, 1928-2001
    • Series 12: Miscellaneous Architectural Drawings, 1931-1998

    Index Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

    Subjects:

    Architectural Drawings--Archives.
    Scripps College (Claremont, Calif.)--Archival resources.

    Genres and Forms of Materials:

    Architectural Drawings
    Blueprints
    Photographs
    Sketches