Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid to the Tudor Engineering Company Records 1933-2006
BANC MSS 2007/134
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Collection Title: Tudor Engineering Company records
Date (inclusive): 1933-2006
Collection Number: BANC MSS 2007/134
Creator:
Tudor Engineering Company
Extent:
29 digital objects (newsletters); 6 cartons
7.5 linear feet
Repository:
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Abstract: Contains records of the major engineering projects of the Tudor Engineering Company, including work on the Golden Gate Bridge,
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, Tagus River Bridge and others.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in
English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access Information
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.All
requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
[Identification of item], Tudor Engineering Company Records, BANC MSS 2007/134, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
Tudor Engineering Company photograph archive, circa 1950-1993 (BANC PIC 2007.029--PIC).
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library, BANC PIC 2007.029--PIC.
Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Tudor Engineering Company--Archives
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (Calif.)
Merced Irrigation District (Calif.)
Bridges--California--San Francisco Bay--Design and construction
Bridges--Portugal--Tagus River--Design and construction
Dams--California--Merced River--Design and construction
Engineering firms--California
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)
New Exchequer Dam (Calif.)
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.)
Promotional materials
Newsletters
Pamphlets
The Tudor Engineering Company Records were given to The Bancroft Library by Robert Janopaul on March 12, 2007.
Biography/Organization History
The Tudor Engineering Company was founded in San Francisco in 1950 by the late Ralph A. Tudor, a West Point graduate and retired
Colonel in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Tudor established a nationwide reputation for excellence following his involvement
in the design and construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and other bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The firm's early assignments were the design and construction management of several long span bridges across the Colombia
River between Washington and Oregon and across other major waterways in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to highway and
bridge work, the firm developed expertise in the water resources field, including a major hydroelectric project in the Sierra
Nevada mountains of California during the mid 1950s.
In the early 1960s, Tudor Engineering played a major role in the design and construction of the Tagus River Bridge project
in Lisbon, Portugal. The firm also undertook a major hydroelectric project for the Merced Irrigation District in California.
It designed and supervised construction of the Exchequer Dam. Located on the Merced River, it was the highest concrete-faced
rock-filled dam in the United States at the time.
The early 1960s also saw the formation of the joint venture of Parsons-Brinkerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel (PBTB), which undertook the
management of design and construction and activities for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. Tudor Engineering's
role in the joint venture involved civil engineering design and construction activities, including aerial structures, several
underground and above-ground transit stations, tunnels, bridges, and several train maintenance yards. The PBTB joint venture
also undertook the design of the Caracas Metro system in Caracas, Venezuela, the first phase of which was completed in the
1970s.
By the completion of the BART and the Caracas systems, Tudor Engineering had developed special expertise in the design of
modern rapid transit systems. Its next major transit assignment, conducted as a joint venture with Parsons Brinkerhoff (PBT),
involved serving as the general engineering consultant for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in Georgia.
The PBT team began work on this project in the early 1970s.
In the mid 1970s, Tudor Engineering was one of the first consulting engineering firms to respond to the national energy shortage
with innovative technology for retrofitting existing water resource facilities with small hydroelectric power plants. It pioneered
this technology with methodology manuals for the Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Electric Power
Research Institute. Besides developing new innovative technology, the firm has had the lead role in the planning, design,
and construction management of more than 30 of these hydroelectric installations through the western United States.
In 1989 the Los Angeles office moved to Oakland, CA and Tudor Engineering Company merged with Kaiser Engineering in Oakland.
Scope and Content Note
Contains records of the major engineering projects of the Tudor Engineering Company, including work on the Golden Gate Bridge,
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, Tagus River Bridge and others. The Tudor Engineering Company records also include reports
and statements documenting the history of the company's evolution through financial records, personnel records, and various
promotional brochures. The papers are arranged as received.