Collection Guide
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Neutra (Richard and Dion) papers
LSC.1179
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Richard and Dion Neutra papers
Creator:
Neutra, Dion
Creator:
Neutra, Richard Joseph
source:
Neutra, Richard Joseph
source:
Neutra, Dion
source:
Neutra, Raymond
source:
Neutra, Dione
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1179
Physical Description:
3192.2 Linear Feet
(663 boxes, 895 oversize boxes, and 379 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1904-1987
Date (bulk): 1925-1970
Abstract: Richard Josef Neutra (1892-1970) was born in Vienna. He was the city architect for Luckenwalde, then worked as a draftsman-collaborator
with Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin before immigrating to the United States in 1923. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright (1924)
before settling in Los Angeles. His most productive years were during the 1930s and 1940s. From 1949 to 1958 Netura had a
partnership with Robert E Alexander. The collection consists of correspondence both personal and professional belonging to
Richard J Neutra as well as his wife Dione Neutra, travel records and sketches, publications, drawings, blueprints, oversized
rolled plans, audio recordings, and photographs.
Physical Location: Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English, German, French, and Spanish.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging
system using the request button located on this page.
Portions of Subseries 4.6: Correspondence are currently restricted due to water damage sustained prior to the transfer of
materials to UCLA.
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. Commercial use may require additional rights that must
be determined and obtained by the researcher. All requests for copyright permission to publish must be submitted in writing
to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on behalf of
the UCLA Library Special Collections.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. For information
about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the
request button located on this page.
[Identification of item], Richard and Dion Neutra papers (LSC 1179). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Richard Neutra, 1954. Gift of Dione Neutra, 1976-86. Gift of Dion Neutra, 1981-97. Gift of Raymond Neutra, 1994.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9924703433606533
This collection was processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff over the course of many years from the initial donation
in the late 1950s up through the 2020s. 600+ boxes of project files, correspondence, travel sketches and audio tapes were
processed by Kenneth Holsley, 2005-2007. Correspondence in Series 4, Subseries 4.6 was processed by Yana Demeshko, under the
supervision of Courtney Dean, in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), 2020-2021. Finding aid updated by Kelly
Besser, 2021.
Processing of the Richard and Dion Neutra papers was funded in part by a grant from the Getty Research Institute.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they
could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special
Collections.
Richard Josef Neutra was born in 1892 in Vienna. He immigrated to the United States in 1923 to work with the architect Frank
Lloyd Wright. Neutra's wife Dione Neutra (1901 – 1990) and their eldest son Frank immigrated in 1924. During the fall of 1924,
Frank Lloyd Wright invited Richard Neutra to his Taliesin Estate located in Spring Green, WI where Wright resided and worked.
Neutra subsequently moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1925. His most productive years were during the 1930s and 1940s. During his
last decade, Richard Neutra worked in partnership with his son Dion (1926 – 2019), who worked on numerous projects in the
Neutra and Neutra and Alexander offices. Dione Neutra was involved with her husband's career and served as his executive assistant
and publicist. Richard Neutra published several books, including Wie baut Amerika? (1927) and Survival Through Design (1954).
He died in 1970.
Collection consists of travel sketches, papers, drawings, rolled plans, blueprints, audio recordings, photographs, speeches,
research notes, and publications related to the career of architect Richard Joseph Neutra. Includes office files containing
correspondence, client files, manuscripts, architectural models, clippings, magazines, and photographs generated by Neutra
and his architectural firm. Also includes awards and honors received by Neutra. The earliest pieces in the collection, pencil
drawings of Baroque interiors from Neutra's student trip through Italy in 1913, reveal his developing skills as a delineator
of architectural space. The collection also includes records related to Richard J Neutra Institute, papers of his wife, Dione
Neutra, as well as records of Richard J Neutra's partnership with Robert Alexander.
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1909-1971
Subseries 1.1: Biographical Information, 1910-1971
Subseries 1.2: Correspondence, 1943-1970
Subseries 1.3: Photographs, undated
Subseries 1.4: Travel Records, 1925-1970, undated
Subseries 1.5: Travel Sketches, 1909-1970
Series 2: Professional Papers, 1904-1977, 1987
Subseries 2.1: Associations and Committees, 1939-1970, undated
Subseries 2.2: Awards and Honors, 1955-1970
Subseries 2.3: Correspondence, 1945-1970, undated
Subseries 2.4: Presentations Series
Subseries 2.5: Recordings, 1955-1970
Subseries 2.6: Reference Files, 1904-1977, 1987
Subseries 2.7: Research Material, 1945-1970, undated
Subseries 2.8: Writings, 1926-1970, undated
Series 3: Office Records, 1910-1980
Subseries 3.1: Administrative Records, 1927-1980, undated
Subseries 3.2: Construction Reference Files, 1946-1967, undated
Subseries 3.3: Correspondence, 1910-1977
Subseries 3.4: Financial Records, 1968-1976
Subseries 3.5: Presentation Materials, 1931-1967, undated
Subseries 3.6: Product Literature/Vendor and Contractor Correspondence, 1950-1959, undated
Subseries 3.7: Prospects, 1941-1971
Subseries 3.8: Public Relations Material, 1930-1971
Subseries 3.9: Scrapbooks and Clippings, 1928-1976, undated
Subseries 3.10: VDL Research House, 1950-1969
Subseries 3.11: Visual Material, undated
Series 4: Project Records, 1915-1975
Subseries 4.1: Client Files, 1915-1975
Subseries 4.2: Drawings, 1920-1959, undated
Subseries 4.3: Models, undated
Subseries 4.4: Oversized Rolled Plans, 1946-1949, 1966, undated
Subseries 4.5: Photographs, 1966-1969, undated
Subseries 4.6: Correspondence, 1932-1969
Series 5: Richard J. Neutra Institute Records
Subseries 5.1: Administrative Records
Subseries 5.2: Correspondence
Series 6: Dione Neutra Papers, 1924-1971
Subseries 6.1: Correspondence, 1930-1971, undated
Subseries 6.2: Office Records, 1936-1957
Subseries 6.3: Personal Records, undated
Subseries 6.4: Travel Correspondence, 1924-1967
Subseries 6.5: Writings, 1932-1968
Series 7: Neutra and Alexander Office records, 1942-1968
Subseries 7.1: Administrative Records, 1942-1956, undated
Subseries 7.2: Correspondence, 1947-1968, undated
Subseries 7.3: Models, undated
Subseries 7.4: Prospects, 1951-1957, undated
To tell the truth [oral history transcript] / Dione Neutra, interviewee. UCLA Oral History Department interview, 1978. Available
at the UCLA Library Special Collections.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architectural drawings (visual works).
Photographs.
Blueprints.
Architecture, Domestic -- California, Southern
Architecture -- California -- 20th century
Architects -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives
Richard and Dion Neutra, Architects and Associates
Neutra, Richard Joseph
Neutra, Dion
Neutra, Dione
Richard and Dion Neutra, Architects and Associates -- Archives
Neutra, Richard Joseph
Neutra, Dion
Neutra, Raymond
Neutra, Dione