Earl Nisbet collection,
2011-05
Finding aid prepared by Finding aid prepared by Emily Vigor
Environmental Design Archives
230 Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA, 94720-1820
(510) 642-5124
designarchives@berkeley.edu
©2012 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Title: Earl Nisbet collection
Identifier/Call Number: 2011-05
Contributing Institution:
Environmental Design Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
14.5 Linear feet, 6 document boxes, 1 flat box, 1 flat file drawer
Date (inclusive): 1931-2007
Abstract: A native Californian, Nisbet joined the army after high school and served in WW II. Upon return to civilian life, he enrolled
in an architecture and engineering college in San Francisco, where he was inspired by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. He
worked as a carpenter's apprentice until 1950, when he was accepted as a Fellow at Taliesin West. In 1953, he left Taliesin,
and began work on his own. In 1958, following an extended stay in Tahiti, he moved to Hawaii, and established a practice there.
He returned to California in the 1960s. Nisbet's beautiful drawings reflect the style and influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.
This collection contains drawings of built and unbuilt projects, mostly residential, spanning the years 1950-1990.
creator:
Nisbet, Earl, 1926-2013
Biographical Note
Earl Nisbet was born on June 17, 1926 in San Jose, California.
Nisbet joined the army after high school and served in WWII. Upon
returning to civilian life, he enrolled in an architecture and
engineering college in San Francisco, where he was inspired by the
designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. After college, he worked as a
carpenter’s apprentice and assisted in the construction of the
Midglen residence in Woodside, a home that was being built by
apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright. This experience influenced him to
apply for a fellowship studying with Frank Lloyd Wright and in 1950
he was accepted as a Fellow at Taliesin in Wisconsin. Nisbet spent
three years at Taliesin and Taliesin West before pursing an
independent career designing homes in Northern California. In 1958,
following an extended stay in Tahiti, he moved to Hawaii and
established a practice in Waikiki. During this period, Nisbet built
the Doo House. He returned to California in the early 1960s where he
continued to design residential and commercial buildings. Nisbet’s
architectural drawings reflect the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright
throughout his career. He passed away in Aptos, CA in 2013.
Sources:
Nisbet, Earl.
Taliesin
Reflections: My Years Before, During, and After Living with
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Petaluma, CA: Meridian Press,
2006.
System of Arrangement
This collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records.
Scope and Contents Note
Personal and Professional Papers consist primarily of correspondence with friends and colleagues, as well as personal photographs.
A scrapbook that Nisbet created during his life that contains numerous clippings on Frank Lloyd Wright is also included in
the Personal Papers series. Office records include photographs from two exhibitions on Taliesin Fellows that Nisbet was included
in, as well as publication clippings on the Doo House and Tanglewood House.
The Project Records consist of built and unbuilt projects, mostly residential.They include construction drawings of Gene Masselink’s
abstraction for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Frank Sander House in Stamford, Connecticut, a decorative wood screen for the current
owner, Erik Gavriluk. This collection also includes a drawing that Nisbet completed for Frank Lloyd Wright of a tent while
at Taliesin with Wright’s own sketch in the bottom right corner.
Custodial History
This collection was received from Earl Nisbet.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Earl Nisbet Collection, [2011-05] Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.
Access Statement
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the
Curator.
Related Collections
Project Index
The following is a list of
architectural projects from the Earl Nisbet Collection. For more complete
information about collection contents for each project, as well as
shelf location and microfilming status, download the complete
Project Index in an Excel spreadsheet
format by going to
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/pindex/nisbet.xls .
For instructions on interpreting the Project Index, see
The Guide to the Project
Index.
The project list below, derived from
the Project Index, is arranged alphabetically by
Project/Client Name and contains information, where
available, about the location, date, project type,
collaborators, photographers, and formats for each project
in the collection.
Project/Client Name (location, date, project
type) Collaborator (role), Photographer [Format -
Ms=Manuscripts, Dr=Drawings, Ph=Photographs,
Sl=Slides]
- Baird, Robert: Hidden River Ranch ( Salt Lake City , UT ; 2011 residential ) [Dr]
- Blois, R.M. ( Portola Valley , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr, Ph, Sl]
- Brookside Park ( Woodside , CA ; 1954 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr]
- Bushea, William ( Newport , OR ; 1956 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Canyon House ( Woodside , CA ; 1954 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Design: Furniture studies ; n.d. ; furniture [Dr]
- Design: Hidden River Ranch ( Salt Lake City , UT ; 2011 ; residential )
- Design: house ( Woodside , CA ; 1956 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Design: Maple Ave House ( Sunnyvale , CA ; 1956 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Design: Plexidom ; 1956 ; residential [Dr]
- Design: Small bungalow ; n.d. ; residential [Dr]
- Design: Studio Apartment ; n.d. ; residential [Dr]
- Design: Valley National Bank ; n.d. ; commercial [Dr]
- Designs: Various buildings ; n.d. [Dr]
- Doo, S.C. ( Honolulu , HI ; 1959 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr, Ph, Sl]
- Elwood, Wayne ( Palo Alto Hills , CA ; 1965 ; residential ) [Dr, Ph, Sl]
- Falconer, D.W. ( Soquel , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr, Ph, Sl]
- Falconer, D.W. Scheme 1 ( Soquel , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Dr, Ph]
- Gores, Joseph ( San Anselmo , CA ; 1978 ; commercial ) [Dr]
- Hidden River Ranch ( Salt Lake City , UT ; 2011 ; residential ) [Dr]
- John, Harry ( Oconomowoc , WI ; n.d. ; residential ) [Dr]
- Larry's Snack Counter ( Honolulu , HI ; 1960 ; commercial ) [Dr]
- Longevar Prefab ( Honolulu , HI ; 1958 ; residential ) [Dr]
- McCord, Glenn ( Arlington , NJ ; n.d. ; residential ) [Dr]
- McNemey, Michael and Debbie light deck design ; n.d. ; furnishings [Dr]
- Meija, F. pool cover design ( Santa Cruz , CA ; n.d. ; residential ) [Dr]
- Moore residence ( Felton , CA ; residential ) [Ph]
- Newman, Jack ( La Honda , CA ; 1953 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl ( Anderson Island , WA ; 1990 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl ( Santa Cruz , CA ; 1978 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl ( Aptos , CA ; 1976 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl House Studies ( Aptos , CA ; 1976 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl Scheme 1 ( Aptos , CA ; 1976 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl Scheme 2 ( Aptos , CA ; 1976 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl Portola Studio ( Portola Valley , CA ; 1955 ; commercial ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl: Drafting Studio ( Portola Valley , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl: Frank S. Sander House decorative wood screen ( Stamford , CT ; 2011 ; furnishings ) Collaborator: Gene
Masselink [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl: Kalakawa Office ( Honolulu , HI ; 1958 ; commercial ) [Dr, Ph]
- Nisbet, Earl: Mini Storage Building ( Santa Cruz , CA ; 1976 ; commercial ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl: Nisbet Associates Office ( Los Altos , CA ; n.d. ; commercial ) [Ms]
- Nisbet, Earl: Sunridge House ( Pebble Beach , CA ; 1965 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Nisbet, Earl: Taliesin Tent ( Scottsdale , AZ ; 1952 ; residential ) [Dr]
- Palo Alto Hills Project ( Palo Alto , CA ; 1965 ; residential ) [Ms]
- Pescadero Heights ( Pebble Beach , CA ; 1965 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr]
- Sedgwick Pharmacy ( Capitola , CA ; 1955 ; commercial ) [Dr]
- Smith, Roscoe ( Los Altos , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr]
- Spade, H.V. ( Alpine Hills , CA ; 1955 ; residential ) [Ms, Dr]
- Tanglewood ( Felton , CA ; 1953 ; residential ) [Ph, Sl]
- Winn Residence ( Kalamazoo , MI ; residential ) [Dr]
- Unidentified architectural drawings [Dr]
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architects--California
Architectural drawings
Architectural firms--California
Architectural photographs
Architectural records
Architecture, Domestic--California--San Francisco Bay Area
Architecture--California
SERIES I: PERSONAL PAPERS,
1945-2007
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
Document Box 1-2, Flat Box 3
Arrangement note
Arranged chronologically
Scope and Contents note
This collection consists primarily of personal correspondence received by Nisbet, and Holiday cards that Nisbet created. Personal
photographs include images of Earl at Taliesin and photographs that he took during his apprenticeship.
A. Correspondence A.
1957-2007
Document-box 1, Folder 1
Nisbet, Mary Lou correspondence,
1957-1960
Document-box 1, Folder 2-3
Correspondence received,
1952-2006
Document-box 1, Folder 4
Nisbet designed and sent holiday cards,
1987-2001
Document-box 1, Folder 5-6
Holiday cards received,
1959-2007, n.d.
Document-box 2, Folder 7
Essay "On Frank Lloyd Wright",
n.d.
Document-box 2, Folder 9
International Date Line certificate,
1957
Document-box 2, Folder 10
Document-box 2, Folder 11
Document-box 2, Folder 12
Document-box 2, Folder 13
Taliesin Photos,
1952-1953
Document-box 2, Folder 14
Dietary Services, Stanford Hospital Center,
1963
Document-box 2, Folder 15
Drawings and sketches,
n.d.
Flat-box 3
Clippings related to Frank Lloyd Wright,
n.d.
SERIES II: PROFESSIONAL PAPERS,
1931-2003
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
Document Box 4
Arrangement note
Arranged chronologically
Scope and Contents note
The correspondence in this collection includes architects that Nisbet met while at Taliesin and correspondence from both the
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the Taliesin Fellowship and Preservation, Inc.
Document-box 4, Folder 1
Alvin Badenhop correspondence,
1958-1997
Document-box 4, Folder 2
Chuck Bass correspondence,
1959-1988
Document-box 4, Folder 3
Jackson Wong correspondence,
1988-2001
Document-box 4, Folder 4
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation correspondence,
1984-2003
Document-box 4, Folder 5
Taliesin Fellowship correspondence,
1950
Document-box 4, Folder 6
Taliesin Preservation, Inc. correspondence,
1987-2002
Document-box 4, Folder 7
Nisbet correspondence,
1998
Document-box 4, Folder 8
Correspondence received,
1988-1998
Document-box 4, Folder 9
Lecture notes on architectural perspective - George M. Allen,
1931
SERIES III: OFFICE RECORDS,
1954-1995
Physical Description:
Document Box 5, 7
Arrangement note
Arranged chronologically
Scope and Contents note
Photographs are from the Taliesin Fellows Exhibition at the Marin Civic Center and an exhibition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
of the Taliesin Fellows Northern California chapter.
A. Photographs
Physical Description:
** see Project Index
Document-box 5, Folder 1
Taliesin Fellows Exhibition, Marin Civic Center,
1995
Document-box 5, Folder 2
TFNC Cal Poly Exhibition,
n.d.
Document-box 5, Folder 3
Doo House publication clippings,
1958-1965
Document-box 5, Folder 4
Tanglewood House publication clippings,
1954, n.d.
Document-box 1, Folder 5
Various projects publication clippings,
1958-1968
SERIES IV: PROJECT RECORDS,
1953-2011
Physical Description:
Document Box 5-6, Flat Files
Arrangement note
Arranged alphabetically
Scope and Contents note
This series includes project files, drawings, and photographs of projects both completed and envisioned by Nisbet.
A. Files
Physical Description:
** See Project Index
B. Photographs
Physical Description:
** See Project Index
C. Drawings
Physical Description:
** See Project Index
