Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers, 1916-1957

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Summary

Creators:
Coate, Roland E., 1890-1958
Extent:
69.71 Linear feet (12 half record storage boxes, 1 quarter record storage box, 4 oversize flat boxes, and 13 flat file drawers)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The Roland E. Coate collection spans 45.5 linear feet and dates from 1916 to 1957. The collection is primarily composed of Coate’s architectural drawings and reprographic copies of his residential designs, but also includes presentation drawings, black-and-white matted photographs of his buildings, his diplomas, large format scrapbook pages filled with drawings and reprographic copies, clippings regarding Coate’s work, awards, and Coate’s documents relating to projects.

Biographical / historical:

Roland Eli Coate, Sr. (1890-1958) was born in Richmond, Indiana. After attending Earlham College for two years, he transferred to Cornell University where he completed a degree in architecture in 1914. Upon finishing school, Coate settled in New York and found work at the Trowbridge and Ackerman architectural firm. During WWI, Coate served as a 1 st Lieutenant with the American Expeditionary Forces. In 1919, Coate moved to Los Angeles and joined Reginald Johnson and Gordon Kaufmann, in the architectural firm, Johnson, Kaufmann and Coate. While he was a junior partner in the firm, Coate helped to design St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles and All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. By 1925, the firm had disbanded and Coate opened his own office in Los Angeles and continued to design until his death in 1958. His first solo project was the All Saints Episcopal church in Beverly Hills. He went on to design many homes in the greater Pasadena area and in West Los Angeles. Coate was one of the early exponents of Monterey Revival, the style for which he is best known, though he also designed Colonial Revival and California ranch houses.

Custodial history:

Gift of Roland Coate Jr., 1973.

Arrangement:

The following arrangement scheme for this collection was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order. The collection is organized in four series: professional papers, office files, reference, and architecture and design projects. The contents of the professional papers, office files and reference series are arranged in alphabetical order by subject. The architecture and design project series are divided into subseries by client/project name, and subsequently arranged by format (for example: architectural drawings, photographs, project files, and slides).

Physical location:
Boxes 1-13/ADC - regular Boxes 14-15/ADC - oversize* Boxes 16-17/ADC - oversize** 13 Flat File Drawers/ADC - flat files
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Preferred citation:

Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7130, US
Contact:
(805) 893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu
Website