Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
H. Douglas Byles papers, circa 1946-circa 1990
0000357
0000357
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: H. Douglas Byles papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000357
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
60.0 Linear feet
(124 flat file folders, 1 half record storage box, 2 oversize flat** boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1943-1995
Date (inclusive): 1923-2012
creator:
Byles, H. (Howard) Douglas, 1923-2003
creator:
Rudolph, William
creator:
Weston, Eugene III, 1923-2012
H. Douglas Byles papers. Architecture and Design Collection, Art Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa
Barbara
The archive remained with the Byles family after the death of H. Douglas Byles and was donated to UCSB by the family in early
2017.
Conditions Governing Access note
Open for use to qualified researchers.
H. Douglas Byles was born in Evenston, Ill. on February 11, 1923. He earned a B.A. in architecture and planning from the University
of Southern California, 1949. His military service included active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 1942-1946, and in
Korea, 1951-1952.
Byles's practice was primarily in the Pasadena area of Southern California. In the last years of his life he lived and worked
in Atascadero, California, where he died in 2003.
In circa 1946, Byles worked briefly in the office of Whitney Smith, alongside Eugene Weston, III, his future partner. His
earliest work as a builder/architect in the late 1940s-early 1950s, was done in partnership with Weston and William Rudolph,
but from about 1954 until his death, Byles operated a one-man office and was responsible for circa 200 commissions. Byles's
architectural practice was primarily residential, with some commercial and public projects.
Byles was actively involved in the cultural life of Pasadena, serving on the Advisory Board of the Gamble House, and on planning,
arts, cultural heritage, and preservation committees in the city from the early 1960s through the late 1980s.
Influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Byles's work shares the regional modernism of many of his fellow graduates of
the University of Southern California in the post-WWII years. According to his son Stuart, H. Douglas Byles was a quiet, elegant,
and gracious man who believed that architecture should have those qualities as well.
The papers are arranged in 2 series: Personal and professional documents; Architectural projects.
H. Douglas Byles's copyrights have been transferred to the UC Regents.
Architectural drawings and sketches, most are graphite on paper, comprise the bulk of the collection. Also included are newspaper
clippings about Byles's projects and professional and community work, a handful of photographs of built work (black-and-white
prints and color snapshots), and personal information about Byles in the form of photographs and letters.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Byles, Stuart