Howard Major papers, 1925

Summary Information

At a Glance

Bib ID:
10161269 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Major, Howard
Repository:
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Physical Description:
647 items
Language(s):
English .
Access:

This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.

Description

Scope and content

Collection consists of five binders of photographs of different regional residential architectural styles, one unpublished manuscript entitled "The Architecture of Old Cuba" and some notes on Post Colonial architecture. The binders and the manuscript consist primarily of black and white photographs of architectural structures, which have been adhered to sheets of paper by Major. The binders have photographs primarily of residential structures throughout the United States. A note accompanying the collection indicates that the majority of the photographs in the binders were used to illustrate "The Domestic Architecture of the Early American Republic." The two binders titled "North Atlantic Seaboard" (parts I & II) feature towns in Maine, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The binder "South Atlantic Seaboard" focuses on Virginia, Washington D.C., North Carolina and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. "Old Northwest" covers Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, and the "Old Southwest" binder covers Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. The manuscript "The Architecture of Old Cuba" covers many aspects of Cuban architecture, including the history of its development from the 16th century through the 19th and the functions of major components such as windows, grills, doorways, arcades, and patios. Howard Major does not seem to have taken the majority of the photos; most of the photographs of Cuba can be attributed to the American Photo Studios in Havana, Cuba. Within the binders he identifies the photographer by last name with a note. Within the manuscript, there are some pages of text interspersed within the photograph pages. His perspectives on each image are recorded in the notations at the bottom of each page.

Publication Date

ca. 1925

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Collection is assumed to have arrived with the donation of Major's Library in 1975 by Mrs. John Russell Pope (accession no. 1000.097).

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

Processing Information

Processed Heather Gring (Avery Practicum Student).

Biographical / Historical

Howard Brougham Major was born in 1882 and died in 1974. He studied at the New York Atelier of Beaux-Arts and became the chief draftsman for the architect Charles Alonzo Rich, where he designed buildings for Dartmouth College and Long Island society. He later opened his own firm on Fifth Avenue in New York City. In 1923 he began working with Addison Mizner's Worth Avenue office and moved to Palm Beach with his family in 1925. Though he created many homes in Palm Beach in the popular Mediterranean Revival style, he was not a strong advocate for the style. Throughout his career, he designed numerous residences in the Greek Revival, Georgian, and British Colonial styles. He was a proponent of restraint in architecture, and wrote on the issue and similar subjects. Major traveled extensively to places such as Cuba, Spain, and Portugal. He was strongly influenced by Spanish architecture. In 1926 his work "The Domestic Architecture of the Early American Republic: The Greek Revival" was published. In 1928, he wrote a series of articles for The Palm Beach Post entitled "How to Recognize Spanish Architecture." The influence of Spanish architecture in Cuba is a central theme of his unpublished manuscript"The Architecture of Old Cuba." After the Great Depression, Major's subtle styles became popular in Palm Beach, and many examples of his work have been preserved in that region. Howard Major married his first wife, Katherine Clark, in 1920. Clark was born in 1899 and died in 1958. He married his second wife, Dorothy Underhill, in 1960.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Place
Havana (Cuba) -- Buildings, structures, etc CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Arcades (Architecture) -- Cuba CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Camagüey CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Guanaboca CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Havana CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Isla de la Juventud CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Matanzas CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Pinar del Río -- History CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture -- Cuba -- Santiago de Cuba CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture, Colonial -- Cuba CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Architecture, Domestic -- United States CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Church architecture -- Cuba CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Public buildings -- Cuba CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID