Visual Materials

Contemporary renderings of Neff buildings

Description: Wallace Neff Jr. commissioned these contemporary painted renderings of his father's buildings as visualizations of the original designs. The majority are watercolor paintings made between approximately 1991 and 2007, depicting the front view of buildings. Identified artists are: Jim Burns of Pasadena; Robert de Rosa; Frank Germain of San Clemente; Howard Huizing of Orange; Norman Kennedy; Frank Loudin of Eastsound, Washington; David Smith of Laguna Beach. The artist is unidentified for five paintings. All locations are in California unless otherwise noted.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1991 - 2007
Call number: Subseries 4
Creator: Neff, Wallace (1895-1982)(Opens in new tab)

Research files and photographs of Neff buildings

Visual Materials

Neff Jr.'s research files on his father's clients and projects, which he compiled approximately 1970s to 2006. Files include Neff Jr.'s correspondence with homeowners, clippings, background on homeowners, and many photographs of buildings, including some taken by Neff Jr. on site visits. All locations are in California unless noted otherwise.

Subseries 2

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Biographical: Neff and family

Visual Materials

This collection contains the papers and architectural drawings of Los Angeles architect Wallace Neff, whose career spanned 56 years, from 1919 to 1975. The collection is divided into five series: Personal papers, Professional papers, Project records, Wallace Neff Jr. papers, and Additional donations. The materials include over 100 sets of drawings and plans, Neff's project files, writings and correspondence, job lists, daily journals, sketches and renderings, and photographs. The majority of Neff's work was residential architecture in Southern California, but the collection also contains materials on many types of institutional buildings and other structures Neff designed. Most projects are in California, with some material on projects in Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. The Airform project files discuss building in Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, and other countries. Residences represented include those for Edward L. and Estelle Carrie Doheny, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Amelita Galli-Curci, Fredric March, Frances Marion and Fred Thomson, Groucho Marx, and King Vidor. Other projects include the Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library; Manresa Jesuit Retreat House; Ojai Valley Country Club; Saint Elizabeth Church; and buildings for Loyola Marymount University and Pomona College. There are many records on Neff's Airform buildings: contracts, drawings, patents, licenses, correspondence, and photographs. The collection also includes the research files of Neff's son, Wallace Neff Jr. (1930-2013), related to his father's career and works. Neff Jr. compiled this material while working on his 1986 book "Wallace Neff, Architect of California's Golden Age" (text by Alson Clark). Neff Jr.'s files contain many photographs, notes and articles on Neff buildings, as well as Neff family history, and transcripts of talks he gave on his father. In addition, Neff Jr. commissioned contemporary renderings of his father's buildings, which were painted approximately 1991 to 2007 and are part of this collection. The Additional Donations series contains drawings received from other sources after the primary donation in 2006.

Subseries 1

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Photographs of Sketches and Renderings; Airform Construction; Wallace Neff portraits

Visual Materials

This collection contains photographs, papers and published articles related to Los Angeles architect Wallace Neff (1895-1982) and his work designing residential and public buildings, primarily in Southern California, approximately 1913-1960s. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs of residential exteriors and interiors, with some views of other buildings; photographs of Neff's sketches; photographs of architectural drawings; portraits of Neff and family members; and correspondence and patent drawings pertaining to airform construction. The airform construction or "Bubble house" materials also include snapshots of airform housing under construction in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1961. An autograph copy of Neff's book "Architecture of Southern California" (Rand McNally, 1964) is also part of this collection (Box 6).

photCL 211

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Neff-Ruppel Building, 1929: Painting by Frank Loudin

Visual Materials

archNeff

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Wallace Neff Jr. papers

Visual Materials

These files were compiled by Wallace Neff Jr. as he did research on his father's houses and buildings for a book he published in 1986. Materials include photographs, Neff Jr.'s notes on past and present owners, correspondence from homeowners, newspaper and magazine articles, photocopies of floor plans and drawings, and miscellaneous printed material. Most files contain the street address and notes as to whether the building still exists, was torn down, or remodeled. Some photographs and clippings in these files were probably originally part of Neff's own files, and were moved while Neff Jr. was working on his book. These include photographs by Maynard Parker, Hiller Studios, and Padilla Studios, dating from the 1920s to 1940s. There are also snapshots taken by Neff Jr. on site visits and some images received from homeowners. Neff Jr. also occasionally hired professionals to photograph houses or copy older photographs, usually photographer Roland Lee, whose stamp is on some prints.

Series 4

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Drawings

Visual Materials

This series contains architectural working drawings and renderings of buildings. The drawings are rolled or in flat folders, and the number of surviving drawings for each project varies. Renderings are in pencil, paint, or other media.

Subseries 4

Contemporary renderings of Neff buildings

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Research files and photographs of Neff buildings

Biographical: Neff and family

Photographs of Sketches and Renderings; Airform Construction; Wallace Neff portraits

Neff-Ruppel Building, 1929: Painting by Frank Loudin

Wallace Neff Jr. papers

Drawings