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Finding Aid for the Albert Frey papers, circa 1924-1993
0000134
0000134
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Title: Albert Frey papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000134
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
28.0 Linear feet
(15 record storage boxes, 3 flat file drawers, and 3 models)
Date (inclusive): circa 1924-circa 1993
Location note: Boxes 1-15/ADC - regular 3 Flat File Drawers/ADC - flat files 3 Models/Mosher - models (models were constructed for the UCSB
Art Museum Exhibit Albert Frey: Modern Architect) Aluminaire house Minimal house Frey House
creator:
Chambers, Robson C., 1919-1999
creator:
Clark, John Porter
creator:
Frey, Albert, 1903-1998
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Gift of Albert Frey, 1989. Additional material gifted by Doug Henry, 2001.
Albert Frey papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Albert Frey was born in Zurich, Switzerland on October 18, 1903. Frey received his formal architectural training at the Institute
of Technology in Winterthur, Switzerland. During his education at the Institute of Technology, Frey apprenticed for two years
under the architect A. J. Arter in Zurich. Graduating in 1924, Frey traveled around Europe and settled by 1925 in Brussels
where he worked for Jean-Jules Eggericx and Raphael Verwilghen. Leaving Eggericx and Verwilghen in 1927, Frey moved to France
where he worked as a draftsman for Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. In 1930, Frey’s visa application was approved and he
relocated to New York.
Shortly after arriving in New York, Frey found work with A. Lawrence Kocher with whom he worked until 1935. Kocher and Frey
completed four buildings and co-authored many articles on urban planning, the modern aesthetic, and technology for
Architectural Record during their partnership. By 1935, Frey had relocated to Palm Springs and began working with architect John Porter Clark.
The two formed a partnership, which lasted twenty years. At the beginning of their partnership Clark and Frey operated under
the name Van Pelt and Lind Architects, since neither Clark nor Frey was licensed at the time. By 1943, Clark and Frey had
become licensed and were able to obtain public commissions which included schools, hospitals and a library. In 1952, Robson
C. Chambers who had been an employee with the firm since 1946 was made a partner, and the firm was renamed Clark, Frey and
Chambers. During his 63 years in Palm Springs, Frey’s most notable projects include: the Raymond Loewy house, the Guthrie
house, the Clark & Frey Office building, the Aerial Tramway and Gas Station, Palm Springs City Hall, the Desert Hospital,
the North Shore Yacht Club, Villa Hermosa, Frey House I and II. Frey continued to design buildings into the late 1980s. Albert
Frey died on November 14, 1998, at the age of 95.
The Albert Frey papers span 28 linear feet and date from circa 1924 to 1993. The collection primarily contains material concerning
architectural projects Frey undertook in American between the years 1930 to 1982, in the form of architectural drawings and
reprographic copies, black-and-white photographs, negatives, slides, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. The collection
also includes Frey’s personal architectural reference books and color travel photographs, three-dimensional building samples
from the Frey House II, his professional awards, and research notes.
Related Archival Materials note
David Gebhard papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Robson Chambers papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Albert Frey Archive, Palm Spings Art Museum.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, A. Lawrence Kocher Collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Frey, Albert, 1903-1998 -- Archives
Architects -- California
Architectural drawings
Architectural firms -- California
Architectural photographs
Architecture -- California -- 20th century
Architecture -- California -- Palm Springs
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- California
Correspondence
Modern movement (Architecture) -- California
Negatives
Photographic prints
Reprographic copies
Sketches