Verna Cook Shipway Papers

Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla 92093-0175

spcoll@ucsd.edu

URL: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/index.html

Descriptive Summary

Languages: English

Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla 92093-0175

Title: Verna Cook Shipway Papers

Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0105

Physical Description: 7 Linear feet (6 archives boxes, 5 flat boxes, and 53 map case folders)

Date (inclusive): 1894 -1979

Abstract: Papers of Verna Cook Shipway, American architect and author. Shipway designed homes in New York state and California, and wrote, with her husband Warren Shipway, five books on contemporary Mexican residential architecture and interior design.

Scope and Content of Collection

Papers of Verna Cook Shipway, American architect and author. Shipway designed homes in New York state and California, and wrote, with her husband Warren Shipway, five books on contemporary Mexican residential architecture and interior design. The papers include correspondence, travel diaries, sketches, plans and photographs of her homes and details of interiors, and measured drawings of furniture details. Also included are manuscript materials, photographs and paste-ups for her books.

Arranged in four series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, and 4) ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS.

Biography

Verna Cook Shipway was born October 19, 1890, in Spokane, Washington. She attended the Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris and the School of Architecture at Columbia University, where she met and married fellow architecture student Edgar Salomonsky. They founded an architectural firm in 1920. When Edgar died in 1929, Verna continued to run the business on her own, specializing in Georgian, colonial and English style homes. She published a study of American furniture entitled Masterpieces of Furniture Design (1931).

Shipway designed homes built in numerous New York suburbs including Berkley and Scarsdale. In 1936, she was selected to design the first "Ideal House" for House and Garden magazine. In 1939, Shipway designed a model home for the New York World's Fair that was practical and affordable for the American family in the suburbs. Her home designs featured abundant closet space, natural light, circular staircases, bay windows, large hallways, and light-colored walls to make rooms appear larger.

In the 1940s, Verna Salomonsky married Warren Butler Shipway, an architectural engineer, and moved to California in 1947. During a tour to Mexico, the Shipways met a builder who encouraged them to write a book on Mexican architecture. Warren documented the construction of homes and took photographs, while Verna noted the planning and design and drew sketches. Together they published five books on Mexican architecture and design: The Mexican House, Old and New (1960), Mexican Interiors (1962), Mexican Homes of Today (1964), Decorative Design in Mexican Homes (1966), and Houses of Mexico: Origins and Traditions (1970).

After the death of her husband in 1972, Shipway moved to La Jolla, California, where she died in 1978.

Publication Rights

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Preferred Citation

Verna Cook Shipway Papers. MSS 105. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

Acquisition Information

Acquired 1978.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Photographic prints -- 20th century

Interior decoration -- Mexico

Women architects -- United States

Architecture, Domestic -- Mexico

Architecture -- United States -- 20th century

Architecture, Domestic -- California -- Designs and plans

Architecture, Domestic -- United States -- Designs and plans

Architecture, Domestic -- United States

Architectural drawings (visual works)

Solomonsky, Edgar

Shipway, Verna Cook, 1890-1978 -- Archives

New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS: Includes address books, documents, reference notebooks on design and culture, sketchbooks, travel diaries, and other memorabilia. An early photograph of Verna Cook is also included.

Box 1, Folder 1

Address books

Box 1, Folder 2

Alien registration booklets and identity cards - England 1945-1946

Box 1, Folder 3

Family history scrapbook of Josephine Merryman Van Ness (photocopy)

Box 1, Folder 4

American Red Cross certificate 1946

Oversize MC-043-17

Diplomas and certificates - Oversize 1907-1979

General note

Washington state high school and university diplomas, State of Connecticut Arch. Board License (1935), North Council of Arch. (1937) certificates.

Box 1, Folder 5

Memorabilia

General note

Includes a mounted photograph of Verna Cook at the age of six (1894), ration and clothing books (1945-46), health certificates (1945), her calling card, American National Red Cross certificate and collage. Also includes a photograph of unidentified people.

Box 1, Folder 6

Newspaper articles about Shipway 1937-1979

Box 1, Folder 7-8

Notebook: Personal Reference Guide

General note

Notes on design, architecture and Mexican and South American culture. Includes newspaper clippings.

Box 1, Folder 9-10

Sketchbooks with artwork

Box 1, Folder 11-12

Travel Diaries - London 1945-1946

General note

Typescript of diary entries with some editing.

Box 2, Folder 1

Travel Diary - London 1945 October 23-1946 January 10

Box 2, Folder 2

Travel Diary - London 1946 January 10-April 4

Box 2, Folder 3

Travel Diary - Paris 1946 April 5-May 7

Box 2, Folder 4

Travel Log - "Our European Whiz" 1953 October 15-November 27

Box 2, Folder 5

Travel log - Europe ca. 1960

Box 2, Folder 6

Travel log - "Go Around; With Lena Gordon" - Europe 1966 August 22-December 12

Oversize MC-043-18

Wallpaper samples

CORRESPONDENCE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Personal correspondence, as well as some professional correspondence pertaining to Shipway's architect's license. The materials are arranged alphabetically.

Box 2, Folder 7

Architectural licensing 1930-1947

General note

Includes registration materials and brochures.

Box 2, Folder 8

A-H Miscellaneous

Box 3, Folder 1

J-M Miscellaneous

Box 3, Folder 2

P-Y Miscellaneous

WRITINGS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) WRITINGS: Includes photographs, layouts and text for Shipway's books on Mexican architecture and design. The series also includes the specifications for Shipway's home design for the New York World's Fair in 1939, accompanied by a proof of a booklet of the housing exhibit, "The Home Building Center." The materials are arranged alphabetically.

Box 3, Folder 3

Bird House Architecture: A Bird's Eye View of the Comfortable Well Designed House. The House Beautiful 1931 March

Decorative Designs in Mexican Homes (1966)

Box 3, Folder 4

Photographs and layouts, pp.1-99

Oversize FB-211, Folder 1-4

Drawings, photographs, and layouts, pp.100-247 and miscellaneous

Box 3, Folder 5

Photographs not used, final discards

Box 3, Folder 6

Dignity and the Small House. From House Plans from the American House, pp.87-90

Box 3, Folder 7

Elegant Card Table is Returning. From Furniture Manufacturer 1931 July

Box 3, Folder 8

Exemplar of Old and New Colonial Details. From The House Beautiful 1927

Houses of Mexico (1970)

Box 3, Folder 9

Foreword and table of contents

Box 3, Folder 10

Lists of photograph headings and captions

Oversize FB-213, Folder 2

Drawings and photographs

Box 4, Folder 1-6

Photographs and layout, pp.1-189

Box 5, Folder 1-2

Photographs and layout, pp.190-249

Mexican Homes of Today (1964)

Oversize FB-213, Folder 3-4

Photographs

Oversize FB-214, Folder 1

Photographs, pp. 111-246

Box 5, Folder 3

Sketches and negatives

Box 5, Folder 4

Contents, picture locations, foreword and glossary

Box 5, Folder 5

Photograph captions and credits

Box 5, Folder 6-7

Suggested layout

Oversize FB-214, Folder 2-3

Final layout

Mexican House Old and New (1960)

Oversize FB-214, Folder 4-5

Photographs and original scale drawings

Box 5, Folder 8

Photographs, pp.1-99

Oversize FB-215, Folder 1

Photographs and drawings, pp.100-187

Oversize FB-215, Folder 3

Paste-up proofs

Oversize FB-215, Folder 5

Period Furniture 1925 May-December

Box 6, Folder 1

Phyfe Table a Family Heirloom. From Furniture Manufacturer 1931 September

Box 6, Folder 2

Record of complimentary copies of Masterpieces of Furniture 1967

Oversize FB-215, Folder 2

Residences Designed by Verna Cook Salomonsky, Architect 1936

Box 6, Folder 3

Small Tables and Stands. From Furniture Manufacturer 1931 August

Box 6, Folder 4

Design for the New York World's Fair - Specification of Labor and Materials Required for the Erection and Completion of Housing Exhibit No.13 1938-1939

General note

Includes "The Home and Building Center" preliminary proof pages.

Box 6, Folder 5

Study of Fret Cut Work of the Chippendale Era. From Furniture Manufacturer 1932 March

Box 6, Folder 6

Miscellaneous materials and photographs relating to Mexican architecture

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 4) ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS. Arranged in three subseries: A) Measured Drawings, B) Photographs and Illustrations, and C) Architectural Plans and Designs.

A) Measured Drawings: Contains Shipway's analysis of furniture and design details and includes published drawings, as well as sketchbooks containing original pencil drawings.

B) Photographs and Illustrations: Includes photographs of Shipway-designed homes that show interiors and exteriors. There are also photographs pertaining to Mexico, and illustrations from a book on French architecture. Arranged alphabetically.

C) Architectural Plans and Designs: Shipway's plans for specific homes. Undated plans are located at the end of the subseries. Arranged chronologically.

Measured Drawings

Oversize FB-211, Folder 5

The Architect's Assistant or, an Exemplar of Colonial Mouldings...

Oversize FB-212, Folder 1

Drawings of interior doorways

Oversize MC-043-19

Empire Sideboard design blueprint

Box 6, Folder 7

House drawings and details by Edgar and Verna Cook Salomonsky

General note

Includes Sheets No. 1-3, 5-9, 11-12 and Second Series Sheets No. 1-3, 5-11 Colonial School.

Box 6, Folder 8

Measured drawings and sketches - Part 1

Oversize FB-213, Folder 5

Measured drawings and sketches - Part 2 (oversize)

Box 6, Folder 9

Measured Drawings of Card Table, Duncan Phyfe Lyre Back Chair, and Double Chair Style of Chippendale. From Furniture Manufacturer 1931-1933

Box 6, Folder 10

Measured Drawings of American Maple Table and American Walnut Highboy. From The Architectural Forum 1923 January-February

Oversize FB-215, Folder 4

Measured drawings of tables with photograph

Box 6, Folder 11

Sketchbook #2

Box 6, Folder 12

Sketchbook #4

Box 6, Folder 13

Sketchbook 1932 July 30

Box 6, Folder 14

Sketchbook

Box 6, Folder 15

Measured Colonial Details sketchbook

Box 6, Folder 16

Miscellaneous measured drawings by others

Photographs and Illustrations

Oversize FB-212, Folder 2-3

Homes Designed by Verna Cook Shipway - Parts 1-2

Oversize FB-213, Folder 1

Homes Designed by Verna Cook Shipway - Part 3

Box 6, Folder 17

Miscellaneous photographs of homes - Interiors and exteriors

Box 6, Folder 18

Miscellaneous photographs including Mexican design and architecture

Architectural Plans and Details

Oversize MC-025-13

Salomonsky, Edgar - Edgemont, Scarsdale, NY 1923

Oversize MC-025-14

Phillips - Scarsdale, NY 1926

Oversize MC-024-03

Salomonsky, Edgar - Scarsdale, NY 1926

Oversize MC-024-04

Clark, P.A 1928

Oversize MC-025-12

Crocker, Weyman - Massachusetts 1928

Oversize MC-025-11

Owen, Margaret - Bedford, NY 1929

Oversize MC-024-05

Lots 77 and 79 - Berkeley, Scarsdale, NY 1929

Oversize MC-024-06

Phillips, Lot #2 - Scarsdale, NY 1929

Oversize MC-025-10

Waught, George M. - Scarsdale, NY 1929

Oversize MC-024-01

Waught, George, Jr. - Scarsdale, NY 1929

Oversize MC-025-09

Lot #67 - Berkeley, Scarsdale 1932

Oversize MC-025-08

Brown, Marjorie Warren - North Castle, NY 1933

Oversize MC-025-07

Brown, Marjorie Warren - Whipporwil, NY 1933

Oversize MC-042-01

Greenwood, Ernest C 1933

Oversize MC-042-02

Ledbetter - Scarsdale, NY 1933

Oversize MC-042-03

Crane - Berkeley Corp. - Taunton Rd., Scarsdale, NY 1934

Oversize MC-042-04

Lot #70 - Scarsdale, NY 1934

Oversize MC-042-05

Lot #71 - Berkeley, Scarsdale, NY 1934

Oversize MC-042-06

Prange, Dr. Herman - Scarsdale, NY 1934

Oversize MC-042-07

Sheridan - Cortland, NY 1934

Oversize MC-042-08

Davis, Phillip M. - Greenwich, Connecticut 1935

Oversize MC-042-09

Lot #46 - Scarsdale, NY 1935

Oversize MC-042-10

Richbell Estates - Taunton Rd., Scarsdale, NY 1935

Oversize MC-042-11

Claxton, W.M. and Enid - Darien, Connecticut 1936

Oversize MC-042-12

Cohen, Gertrude P. - Fairfield, Connecticut 1936

Oversize MC-042-13

Ford, Hannah M. and Thomas M. - Pennsylvania 1936

Oversize MC-042-14

Friedman - Scarsdale, NY 1936

Oversize MC-025-01

McCutchan, Dr. Frank - Salisburg, North Carolina 1936

Oversize MC-025-02

Rogers, Frank C. - Scarsdale, NY 1936

Oversize MC-025-03

Scott, Elmer P. - Pelham, NY 1936

Oversize MC-024-02

Chandler - Ridgefield, Connecticut 1937

Oversize MC-025-04

Lowenthal - Scarsdale, NY 1937

Oversize MC-025-05

Spates, Thomas G. - Scarsdale, NY 1937

Oversize MC-025-06

Kelley, Walter M. - Scarsdale, NY 1937

Oversize MC-043-01

Eckstein, Adolph W. and Grace undated

Oversize MC-043-02

World's Fair #1 - Preliminary Scheme for Small House 1938

Oversize MC-043-03

Spencer, Herman, House #2 - Harrison, NY 1938

Oversize MC-043-04

New York World's Fair Lot #13 1938

Oversize MC-043-05

Pugliese, Joseph, Lot #17 - Harrison, NY 1939

Oversize MC-043-06

Wilson, J.T. - Lynchburg, Virginia 1939

Oversize MC-043-07

Hotckin, E.W., Game Room Elevation; Meyer Construction Co., Munsey Pk., NY 1938

Oversize MC-043-07

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Ryan - Los Angeles, California 1947

Oversize MC-043-08

Fitzgerald, Dr. Edgar - Wallace, Idaho; Gerar Corp., Dwelling #2 - Scarsdale, NY 1939

Oversize MC-043-09

Shipway - Los Angeles, California 1947

Oversize MC-043-10

Ryway - Rancho Santa Fe 1957

Oversize MC-043-11

Ryan - Rancho Santa Fe, CA (details only); Lot #1 - Scarsdale, NY 1930, 1959

Oversize MC-043-11

Scott - Lake Waramaang, Connecticut 1937

Oversize MC-043-12

Miscellaneous Shipway drawings undated

Oversize MC-043-13

Better Homes and Gardens, Bildcost Homes Plans for #806, 604, 510 and two unidentified plans undated

Oversize MC-043-14

House #3 and 4, McLean Alterations, Spanish House, Sales Office - Harrison, NY undated

Oversize MC-043-15

Marquart undated

Oversize MC-043-16

Arthur V. Wilker Residence - Fox Meadow, Scarsdale, NY undated