Finding Aid for the Esther McCoy research papers, circa 1940-1989
0000103
Finding aid prepared by Jillian O'Connor,Chris Marino and Jocelyne Lopez
The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered
through the Council on Library and Information Resources “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Arts Building Room 1434
University of California
Santa Barbara, California, 93106-7130
805-893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu
Title: Esther McCoy research papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000103
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
4.0 Linear feet
(2 boxes, 1 oversize box and 1 flat file drawer)
Date (inclusive): circa 1940-circa 1984
Location note: Boxes 1-2/ADC - regular Box 3/ADC - oversize** 1 Flat File Drawer/ADC - flat files
creator:
Abell, Thornton M., (Thornton Montaigne), 1906-1984
creator:
Bernardi, Theodore C., 1903-
creator:
Davidson, Julius Ralph, 1889-1977
creator:
Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates.
creator:
McCoy, Esther, 1920-1989
creator:
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
creator:
Rapson, Ralph, 1914-2008
creator:
Rex, John L.
creator:
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M. ), 1887-1953
creator:
Smith, Whitney Rowland, 1911-2002
creator:
Soriano, Raphael, 1904-1988
creator:
Spaulding, Sumner, 1892/3-1952
creator:
Walker, Rodney
creator:
Wurster, William Wilson
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Custodial History note
Gift of Esther McCoy, 1984.
Preferred Citation note
Esther McCoy research papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Biographical/Historical note
Esther McCoy was born in Arkansas in 1904 but spent the majority of her childhood in Kansas. She attended college in Missouri,
Kansas, St. Louis, and Michigan. In 1925 Esther left the University of Michigan to launch her writing career in New York City.
Her architectural career began when she entered a training program for engineering draftsmen at Douglas Aircraft. Then in
1944 she began to work as a draftsperson at the office of acclaimed architect Rudolph Schindler in Los Angeles, CA. Her prominence
as an architectural historian flourished at this time, as she began disseminating concepts of modern architecture to large
audiences through her writing.
From the year 1950 to 1989, the year she died, Ester McCoy was a frequent contributor the
Arts & Architecture,
Architectural Form,
Architectural Record,
Progressive Architecture,
L’Architectura, Lotus,
The Los Angeles Times and
The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. In 1960 she published her first architecture book entitled
Five California Architects. Three years later she published
Modern California Houses: Case Study Houses 1945-1962. Later in her life she wrote catalogues for gallery and museum exhibits devoted to modern California architecture. She lectured
at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. Esther McCoy also catalogued the Richard
Neutra papers at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her last work, however, was an essay for the catalog of an exhibition
on the Case Study Houses at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. McCoy died on December 30, 1989.
Scope and Content note
The Esther McCoy research papers span four linear feet and date from circa 1940 to 1989. The collection consists primarily
of documents relating to Esther McCoy’s research regarding the Case Study House Program and Richard Neutra. Box one houses
Esther McCoy’s inventory of Richard Neutra’s collection of microfilmed architectural drawings and reprographic copies, box
two houses a VHS tape of Esther McCoy’s 80th birthday party, and one oversize box and one flat file drawer houses architectural
reprographic copies of Case Study House numbers: 1 (Julius Ralph Davidson), 2 (Summer Spaulding and John Rex), 3 (William
W. Wurster and Theodore Bernardi), 4 (Ralph Rapson), 5 (Whitney R. Smith), 7 (Thornton Abell), 13 (Richard Neutra), 16 (Rodney
Walker), 17 (Rodney Walker), 18 (Rodney Walker), 21 (Richard Neutra), 26 ( Killingsworth, Brady, Smith & Associates), and
1950 (Raphael Soriano).
Related Archival Materials note
Esther McCoy papers, 1920-1989, bulk 1920-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
ADC Study collection, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
McCoy, Esther, 1920-1989
Architecture -- California
Architecture -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th Century
Case Study House 1950 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 1 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 13 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 16 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 17 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 18 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 2 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 21 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 26 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 3 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 4 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 5 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 7 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Reprographic copies
Personal Item
circa 2000
Scope and Contents note
Birthday party held at the Temporary Contemporary, Los Angeles. VHS tape
Box 2
Videotape of Esther McCoy's 80th birthday party
circa 2000
Architectural Drawings
1945-1962
Scope and Contents note
Series includes drawings McCoy collected for her book on the Case Study House program,
Case Study Houses, 1945-1962. Drawings are originals with some reproductions and are by many of those architects selected for the Case Study House program
by John Entenza of
Arts and Architecture magazine. A few sketches by Schindler were done for a remodel/addition to McCoy's house in Santa Monica. Series arranged
alphabetically by name of architect.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 1
Abell, Thornton Case Study House 7, 634 North Deerfield Avenue (San Gabriel, Calif.)
1945
creator:
Abell, Thornton M., (Thornton Montaigne), 1906-1984
Scope and Contents note
One original drawing of floor plan.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 1
Buff, Conrad, Calvin Straub, and Donald Hensman Case Study House 20, 2275 Santa Rosa Avenue (Altadena, Calif.)
1958
Scope and Contents note
Two reproductions of support details, one is a black line drawing.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 2
Davidson, J.R. Case Study House 1, 10152 Toluca Lake Avenue (North Hollywood, Calif.)
1945
creator:
Davidson, Julius Ralph, 1889-1977
Scope and Contents note
Three original drawings of the floor plan, exterior perspective and details sheet. The floor plan is from the 1945 intended
floorplan of the home, the remaining two drawings are from his completed re-study.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 2
Davidson, J.R. Case Study House 11, 540 South Barrington Avenue (West Los Angeles, Calif.)
1946
creator:
Davidson, Julius Ralph, 1889-1977
Scope and Contents note
Two original drawings: framing system and roof plan. A reproduction of the roof plan.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 3
Ellwood, Craig Case Study House 17, 9554 Hidden Valley Road (Beverly Hills, Calif.)
1954
Scope and Contents note
One original detail drawing of a plan section of an exterior wall.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 4
Ellwood, Craig Case Study House 18, 1129 Miradero Road (Beverly Hills, Calif.)
1956
Scope and Contents note
One original detail drawing of a section through bar.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 3
Killingsworth, Edward (Killingsworht, Brady and Smith) Case Study House 23 "Triad" (La Jolla Calif.)
1959
creator:
Brady, Jules Ellsworth
creator:
Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates.
creator:
Killingsworth, Edward A., 1917-2004
creator:
Smith, Waugh
Scope and Contents note
Two reproductions, one of Details of window and another of the reflection pool with markings.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 4
Killingsworth, Edward Jules Smith and Waugh Smith Case Study House 26, Point Loma (San Diego, Calif.)
1962
creator:
Brady, Jules Ellsworth
creator:
Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates.
creator:
Killingsworth, Edward A., 1917-2004
creator:
Smith, Waugh
Scope and Contents note
Three reproductions of floor plan, detail of column and concrete slab with a smaller fourth reproduciton of the concrete slab.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 5
Koenig, Pierre Case Study House 21, 9036 Wonderland Park Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.)
1958
Scope and Contents note
Five reproductions including, floor plan, wall section, black line wall section, gutter detail, and beam to coumn connection.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 7
Neutra, Richard Case Study House 13 "Alpha" (unbuilt)
1946
creator:
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
Scope and Contents note
One reproduction of the floor plan.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 5
Neutra, Richard Case Study House 21 (unbuilt)
1947
creator:
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
Scope and Contents note
One original interior perspective of master bedroom.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 9, Oversize-box 3, Folder 6
Rapson, Ralph Case Study House 4 "Greenbelt" (unbuilt)
1945
creator:
Rapson, Ralph, 1914-2008
Scope and Contents note
Drawer contains an original perspective and one reproduciton of perspective. Over-size box contains two original drawings
of the master bedroom and outside perspectives.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 10
Schindler, Rudolph Esther McCoy Tobey House Addition, 2434 Beverly Avenue (Santa Monica, Calif.)
1954
creator:
Schindler, R. M., (Rudolph M. ), 1887-1953
Scope and Contents note
Six original drawings including, elevation and floor plan, a sketch, a stairway plan and elevation, a stariway construction
detail perspective, a landscape plan, and an exterior perspective.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
McCoy, Esther, 1920-1989
Drawer 221, FlatFile 11
Smith, Whitney Case study House 5 (unbuilt)
1945
creator:
Smith, Whitney Rowland, 1911-2002
Scope and Contents note
Original drawing of an exterior perspective.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 12
Soriano, Raphael Case Study House, 1080 Ravioli Drive (Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
1950
creator:
Soriano, Raphael, 1904-1988
Scope and Contents note
One original drawing of the floor plan. Four reproducitions including a black line drawing of plot plan and copy reproduction,
column plan with details and its reproduction.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 13
Spaulding, Sumner and John Rex Case Study House 2 (Arcadia, Calif.)
1945
creator:
Rex, John L.
creator:
Spaulding, Sumner, 1892/3-1952
Scope and Contents note
One reproduction of the floor plan.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 7
Walker, Rodney Case Study House 16, 9945 Beverly Grove Drive (Beverly Hills, Calif.)
1946
creator:
Walker, Rodney
Scope and Contents note
One reproduction of a typical framing diagram.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 14
Walker, Rodney Case Study House 17, 7865 Woodrow Wilson Drive (Los Angeles, Calif.)
1947
creator:
Walker, Rodney
Scope and Contents note
One original drawing of the floor plan.
Oversize-box 3, Folder 8
Walker, Rodney Case Study House 18, 199 Chautauqua Way (Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
1947
creator:
Walker, Rodney
Scope and Contents note
Two reproducitons of the floor plan with elevations and a perspective drawing.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 15
Wurster, William Wilson and Theodore Bernardi Case Study House 2, 13187 Chalon Road (West Los Angeles, Calif.)
1945
creator:
Bernardi, Theodore C., 1903-
creator:
Wurster, William Wilson
Scope and Contents note
Two reproductions of the floor plan an an inside perspective.
Photographs
undated
Scope and Contents note
Photographic material includes images related to McCoy's interest and writing on Italian architecture, and microfilm of files
relating to Richard Neutra.
Drawer 221, FlatFile 8, Drawer 221, FlatFile 8
Photographs, miscellaneous and oversize
undated
Scope and Contents note
Three black and white photographs and one color: Luis Barrigan building by Armando Salas, Seymour Rosen photograph of the
Watts Towers, Palazzo Rosso-Cortile Genova by Paolo Moni, color photograph, unknown.
Box 1
Neutra, Richard: microfilm of projects
undated
creator:
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
Scope and Contents note
Microfilm of Neutra's projects.