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Paul Philippe Cret collection

 Collection
Identifier: CRET

Staff Only

Scope and Content of the Collection

This collection includes drawings (site plans, floor plans, elevations, sections, full scale details, landscape plans, blueprints, diagrams, and presentation renderings), all of which are arranged numerically by job number, as well as unprocessed photographic material. The drawings document the design work Cret did at the University of Texas (1930-1945) with emphasis on the master development plan for the Austin campus. Among the projects are:

The records of the University of Texas Supervising Architects Office contain copies of much of the correspondence between Cret and the University. The Architecture and Planning Library holds specifications and reports relating to Cret's plans and buildings in its special collections. The bulk of Cret's drawings are located at the Philadelphia Athenaeum.

-Ardys Kozbial

Description of the unprocessed addendum accession of photographic material, drawings, postcards, and papers follows Series A: Drawings.

Dates

  • Creation: 1930-1957

Creator

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.

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasions of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person).

The Alexander Architectural Archives operate in accordance with applicable federal or state laws and regulations, providing unrestricted access to university records not covered by state and federal right to privacy acts.

The Alexander Architectural Archives, The University of Texas Libraries, and The University of Texas at Austin, assume no responsibility for infringement of literary property rights and copyright or for liability to any person for defamation or invasion of privacy that results from a researcher's use of collections.

Researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless The University of Texas at Austin, and their officers, employees, and agents from and against all suits, claims, actions, and expenses arising out of use of collections held by the libraries. Please alert staff if anything inappropriate is found during research.

Copyright interests in this collection may not have been transferred to the University of Texas. Researchers assume full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply. Additionally, the public use of material must be cited. See citation information below.

Biographical Sketch of Paul Cret

Born in Lyon, France in 1876, Paul Cret attended the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1897-1903. Upon graduation, he accepted a teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania where he taught until retiring in 1937. During his tenure as a professor in design, the architectural program enjoyed a nationwide reputation for excellence.

Cret established a successful practice in Philadelphia specializing in the design of public buildings. His firm was particularly adept at garnering commissions through architectural competitions. Among such commissions were the Pan-American Union Building (1907-1917) in Washington, DC and the Indianapolis Public Library (1914-1917). His designs represent the height of the Beaux-Arts movement in the United States, characterized by the symmetrical, axially disposed plans with elevations articulated by historicist detailing derived from antiquity and the Renaissance. This style was found appropriate to monumental public buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cret was a master with Beaux-Arts principles of design, but his true genius was in his ability to synthesize this style with the new modernist values.

Cret's most productive years were between 1919-1930. He received commissions for war memorials and bridges, such as the Delaware River Bridge (1920-1926). In 1928 he joined the planning commission for Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition of 1933. It was the public buildings, most notably the Detroit Institute of Arts (1919-1927) with its innovative galleries designed in styles appropriate to the art on display that established Cret as one of America's foremost architects.

In 1930, Cret was retained by the University of Texas as consulting architect for the development of a master plan for the Austin campus. By 1931 the creation of the Permanent University Fund, based on oil income for state lands allowed the University to begin construction on the buildings that were, up to that time, ideas on paper. During the next fifteen years, Cret continued his comprehensive building design for the University of Texas' Austin campus. Cret died in 1945, but his firm, which changed its name to Harbeson, Hough, Livingston and Larson, continued his work, focusing on the completion of the buildings facing the south mall. The firm is known today as H2L2 Architects/Planners.

-Lila Knight

Partial Extent

992 drawings

Partial Extent

2639 photographs

Partial Extent

7650 postcards

Partial Extent

2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret was retained by the University of Texas at Austin as a consulting architect for the development of a master plan for the campus (1930-1945). Cret was born in Lyon, France in 1876, attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1897-1903), and specialized in the design of public buildings. The collection contain drawings, floor plans, elevations, sections, details, landscape plans, diagrams and presentation renderings of Cret's work at the University of Texas at Austin (1930-1945). An addendum to this collection consists of photographs, drawings, postcards, and papers which accompanied the purchase of the library of Paul P. Cret in 2000.

Other Finding Aids

Unpublished inventory in Archive.

Related Material

The personal library of Cret is located in the Architecture and Planning Library Special Collections. Please refer to the UTCAT online catalog or the archive's staff for more information.

References to works by or about Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945)

References compiled by Nancy Sparrow


  • "Aerial Photography and Architecture." Journal of the American Institute of Architects 9 (1921): p. 8-12.
  • "American Battle Monuments France and Belgium, Paul Philippe Cret. Architectural Forum 56 (1932): p. 473-6.
  • "The Architect as Collaborator with the Engineer." Architectural Forum 49 (1928): p. 97-104.
  • "Architectural Criticism." Architecture 21 (1910): p. 81.
  • "Architecture for a Public Client: the Monuments and Chapels of the American Battle Monuments Commission." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 43 (May 1984): p. 119-43.
  • "Are We Teaching Architecture?" Architectural Forum 69 (Oct. 1938): p. 10-1.
  • Bach, Richard F. "The Detroit Institute of Arts with Prefatory Notes on Museum Theory and Practice Demonstrations on its New Building." Architectural Forum 50 (1929): p. 193-202.
  • [Central Heating Plant, Washington, D.C.] American Architect 146 (Feb. 1935): p. 49-51.
  • [Central Heating Plant, Washington, D.C.] Architectural Record 79 (1936): p. 220-3.
  • "A Century of Progress." Architectural Forum 61 (July 1934): p. 1-32.
  • "A Century of Progress." Architectural Record 73 (1933): p. 342-74.
  • Chase, Clement. "The Delaware River Bridge." American Architect 131, part 1 (1927): p. 329-35.
  • "Competition for a Building for the Federal Reserve Board." Architectural Forum 63 (1935): p. 6-12.
  • Cram, Ralph Adams. "The Indianapolis Public Library." Architectural Forum 29 (Sept. 1918): p. 67-8.
  • Cret, Paul Philippe. "The Buildings of the Barnes Foundation." Architecture 53 (1926): p. 1-6.
  • "Current Architecture." Architectural Review 31 (1912): p. 218-24.
  • "Detroit Institute of Arts." Art and Archaeology (1924).
  • [Detroit Institute of Arts] The Architect 9 (1927): p. 305-24.
  • "Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 47 (Sept. 1988): p. 245-62.
  • Eberlein, Harold Donaldson. "The Delaware River Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden." Architectural Record 61 (1927): p. 1-12.
  • "The Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Architectural Education." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 (Apr. 1941): p. 3-15.
  • "Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C." American Architect 151 (1937): p. 29-34.
  • Geerlings, Gerald K. "The Detroit Institute of Arts." Architecture 57 (1928): p. 1-12, 65-76.
  • Grossman, Elizabeth Greenwell. Paul Philippe Cret: Rationalism and Imagery in American Architecture. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1980.
  • "The Hall of Science." Architectural Forum 57 (Aug. 1932): p. 103-6.
  • "The Hall of Science: A Century of Progress Exposition." Architectural Forum 57 (1932): p. 292-6.
  • [Hartford County Building] American Architect 131, part 1 (1927): p. 23, 25.
  • [Hartford County Building] Architectural Forum 51 (1929): p. 449-79.
  • "Integrity Trust Company, Philadelphia." Architectural Record 66 (1929): p. 290-306.
  • "Integrity Trust Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." Architecture 50 (1924): p. 119-22.
  • Junius, John. "The Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." Architecture 64 (1931): p. 189-95.
  • "Memorials--Columns, Shafts, Cenotaphs and Tablets." Architectural Forum 45 (1926): p. 331-6.
  • "An Office Building and a Bank in Philadelphia." Architectural Record 70 (1931): p. 75-86.
  • "Pan American Union." Architectural Review 31 (1907): p. 179-81, 226-7 and 15 (1908): plates 9-16.
  • "The Paris Competition." Journal of the American Institute of Architects 1 (1913): p. 337-8.
  • "Paul Cret and Architectural Competitions." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 25 (1966): p. 305-6.
  • "Paul Philippe Cret, October 23, 1876 - September 8, 1945." Journal of the American Institute of Architects 3-4 (1945): p. 281-8.
  • Price, C. Matlock. "The Pan American Union and its Annex: Washington, D.C.: A Study in Plan and Detail." Architectural Record 34 (1913): p. 385-457.
  • Reese, Carol McMichael. Paul Philippe Cret At Texas: architectural drawing and the image of the University in the 1930s. Austin, Texas, 1983. (Exhibition catalog)
  • Reid, Kenneth. "Paul Philippe Cret, Master of Design." Pencil Points 19 (1938): p. 608-38.
  • "The Robert Fulton Memorial Competition." Architectural Review 18 (1912): p. 1-6, plates 1-12.
  • Saylor, Henry H. "The Century of Progress Exposition." Architecture 68 (1933): p. 63-8.
  • Skidmore, Louis. "The Hall of Science." Architectural Forum 57 (Oct. 1932): p. 305-10.
  • "The Smithsonian Gallery of Art Competition." Architectural Forum 71 (July 1939): p. 1-16.
  • Sukert, Lancelot. "Folger Shakespeare Library." American Architect 142 (Sept. 1932): p. 40-62, 84, 86.
  • Swales, Francis. "Draftsmanship and Architecture as Exemplified by the work of Paul Philippe Cret." Pencil Points 9 (1928): p. 688-704.
  • "Ten Years of Modernism." Architectural Forum 59 (1933): p. 91-4.
  • "The Training of the Designer." American Architect 95 (1909): p. 116, 128, 131-134, 138-139.
  • "Truth and Tradition." Architectural Record 25 (1909): p. 107-10.
  • "Two Postwar Competitions: The Nebraska State Capitol and the Kansas City Liberty Memorial." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 45 (Sept. 1986): p. 244-69.
  • "United States Naval Hospital, Beaufort, South Carolina." Architectural Record 107 (Apr. 1950) p. 101-9.
  • "The University Bridge at Philadelphia." Architectural Record 58 (1930): p. 159-64.
  • White, Theophilis. Paul Philippe Cret: Architect and Teacher. Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1973.
  • Zantzinger, C.C. "In Memory of Paul Philippe Cret." Journal of the American Institute of Architects 10 (Sept. 1948): p. 109-11.

Processing Information

Processing is not completed. Please see Archive's staff for more information.

Collection Processors

Drawings processed by: Lila Knight, Spring 1987

Related Names

Subject

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Paul Philippe Cret collection
Author
Inventory prepared by Lila Knight
Date
1987
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 1987: [publication date]
  • May 2001: Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, . Addendum text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by SPI Content Sciences Inc., July 2003.
  • September 9, 2002: Edited in XMetaL 3.0 by Kristy Sorensen, according to instructions in Editing TARO EAD XML Finding Aids with XMetaL.
  • Tue Jul 22 15:01:13 CDT 2003: urn:taro:utexas.aaa.00016 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505).
  • August 26, 2003: Addendum text edited in XMetaL 3.0 by Rebecca Romanchuk, according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions.
  • October 9, 2023: Edited with Oxygen 23.1 by Stephanie Tiedeken according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD Editing Instructions.

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Alexander Architectural Archives Repository

https://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/locations/alexander-architectural-archives
Contact:
University of Texas Libraries
101 E. 21st Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4621

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