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 and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection contains materials related to Nelson's personal, professional, and academic lives, the bulk originating during his residency in the France, beginning in the 1920s.
This material is arranged in four series: Project Records, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Personal Papers, and Student Work. The arrangement of materials within each series is described at the beginning of each series inventory.
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 and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Columbia University is providing access to the materials in the Library's collections solely for noncommercial educational and research purposes. The unauthorized use, including, but not limited to, publication of the materials without the prior written permission of Columbia University is strictly prohibited. All inquiries regarding permission to publish should be submitted in writing to the Director, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item. Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.
Paul Nelson architectural records and papers. Located in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
1989.012
Accession number--1989.012.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
This collection was processed by Brad Walter, Mellon Graduate Intern, and Annemarie van Roessel, Archivist, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, in 2009.
2009-06-25 File created.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
An American-French architect educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Paul Nelson contributed significantly to the theoretical and pragmatic dialog between American and French architecture in the mid-twentieth century, designing a range of building types, both built and unbuilt. His most famous work, the much-studied Maison Suspendue, remains a landmark of elegant modernism married to prefabricated technology. This small collection documents Nelson's career and professional interests through papers, photographs, architectural drawings, writings, and published materials.
Paul Nelson was born in Chicago in 1895 and after a brief stint at Princeton University in 1914 and service in the United States Air Force in World War I, he moved to Paris in 1920 to begin a rigorous study of architecture at the highly-regarded Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Nelson entered the atelier of Emmanuel Pontrémoli and moved to the atelier of August Perret in 1925, becoming the first graduate of Perret's studio in 1927. In this heady environment, Nelson was introduced to the fluid vocabularies of Art Deco, Classicism, and Constructivism. Nelson, in particular, recognized the life-long influence of Le Corbusier's writings and architecture in his own work.
Nelson opened his professional practice in Paris in the late 1920s and practiced primarily in France for the remainder of his career. Among Nelson's earliest commissions was a residence in Paris for Alden Brooks, the American author, in which he employed a rigorous geometry on the exterior façade, while the rear of the house was a transparent skin of glass, looking out on a small garden.
Influenced by the International Style and emerging structural technologies, Nelson's work became more experimental and cerebral over time, reaching its apogee in his most recognized design, the Maison Suspendue, in which interchangeable prefabricated units were literally hung within a structural metal armature, allowing for endless freedom and adaptation to modern living. This unbuilt project was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and established Nelson as a major figure in the European architectural scene.
Ever interested in the cross-pollenization of American and French architecture, Nelson also maintained close ties to the American engineer, inventor, and polymath R. Buckminster Fuller. During a lengthy return to the United States in 1927, Fuller began a correspondence with Nelson that would grow into a long and rich collegial relationship. Indeed, Nelson served as the official representative in France to promote Fuller's 4D House project, which later evolved into the Dymaxion House. As well, Nelson expanded Fuller's knowledge of current French architecture, especially that of Le Corbusier and Perret. In return, Nelson was introduced to the use and properties of metal in architecture, which he found especially appealing in such later projects as the Maison Suspendue.
Exploring the modern movement's affinity for using technology to improve quality of life, Nelson returned again and again to prototyping medical and health care facilities, largely in France. Among his major projects were the Franco-American Memorial Hospital in Saint-Lô (1946-1954), additions to the American Hospital in Neuilly (1951), and the joint design of a "compact" hospital in Dinan, France (1963-1968) and a large hospital near Arles (1965-1974). Numerous competition and unrealized clinic and hospital projects also show Nelson searching for the balance between functionalism and aesthetics.
During an extended sojourn in the United States between 1957 and 1960, Nelson received a number of prestigious appointments, serving most notably as a visiting professor at Pratt, Yale, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as technical advisor to the U.S. Public Health Service, as a Fellow of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and as a researcher for the Joint Center for Urban Studies at Harvard and MIT. Returning to France, Nelson continued his academic career as professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then at the Ecole d'Art et d'Architecture at Luminy, Marseille.
Nelson also nurtured close relationships with major writers, artists, and film figures, including Georges Braque, André Derain, Alexander Calder, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. In 1930, Nelson designed the luxurious International Style set for Gloria Swanson's film What a Widow! Among his later commissions was a house for Ferdinand Léger's daughter and a museum for Léger's paintings, both unbuilt. Nelson died in Marseille in 1979.
Drawer 295 Folder 01
Creator: R. Buckminster Fuller
4 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 02a to 02c
Creator: R. Buckminster Fuller
14 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 03
1 drawing.
Drawer 295 Folder 04
34 drawings
Drawer 295 Folder 05
7 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 06
10 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 07
13 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 08
4 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 09
20 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 10
69 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 11
5 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 12
4 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 13
21 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 14
3 drawings.
Drawer 295 Folder 15
1 drawing.
Box 01 Folder 01
Newspaper articles in French.
Box 01 Folder 02
Description. Bound copy.
Box 01 Folder 03
Description.
Box 01 Folder 04
Agreement between Fuller and Nelson.
Box 01 Folder 05
Correspondence from Fuller to Nelson.
Box 01 Folder 06
Description, in French.
Box 01 Folder 07
Description draft, in English, with sketches on verso.
Box 01 Folder 08
Patent papers, including description and drawings.
Box 01 Folder 09
Speech transcript, correspondence, and list of names.
Box 01 Folder 10
Confidentiality agreement, blank.
Box 01 Folder 11
"Hôpital Américain de Paris," L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui.
Box 01 Folder 12
"Suns for Surgery in St.-Lo," Life Magazine.
Box 01 Folder 13
Penrose, Roland. "Hospital at St.-Lo, France," Architectural Preview, vol. 105, no. 627.
Box 01 Folder 14
Nelson, Paul. "From an Integrated Approach to Design: A 'Hospital for Life'," Hospitals, J.A.H.A. vol 33.
Box 01 Folder 15
Bridgeman, Dr. "Hôpital Mémorial France-Etats-Unis, St-Lo, France," L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui no. 70. Also includes English translation.
Box 01 Folder 16
Nelson, Paul. "Sala de Operaciones Ovoide." Instituto Tecnico de la Construction y del Cemento.
Box 01 Folder 17
"Un modernissino complesso ospedaliero: l'Ospedale Francia-Stati Uniti a Saint Lô. Illustrazione Medica.
Box 01 Folder 18
"Dinan--Hôpital Hospice," Techniques et Architecture series 25, no. 2.
Box 01 Folder 19
Nelson, Paul. "Réalisations Passées, Présentes et Futures: Projet d'Hôpital à Dinan," Ordre des Architectes no. 204.
Box 01 Folder 20
"Nouvel Hôpital de Dinan." Report by Centre International d'Etudes Techniques.
Box 01 Folder 21
"Projet pour l'Hôpital de Dinan," L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui no. 115.
Box 01 Folder 22
Nelson, Paul. "Projet d'un Palais de la Découverte," Cahiers d'Art. Co-architects: Paul Nelson, Oscar Nitzschké, Frantz Jourdain.
Box 01 Folder 23
Nelson, Paul. "Projet d'un Palais de la Découverte: Analyse du Problème." Co-architects: Paul Nelson, Oscar Nitzschké, Frantz Jourdain.
Box 01 Folder 24
3 items : Model views.
Box 01 Folder 25
10 items : Drawings.
Box 01 Folder 26
14 items : Drawings.
Box 01 Folder 27
1 item : Model view.
Box 01 Folder 28
2 items : Model views.
Box 01 Folder 29
5 items : Drawings.
Box 01 Folder 30
Interview with Paul Nelson.
Box 01 Folder 31
Newsletter.
Container 4-Flap
Wire-bound.
Box 01 Folder 32
In French.
Box 01 Folder 33
In French. Also includes personal comments.
Box 01 Folder 34
Multiple editions.
Box 01 Folder 35
Box 01 Folder 36
Container 4-Flap
Bound scrapbook with black-and-white photographic prints.
Box 02 Folder 1
Interview with Paul Nelson.
Box 02 Folder 2
Interview with Paul Nelson for "Quatre Soli." Transcript of group discussion regarding research project proposed by Nelson In French
Box 02 Folder 3
Fellows information.
Box 02 Folder 4
Box 02 Folder 5
Project report written by Nelson.
Box 02 Folder 6
Fellows information.
Box 02 Folder 7
Newspaper clippings.
Box 02 Folder 8
Box 02 Folder 9
Correspondence and description.
Box 02 Folder 10
Box 02 Folder 11
Box 02 Folder 12
Box 02 Folder 13
Typewritten manuscript.
Box 02 Folder 14
Newspaper clipping.
Box 02 Folder 15
Lecture given at Yale University. Typewritten.
Box 02 Folder 16
Box 02 Folder 17
Pamphlet.
Box 02 Folder 18
Box 02 Folder 19
Box 02 Folder 20
Pamphlet.
Box 02 Folder 21
Box 02 Folder 22
Correspondence with Robert L. Geddes, Graham T. Johnston, and Henry Wollman regarding contributions to Perspecta.
Box 02 Folder 23
Schedule and list of participants.
Box 02 Folder 24
Box 02 Folder 25
Box 02 Folder 26
Box 02 Folder 27
Box 02 Folder 28
Proposals and correspondence. In French.
Box 02 Folder 29
Design course proposals. In French.
Box 02 Folder 30
Press release; clippings from Le Figaro.
Box 02 Folder 31
Correspondence to and from André Malraux and administrative and course development papers. In French.
Box 02 Folder 32
Hospital design course descriptions. In French.
Box 02 Folder 33
Notes, administrative papers, maps, published materials, photographic negative
Box 02 Folder 34
Administrative papers and published materials.
Box 02 Folder 35
Student project photographs. Black and white photographic prints.
Box 02
18 : Black-and-white photographic prints.
Drawer 295
2 items : Graphite, ink, and wash on paper.
Roll A132A.13
3 items : Graphite on paper.
Roll A132A.14
1 item : Graphite on paper.
Drawer 295
1 item : Ink and gouache on paper, mounted on heavy paper.
Box 02
2 items : Printed paper.
Box 02
2 items : Printed paper.
Roll A132A.11
1 item : Graphite on paper.
Roll A132A.12
1 item : Graphite on paper.
Box 02
1 item : Black-and-white photographic print.
Box 02 Folder 40
Correspondence with Guggenheim Museum and others regarding Alexander Calder sculpture.