The Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania
Kahn’s original drawings, models, and correspondence offer a “view from the drafting room.”
By Witold Rybczynski November 14, 2013The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania are located in the basement of the Fisher Fine Arts Library. It is fitting that a building designed by Frank Furness, Philadelphia’s leading 19th-century architect, should also be home to the drawings of the city’s leading 20th-century architect, Louis I. Kahn.
When Kahn died unexpectedly in 1974 (he was 73), he left $470,000 in office debts. The estate’s only asset was his drawings, but for Kahn’s friends and colleagues, selling the drawings off individually to different museums and collectors would have been a tragedy. Thanks to their lobbying efforts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed a bill (by one vote!) appropriating half a million dollars to acquire the drawings, which are now on permanent loan to the University of Pennsylvania.
The Book

William Whitaker
This story is recounted to me by Bill Whitaker, who is in charge of Penn’s Architectural Archives, and is the co-author, with George H. Marcus, of the recently published book The Houses of Louis Kahn (Yale University Press). “Saving the Kahn drawings was part of the historic preservation ethos that had grown up at that time,” he says. “Today architectural archives are reaching a wider audience than ever thanks to the Internet.” The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, for example, has scanned its entire collection of Paul Cret drawings, and Syracuse University has a Marcel Breuer digital archive that includes not only drawings but also photographs and correspondence. Such full-scale digitizing is costly and rare, however, and most archives have only representative samples of their collections online.
Whitaker emphasizes that while it is important to make materials available to those who can’t travel, the physical experience of an archive remains invaluable. “When people come here they immerse themselves in the environment,” he says. “That includes contact with curators, meeting other researchers, chance encounters and, of course, the opportunity to handle the material.” He compares examining an original Kahn drawing to standing in front of a Vermeer. Reproductions, even digital reproductions are OK, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
The Kahn Collection comprises more than the 6,000 drawings in the architect’s own hand. There are also development and working drawings by his office, models, photographs, slides, and extensive correspondence. In addition, researchers have access to oral histories: interviews with Kahn’s employees, clients, and contractors. “An archive can cast a fresh light on what influences an architect’s thinking,” Whitaker explains. “This concern has shaped our collection.” An architect by training, Whitaker calls this approach to curating “the view from the drafting room.”
Kahn is sometimes portrayed as an outsider who only came into his own in 1953 with the Yale Art Gallery. As the Kahn archive demonstrates, this is a gross over-simplification. Kahn’s earliest house, the little-known Oser House (1940-42), bears comparison with Gropius and Breuer’s contemporaneous houses, though Kahn eschewed International Style ribbon windows and white stucco in favor of rugged stone and oiled-cedar clapboard siding. The simple materials and open plan were unusual for the time, and the Oser House was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, House and Garden, and Architectural Forum.
The later Fisher House (1960–67) is surely one of Kahn’s most compelling residential designs, with beautiful woodwork, inside and out. Construction took three years. “We interviewed the foreman,” says “Whitaker. “He hated the job, It was more like cabinetwork than carpentry.” Kahn’s concern with building quality was not a personal quirk but was grounded in his Philadelphia experience with architects such as George Howe, Oscar Stonorov, and especially Kahn’s teacher and mentor, Paul Cret.
Sometimes an archive can help unravel little architectural mysteries. The Esherick House, a tiny jewel in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill, was built for a single woman, Margaret Esherick. She was the niece of Wharton Esherick, the famous woodworker and furniture maker, and asked him to design and build the kitchen, the stair, and several built-ins. Shortly after installing the organically sculpted kitchen, Esherick withdrew from the project. The popular explanation is that the furniture maker and the architect had a falling-out. “We mentioned that in our book,” Whitaker tells me. “But only three weeks ago, I came across a letter in our files from Joe Esherick [Margaret’s architect brother] that suggests there was actually no conflict.” Whitaker speculates that the two men, who had worked together before, simply decided that this time their collaboration wasn’t working. The evidence for this interpretation is a cambered and slightly warped oak beam that was part of Wharton Esherick’s unbuilt stair. Kahn, normally fastidious to a fault, made the joint between the beam and the wall unexpectedly crude, as if to leave a trace of the interrupted collaboration.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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