Chester E. Nagel collection
Scope and Content of the collection
The Chester E. Nagel collection consists of 28 exhibition panels, 13 photographic prints, 1 magazine, 10 prints, 2 drawings, 3 architectural renderings, .1 linear feet correspondence, and 38 pages of video transcripts that reveal the working life of this native Texan who became a proponent of the International Style.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1939-1971
Policies Governing Use and Access
This collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using archival materials. As all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site, advance notice of at least three working days is required for retrieval. Certain items may require additional time for flattening or humidifying before they can be viewed. Access is by appointment only. Please contact the archives' reference staff for further information.
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Biographical Sketch of Chester E. Nagel
"Chester Emil Nagel (1911-) was among the first architects to bring the International Style to Texas. Born in Fredericksburg in 1911, he studied architecture at the University of Texas, graduating in 1934. From 1935 to 1938 he worked as an architect for the National Parks Service, helping to design facilities for Bastrop and Palo Duro state parks.
"In 1939 Nagel received a scholarship to study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he came in contact with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. After receiving his Master's degree from Harvard in 1940 he returned to Austin and, inspired by Gropius' ideas, designed one of the first International Style structures in the state, a house for himself and his wife on Churchill Drive.
"During the war years, Nagel was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers in Bastrop, and from 1943 to 1945 he worked as a test engineer on the new Convair B-36 bomber in Ft. Worth. After the war he returned to Austin and collaborated with Dan J. Driscoll on the Barton Springs Bathhouse (1945). In 1946 he was called back to Harvard to be Gropius' assistant and later became an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Design. He gave up his teaching position in 1951 to join The Architect's Collaborative (TAC) and from 1951 to 1953 he headed the TAC offices in Washington. Nagel's designs, many of which were collaborative ventures with Gropius, included the Valley House in Lexington, Massachusetts (1940), the Overholt Thoracic Clinic in Boston (1955), and the American Embassy in Athens (1956). In 1958 he opened his own practice in Massachusetts and during the course of the next decade designed a series of projects in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands as well as several buildings for the Harvard medical and dental schools.
"Over the years Nagel taught and lectured at a host of different institutions among them Williams College, MIT, and the University of Texas. In 1974 he served as a visiting critic at the University of Colorado in Boulder and since 1976 was a visiting professor of architecture at the University of Colorado, Denver campus." Chester Nagel died in 2004
Quoted from Christopher Long, n.d., article in Alexander Architectural Archives reference files.
Partial Extent
28 exhibition_panels
Partial Extent
0.1 Linear Feet
Partial Extent
5 drawings
Partial Extent
13 photographs
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Chester E. Nagel (1911-2004) studied architecture at The University of Texas, graduating in 1934, and later studied with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, receiving his Master's degree in 1940 and later returning as an assistant professor. Early in his career he worked for the National Park Service; later he was involved with The Architect's Collaborative and eventually set up his own practice in 1958. The Chester E. Nagel collection includes exhibition panels, photographic prints, architectural renderings, correspondence, and transcripts that reveal the working life of this native Texan who became a proponent of the International Style.
Other Finding Aids
Unpublished inventory in archive.
References to works by or about Chester E. Nagel
- House in Texas.Architecture d'aujourd'hui20 (Feb. 1950): p. 100-101. Illus., plan.
- House at Austin, Texas.Architects' journal 98 (Dec. 4, 1943): p.413-414. Illus.
- House in Austin, Texas : Chester E. Nagel, architect and owner.New pencil points 24 (Jan. 1943): p. 20-31. Illus., plan, diagr.
Collection Processors
Materials processed by: Wai-Yin Kwan; Beth Dodd, 2003.
Genre / Form
- correspondence
- Drawings
- Exhibit panels
- Magazines
- photographs
- Transcripts
- architectural drawings (visual works)
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Chester E. Nagel collection
- Date
- 2003
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2003: [publication date]
- July 2003: Text converted by SPI Content Sciences Inc., .
- July 22, 2003: Edited with XMetaL 3 by Rebecca Romanchuk, according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions.
- October 24, 2023: Edited with Oxygen 23.1 by Stephanie Tiedeken according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD Editing Instructions.
- March 4, 2025: Edited with Oxygen 23.1 by Stephanie Tiedeken according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD Editing Instructions.
- June 10, 2026: Edited with Oxygen 23.1 by Stephanie Tiedeken according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD Editing Instructions.
Repository Details
Part of the Alexander Architectural Archives Repository
University of Texas Libraries
101 E. 21st Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4621
apl-aaa@lib.utexas.edu