Research
Scope and Content
The Susana Torre Architectural Collection consist of twenty-four cubic feet of material including professional correspondence, project files, research notes, published articles, office files about and by Torre, and teaching notes amassed by Torre, as well as twenty folders of architectural drawings and sketches, and photographs of projects taken before, during and after construction, mostly during the period from 1968 to 1991. The collection also includes three framed drawings and a model of the Garvey residence at Amagansett, Long Island. The information focuses on Torre's professional career, with the bulk of the material covering architectural projects and publishing and teaching efforts.
The project files include contracts, bids and proposals, project notes, feasibility studies, correspondence with clients and builders, specifications, product information, and clippings of articles about the projects. There are also seventeen sets of project drawings. The most important and best-documented projects of this collection are the renovation of a law office for Harry Torcyzner, New York; the Clark's residence at South Hampton, New York; the Chamber's Street Restaurant, New York; the Embassy of the Ivory Coast; the Robert Panero Associates office renovation project; a feasibility study for "Suitables" (a chain of women's clothing stores); the renovation of Schemerhorn Hall at Columbia University, New York; the Fire Station Five at Columbus, Indiana; the Montauk Public Library, New York; a fire station in Jersey City, New Jersey; a feasibility study for the Ruppert Green Project (a multi-family residential complex in New Jersey); the Garvey residence; the Feinberg residence in Chillmark, Massachusetts; Columbia University's Law Library renovation; and the Jewett Arts Center at Wellesley College, MA.
Professional papers include information about associations and organizations in which Torre participated; organizational correspondence regarding meetings, objectives and proceedings, invitations, brochures and articles about speakers and organization events; publications by and about Torre and architecture; and Torre's notes about women in architecture that she used to prepare the 1977 exhibition and its companion book, Women in American Architecture. Organizations to which Torre belonged include the Architectural League of New York, the Heresies (a feminist publication on art and politics), Networks: Women in Architecture, the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ASCA): Task Force on the Status of Women in Architecture Schools, and Architects Designers Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR). The publications span the dates 1967-1992 and include early Spanish-language and later English material written by Torre, as well as magazine and newspaper clippings, invitations to conferences and technical paper presentations, outlines of articles and comments on other author's publications, correspondence with publishers and organizations, and Torre's hand-written notes from meetings and conferences.
There are also accumulated research notes about women architects in America that Torre compiled to write the introduction and several segments of the book Women in American Architecture: a Historic and Contemporary Perspective that received support from the Architectural League of New York and was published by Whitney Library of Design. The exhibition opened at the Brooklyn Museum in 1977 and then toured around the United States. The research files include information about specific architects, general notes and photographs, and articles and papers published by American women architects.
Faculty papers include lecture notes, student projects, newspaper clippings and theses from lecture and teaching positions that Torre held at schools such as State University of New York (SUNY) at Old Westbury, the Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, Miami University in Ohio, Columbia University and its Graduate School of Architecture Planning and preservation program, University of Pennsylvania, Escula Technica Superior De Architectura in Spain, Barnard Architecture College, University of Sydney, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and New Jersey School of Architecture.
Office Files include correspondence documents, notes, brochures and invitations for lectures, conference and symposia attended and participated in by Torre spanning from 1967 to 1994. The collection also includes information about the various exhibitions, juries, and advisory boards in which Torre participated, helped organize, and presided over during her professional career. The Awards and Fellowships files include documentation and information regarding the various awards, honors, and fellowships that Torre received from 1979 to 1990.
Dates
- 1985
Creator
- From the Collection: Torre, Susana, 1944- (Person)
Language of Materials
The materials in the collection are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 26.4 Cubic Feet (23 boxes, 28 oversize folders, 3 framed drawings, and 1 model)
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech Repository
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)
560 Drillfield Drive
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg Virginia 24061 US
540-231-6308
specref@vt.edu