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Charles E. Butner Papers
MS 033
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Title: Charles E. Butner Papers
Date (inclusive): 1911-1957
Date (bulk): (bulk 1917-1957)
Collection number: MS 033
Creator:
Butner, Charles Edgar, 1888-1957
Extent:
25 boxes, 3 artifacts
Languages:
English
English
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
Abstract: The Charles Edgar Butner Papers contain sketches and drawings from the architect's travels in California and Europe, newspaper
clippings, photographs, ephemera, and a scrapbook on his service as an aviator in World War I and limited information on Butner's
commissions in the San Joaquin Valley and Monterey Bay area in California. Purchased by Cal Poly in 1986.
Purchased by Cal Poly in 1986.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by appointment only. For more information on access policies and to obtain a copy
of the Researcher Registration form, please visit the Special Collections Access page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
In order to reproduce, publish, broadcast, exhibit, and/or quote from this material, researchers must submit a written request
and obtain formal permission from Special Collections, Cal Poly, as the owner of the physical collection.
Photocopying of material is permitted at staff discretion and provided on a fee basis. Photocopies are not to be used for
any purpose other than for private study, scholarship, or research. Special Collections staff reserves the right to limit
photocopying and deny access or reproduction in cases when, in the opinion of staff, the original materials would be harmed.
Butner Papers, Special Collections, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Charles Edgar Butner was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 31, 1888. Butner enrolled in the Architecture program
at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied under the renowned Beaux-Arts architect and educator Paul Philippe Cret.
While at Penn, Butner befriended fellow architecture student Edward Glass (1886-1954), the son of the influential California
newspaper publishing family that owned the
Fresno Morning Republican.
In 1911, Butner completed his studies at Penn, receiving the Certificate of Proficiency in Architecture. He then ventured
to New York to work for Grosvenor Atterbury, FAIA, and landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr., on Forest Hills Gardens,
one of the country's oldest planned communities and the most prominent American example of Ebenezer Howard's Garden City movement.
Glass, who graduated in 1912, entered the Philadelphia offices of Heacock & Hokinson as a drafter, followed by a stint with
the firm of Mills & Bonkirk. He then relocated to New York to take a position with leading classical architects Tracy, Swarthout
& Litchfield. In 1913, Glass returned to California, passed the state architectural licensing exam, and settled in San Francisco
as a partner in the firm of Smith, Stewart & Glass.
In 1914, Edward Glass returned to Fresno and eventually he and his college friend established the partnership of Glass & Butner.
Through the social and political connections of Edward Glass, the young firm secured a number of residential and commercial
commissions, as well as large school contracts.
In 1917, Butner was drafted and served during World War I as an aviator in the Army Air Services. He trained at Taylor Field,
outside Montgomery, Alabama, served in France, and rose to the rank of captain before he was discharged at the end of the
war and returned to Fresno.
In the boom period following the war's end, the firm of Glass & Butner prospered. In October 1919, Governor Stevens appointed
Edward Glass to the California State Board of Architecture. That same year, the firm opened an office in San Francisco, where
they entered the War Memorial Veterans Building competition with a design proposal costing $2.5 million, but the project became
mired in regional politics and was never built.
In this same period, Glass and Butner reportedly produced a set of documentary drawings of the missions of California at the
request of publisher William Randolph Hearst, but the drawings are now lost. Glass & Butner closed the San Francisco office
and in the early 1920s, after nearly a decade together, they dissolved the partnership when Glass' wife became seriously ill.
The two architects remained close friends, occasionally working together to design a variety of projects over the coming years.
During the early Depression years, Butner attempted to maintain both his original office in Fresno and a branch office in
Salinas with his new partner, William Stranahan. Stranahan's sudden death in 1932 prompted Butner to close the Fresno office
and move permanently to Salinas. Charles Butner became a prominent civic leader in that town and built a thriving practice
with commissions throughout the Monterey area. He joined the American Institute of Architects on November 10, 1936, and was
also a member of the Northern California and eventually the Monterey Bay Area chapters of the AIA.
In both Fresno and Salinas, Butner enjoyed membership in the American Legion, Scottish Rite, Rotary, Elks, and Masons. He
managed the firm until his death in Salinas on June 10, 1957, from a heart attack. His wife, Sally, two stepsons, two brothers,
and a sister survived him. Two of his buildings, the Physicians building (1926) and the Fresno Republican Printery (1919)
are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Ancestry.com
California Death Index, Ancestry.com
Salinas Californian, June 11, 1957, n.p.
Butner Exhibition, John Edwards Powell, curator, Fresno, 1985
The Charles Edgar Butner Papers contain sketches and drawings from the architect's travels in California and Europe, newspaper
clippings, photographs, ephemera, and a scrapbook on his service as an aviator in World War I and limited information on Butner's
commissions in the San Joaquin Valley and Monterey Bay area in California.
The most extensive portion of the collection is in Series 2, subseries A, containing architectural sketches made during Butner's
travels in California and Europe. Throughout his career as an architect, he enjoyed drawing and painting. The earliest work
in the collection is a sketch of Philadelphia City Hall, which dates from his student days at Penn. This small pencil drawing
is rendered with the soft, architectural qualities which characterize many of the travel sketches and watercolors he produced
throughout his life. Of particular interest are European streetscapes, which probably date to World War I, when Butner served
in France as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Services.
The balance of the sketches in the collection dates from the 1920s and 1930s. Diverse in stylistic interpretation, choice
of media and technique, these selected examples of Charles Butner's drawings and paintings were assembled from his personal
collection, which is now believed to be lost. They reflected his lifelong fascination with the ornamental characteristics
of classic architecture, and his delight in the romantic and picturesque qualities of Mediterranean buildings. Red tile roofs,
white-washed adobe walls, towers, and village scenes were the images Charles Butner most often captured in his art, and were
the themes which inspired the designs of many of his built works interpreted in the Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean Revival
Styles. Few of the sketches have much to do with projects in his architectural practice but instead reflect his Beaux-Arts-influenced
training and ability to meticulously document the structures of the past.
Most are pencil or watercolor sketches. Butner created one oil painting included in the collection during the Depression,
using house paint because artist's oil paints were too expensive. It is believed that most of the plans for Butner's commissions
were destroyed at his death in 1957.
In addition, the collection contains photographs related to his years with the United States Army Air Services and other personal
materials.
Where possible, the provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved. However, in order to simplify
access to the collection for researchers, the sketches in the collection were reorganized in alpha order by title to more
accurately reflect their contents.
The collection is divided into two series:
Series 1: Personal and Professional Papers
Series 2: Art and Artifacts
The collection is housed in 25 boxes, with Series 2.A. Sketches containing the most extensive and unique portions of the collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Architecture -- California.
Architecture, Domestic -- California -- San Joaquin Valley.
Architecture, Domestic -- California -- Salinas.
Butner, Charles Edgar, 1888-1957
Butner, Charles Edgar, 1888-1957-- Career in Architecture.
Butner, Charles Edgar, 1888-1957-- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
Glass, Edward, 1886-1954
Glass, Edward, 1886-1954-- Career in Architecture.
Framed sketches and drawings
Newspaper clippings
Ephemera
Scrapbook
Photographs