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Finding Aid for the Ayres & Fiege architectural drawings, 1939-1970
115
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Title: Ayres & Fiege architectural drawings,
Date (inclusive): 1939-1970
Collection number: 115
Creator: Ayres & Fiege (Firm)
Extent:
1 box
242 map folders
Abstract: Ayres & Fiege was a prolific Los Angeles architectural firm founded in 1946 by Donald Ayres and Herbert F. Fiege. The collection
consists of the firm's architectural drawings, plans, and specifications from school, church, commercial and residential projects.
Language: Finding aid is written in English
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Donald Ayres, care of Sally Fuller, 1996.
The archives of Ayres & Fiege were stored at Donald Ayres' home in Encino, California. Following his death, the drawings were
donated by his widow, in the care of neighbor Sally Fuller, to the UCLA Art Library's Special Collections. Responsibility
for the materials was transferred to the Charles E. Young Research Library's Department of Special Collections in 2001, where
they were later processed.
[Identification of item], Ayres & Fiege Architectural Drawings (Collection 115). Department of Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Processed by Liron Elkan in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Laurel McPhee, 2005.
Donald Ayres (1904-) was born in Wilton Junction, Iowa and received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University
of Illinois. He was a fellow of the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris in 1932, and a Carnegie scholar at Harvard University during
the summers of 1935 and 1936. In 1946 he founded the architectural firm of Ayres & Fiege with his business partner, Herbert
F. Fiege. The firm designed many buildings for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in addition to a large number of public and
private schools, commercial buildings, and residential developments in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles metropolitan
area. Their residential work included apartment complexes, private homes, additions and renovations to existing structures,
and model and tract home designs for developers and private clients.
The collection consists of original architectural drawings and specifications for approximately 700 projects designed by Ayres
& Fiege. Additional materials include perspectives, sketches, duplicates of original drawings, bid records and standard materials
forms.
The collection documents the popularization of mainstream architectural modernism during California's postwar period. The
residential series illustrates paticularly well the patterns and tastes that informed the urbanization of Los Angeles during
the 1950s and 1960s.
Arranged in the following series:
- Educational facilities, 1947-1967 (Map folders 1-21).
- Parochial buildings, 1951-1968 (Map folders 22-51).
- Commercial buildings, 1945-1969 (Map folders 52-77).
- Clubs, 1963 (Map folders 78 and 79).
- Residential projects, 1939-1970 (Map folders 80-242), subseries A-D as follows:
- Apartments, 1945-1970 (Map folders 80-109).
- Private homes, 1939-1970 (Map folders 110-182).
- Additions and renovations, 1939-1968 (Map folders 183-212).
- Model and tract homes, 1947-1964 (Map folders 213-242).
- Bids and forms, ca. 1940-1960 (Box 243).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Ayres & Fiege (Firm)--Archives.
Architectural firms--California, Southern--Archival resources.
Ayres, Donald, 1904- .
Fiege, Herbert F.
Architecture--California--Los Angeles--Designs and plans.
Architecture--California--San Fernando Valley--Designs and plans.