Thursday, August 7, 2014

NEW! Diboll & Owen Finding Aid

The Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA) recently finalized the processing of the Diboll and Owen Office Records. The collection provides a limited view of the firm’s architectural output, dating from 1906-1972.

The most comprehensive records are associated with the firm’s work on the Milne Municipal Boys’ Home, located in the Third Municipal District (1932-1935). These include project drawings and progress photographs, correspondence, field notes and contract documents.

Across the collection’s renderings, those associated with Jack J.H. Kessels’ work on public housing projects during the 1930s are the most complete. Other drawings mostly pertain to early projects singularly developed by Owen or in partnership with Diboll and/or Goldstein; one represents Collins C. Diboll, Jr.’s Teche Greyhound Bus Depot in collaboration with Jack J.H. Kessels and Henry Boettner.

Photographic documentation of the firm’s early buildings is significant, as the firm retained the services of the city’s leading professional photographers, John Norris Teunisson, Joseph Schnetzer, Charles L. Franck and Louis T. Fritch.


Image above: Joseph Schnetzer, photographer for Diboll and Owen, Ltd. & T.A. Pittman, Inc. Milne Municipal Boys’ Home. 1 March 1933. Progress photograph. Diboll & Owen Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

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