Access
Custodial History note
Preferred Citation
Biographical/Historical note
Scope and Content note
Related Archival Materials
Rights
Title: R. M. Schindler papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000100
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
175.0 Linear feet
(58 boxes, 36 flat file drawers, 2 oversize*** drawing2)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1916-1953
Date (inclusive): 1904-1954
Location note: Boxes 1 - 52/ADC - regular 36 Flat Files Drawers/ADC - flat files James Howe Residence Drawing/ ADC - oversize*** top of range
12 Kallis House plan drawing in frame - oversize*** top of range 12 Frame from Kings Rd house rendering behind range 20 8
Furniture - Mosher Chair (1968.3) Light wood, brown upholster on seat (30 x 23 in) Buffet (1969.66) redwood was part of build-in
units) Skolnik Chair (1998.90.1) plywood, pigment, fabric (28 x 16 x 20 in) Dinning Table with 2 leaves (1998.91.a-.d) wood
top base covered in carpeting (59 3/8 x 41 5/8 x 27 in) Lamp reproduction (1998.92) nickel coated aluminum standing floor
lamp (54 in) Box chair reproduction (1998.93) redwood, blue canvas (29 x 29 x 22 in) Children's Box Chair (1998.94) oak (
21 x 15 x 14 1/2in) Unit Chair (1998.95) wood, metal, fabric (28 x 36 x 33 1/2 in)
creator:
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M. ), 1887-1953 -- Archives
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Custodial History note
Gift of Mark Schindler, 1968. Additional materials gifted by Mrs. Wineld Park Blum in 1999 and Kathryn Smith and Randall Kennon,
2007.
Preferred Citation
R. M. Schindler papers, Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Biographical/Historical note
Rudolph Michael Schindler (1887-1953) was born in Vienna, Austria. Schindler trained in Vienna at the Technische Hochschule,
from which he graduated in 1911 and at the Akademie der bildenden Kunsteunder where he studied under Otto Wagner. He also
came under the influence of Adolf Loos and his informal salons in Vienna.
Schindler emigrated to the U.S. in 1914. He worked for the Chicago firm of Ottenheimer, Stern and Reichert. Between 1917-1921,
he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, first in Chicago and Taliesin, then in Los Angeles where he moved in 1920 to help supervise
the Barnsdall Hollyhock house.
In Los Angeles he set up his own architectural practice, working briefly with the engineer, Claude Chase (1921-1923), and
as a partner with Richard Neutra in The Architecture Group for Industry and Commerce (AGIC) (1926-1927). In his lifetime he
completed about 150 buildings, most of them in Los Angeles. His uncanny ability to design three-dimensional spaces (he called
himself a “space architect”) sets him apart from most other modern architects. His house, which he designed and built on Kings
Road in Los Angeles in 1921-1922, is considered by some historians to be the “first modern house.”
Scope and Content note
The R. M. Schindler papers contain the work of the Viennese-born American architect, Rudolph Michael Schindler (1887-1953),
primarily from his time in California.
The papers comprise 175 linear feet (52 boxes, 37 flat file drawers) and include personal papers, correspondance and specifications,
product literature and publications, manuscript writings, photographs and architectural drawings. Most of materials are in
English, however there is some significant correspondence in German. The collection includes original photographs and negatives
taken by Schindler of his buildings, travels, the work of other architects (especially Frank Lloyd Wright) and of his family
and friends. His drawings and photographs by Schindler and others document most of his circa 450 architectural and design
projects, including work by the Architectural Group for Industry and Commerce, a short-lived collaboration between Schindler,
architect Richard Neutra, and the planner Carol Aronovici, active 1926-1927. The bulk of the Schindler collection was acquired
in 1967 from Schindler's son.
The archive is arranged in four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project records.
Related Archival Materials
Designs by Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California,
Santa Barbara (Collection 101)
David Gebhard papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara (Collection 136)
Esther McCoy research papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California
Santa Barbara (Collection 104)
Esther McCoy papers, 1920-1989, bulk 1920-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Frank Lloyd Wright correspondence with R. M. Schindler, 1914-1929, bulk 1918-1922, Getty Research Institute, Research Library,
Accession no. 960076.
Historic American Building Survey records, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Richard Neutra Papers, Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
Rights
R. M. Schindler's copyrights transferred to the UC Regents by Mark Schindler. Other third-party rights not fully researched.
Contact the repository for conditions governing use.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
Schindler, Mark
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M. ), 1887-1953
Wright, Lloyd, 1890-1978
Architect-designed furniture -- United States -- 20th century
Architects -- California
Architectural drawings
Architectural photographs
Architecture -- California
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- California
Los Angeles (Calif.) Buildings, structures, etc.
Modern movement (Architecture) -- California
Negatives
Prefabricated houses -- United States
Reprographic copies
Specifications
Transparencies