Collections : [Avery Drawings & Archives]

Also, correspondence with Norman Bel Geddes, Monroe Biddle, John M. Blair, Harry T. Carman, Carolyn K. Christenson, Joseph S. Clarke, Jr., Thomas H. Creighton, Paul Cret, C.C. Cunningham, F.G. Fassett, Jr., Loring Dowst, John E. Harbeson, Oliver Hall, Jared C. Ingersoll, Gaylord P. Harnwell, William Fontaine Jones, Joseph Judge, William Lescaze, John D. Morse, William F. Paris, Charles E. Peterson, Ruth C. Roberts, Henry Shapiro, Oscar Stonorov, J.J. Sweeney, James M. Willcox, Owen J. Wister, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruno Zevi, and others. This relates to proposed development of air rights over New York City's Pennsylvania Railroad Station, 1955; architectural projects in Pennsylvania relating to mental health, 1955; proposed new Independence Mall Building in Philadelphia, 1955; the 1954 Boston Art Festival Architectural Exhibit; sculpture committee on the design of the Ella Butt McManus monument, Connecticut, 1954-1955; the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, building designed by Howe & Lescaze (with related memoranda, manuscripts of articles and talks, press releases, and architectural analyses), 1930-1939; and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis (with related printed material, clippings, and photograph)

This collection contains materials related to a full range of Blake's personal, professional, and academic lives. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1980s through the early 2000s. His professional and faculty papers document many of his interests, and primarily include published and unpublished lectures and articles. Although Blake delivered his lectures at various architectural schools in the United States and abroad, the specific locations of the lectures are not usually recorded on the documents. In addition, many articles he wrote for publication appear as annotated typescripts. There are also significant papers related to publication of his memoir No Place Like Utopia (Knopf, 1993), including correspondence and some production records. Throughout the professional and faculty papers are also found a large number of reference files relating to modern architecture, art, design, urbanism, technology, and current events, compiled over many decades. The collection also contains correspondence with personal friends, clients, and professional and academic colleagues. There is an especially significant amount of correspondence and clippings related to Patwant Singh, a Sikh writer, commentator, journalist, editor, and publisher, with whom Blake was a close friend. There are also many materials including correspondence, typescripts, and book production records related to Philip Johnson and Paul Rudolph, with whom Blake was also close. Architectural project records include original and reprographic drawings and photographs for 40 residential and institutional designs, located primarily in New York City and the surrounding region. Of particular note are drawings and papers related to Blake's important Pin Wheel House (1954) in Water Mill, New York. In addition, there are drawings related to the American National Exhibition in Moscow (1959). Finally, there is a significant number of drawings, photographs, and correspondence related to the Benjamin Gerson Residence (1999-2003) in Johnsonburg, New Jersey, one of Blake's last architectural projects.