Raphael Soriano collection contains project records as well as some correspondence. The records document projects in the form of correspondence, reports, photographs, and drawings. Primarily the collection contains project records relating to residential, commercial and medical buildings as well as regional planning projects. For select projects the collection contains photographs by well-known architecture photographer Julius Shulman.

Raphael S. Soriano was born in Rhodes, Greece in 1904. He immigrated to the USA in 1924, becoming a citizen in 1930. Soon after arriving, he began taking music and English classes. In 1929 he enrolled in USC’s school of architecture where he studied until graduation in 1934. While studying he interned under Richard Neutra, and later Rudolph Schindler. He opened his firm in 1935 completing his first commission, the Lipetz house, in 1936. Soriano is recognized as one of Los Angeles’ great Modernist architects for his contribution to the image of Los Angeles as a city receptive to innovative design. Soriano was an early proponent of steel frame construction in a variety of building types – especially residences. He recognized that the open quality of steel construction and later aluminum enabled him to design buildings that embraced Southern California’s benign climate. His innovations were recognized by Arts + Architecture’s Case Study House Program – as the architect of 1950 Case Study House, and through his influence on the works Pierre Koenig and Jerrold Lomax in the office of Craig Ellwood. Near the end of his career Soriano was invited to teach architecture at Cal Poly Pomona’s college of the extended university. Sadly, he passed away during this period in 1988. Soriano should not be seen as strictly a technocrat. He had a highly refined artist sensibility. This may have been nurtured by an enduring passion for music. His drawings housed in his archives at Cal Poly Pomona reflect a keen sense of color – which could run to magenta and bright yellow – juxtaposed with the natural properties of molded plywood and cork. The drawings also reflect his desire to balance the geometry of architectural form with the organicism inherent in plant vegetation.

30 flat file drawers including presentation boards, construction documents, and design sketches. 3 Vertical file drawers including office documents, and photographs.

Permission to publish this collection has been assigned to ENV Archives-Special Collections, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, which can grant permission to publish materials for which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish or quote must be submitted in writing to the ENV Archives-Special Collections director. Preferred Citation Raphael Soriano Collection, ENV Archives-Special Collections, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Contact ENV Archives-Special Collections, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 3801 West Temple Avenue Pomona, CA, 91768 (909) 869-6837 envspeccoll@cpp.edu