Diagrammatic practices: The office of Frederick L. Ackerman and Architectural Graphic Standards

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

Volumn 64, Issue 1, 2005, Pages

  Emmons, Paul ^a  

^a VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950513003     PISSN: 00379808     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/25068122     Document Type: Article

References (113)

1. The exhibition itself reflected this sort of bifurcation between the section organized by Johnson and Hitchcock and the less well known section on housing organized by Lewis Mumford and other members of the Regional Planning Association of America - Catherine Bauer, Clarence Stein, and Henry Wright. Following the introductions, the catalogue is split between Johnson and Hitchcock's major portion, on exhibiting architects, and Mumford's contribution at the end on housing. The sections also differ in the mode of presenting work, the first emphasizing buildings as photographed objects and the second taking a more didactic approach. See Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr., Modern Architecture, International Exhibition (New York, 1932)
2. and Terence Riley, The International Style: Exhibition 15 and the Museum of Modern Art (New York, 1992)
3. For a history of the RPAA, see Roy Lubove, Community Planning in the 1920s: The Contribution of the Regional Planning Association of America (Pittsburgh, 1963)
4. For biographical information on F. L. Ackerman, see Henry and Elsie Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Los Angeles, 1956)
5. Who Was Who in America (1943-1950), Volume Two (Chicago, 1950)
6. Frederick Ackerman, Homes for Workers (New York, 1918), 2
7. John Murphy in John Murphy, ed., The Housing Famine and How to End It: A Triangular Debate between John Murphy, Edith Elmer Wood and Frederick L. Ackerman (New York, 1920), vii
8. and Lewis Mumford, "Frederick Lee Ackerman, FAIA (1878-1950)," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 14 (Dec. 1950), 249-54. While in Paris, Ackerman was in the atelier of Joseph-Eugène-Armand Duquesne, who taught at Harvard University from 1911 to 1914
9. "Alexander Buell Trowbridge, Obituary," Architectural Record 108 (Nov. 1950), 196
10. On Trowbridge's having been brought to Cornell to institute a Beaux-Arts curriculum, see Mary N. Woods, From Craft to Profession: The Practice of Architecture in Nineteenth-Century America (Berkeley, 1999), 80
11. Fiske Kimball, "The Social Center" Architectural Record 45 (May 1919), 417-40. Trowbridge & Ackerman's work is illustrated on pages 435-38
12. Frederick Ackerman, The Housing Problem in War and in Peace (Washington, D.C., 1918)
13. There is no complete survey of Ackerman's work, although a partial list of work by Harold Sleeper, dated 12 Dec. 1942, includes all work in which he was involved at Ackerman's firm. No. 2135, Box 8, Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Kroch Library Manuscript Collections, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Many of Ackerman's projects have been published. In addition to those identified elsewhere in this article, a partial list includes: "Tryon Art Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.," American Architect 129 (20 Feb. 1926), 304
14. "Apartment House, 24 East 83rd Street, New York City," Architectural Forum 69 (Dec. 1938), 429-32
15. "The House of J. DuPratt White, Nyack, N.Y.," American Architect 135 (20 Jan. 1929), 81-96
16. "Young Quinlan Department Store Reborn," Architecture Minnesota 16 (Jan.-Feb. 1990), 22-29
17. "Munsey Park Business Center," American Architect 144(July 1934), 67-70
18. "House in Munsey Park," American Architect 145 (Sept. 1934), 17-18
19. "Munsey Park Golf Club," American Architect 144 (Mar. 1934), 34-39
20. and "Studies, Cornell University," Architect 9 (Mar. 1928), 680-88
21. Still occupied, the First Houses project is located in New York City at 29-41 Avenue A at East Third Street. "First Houses," Metropolis 12 (Jan.-Feb. 1993), 27-28
22. See, for example, Frederick Ackerman, "Community Stupidity: How Real-Estate Promotion Creates Congestion and Reduces Values," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 3 (May 1915), 193-97, 194
23. Ackerman, "The Relation of Art to Education, III: Architectural Schools," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 4 (July 1916), 281-84
24. and Ackerman, "The Architect's Part in the World's Work," Architectural Record 37 (Feb. 1915), 49-58
25. Typescript, 2, item 10, "Biographical Data: Harold R. Sleeper," Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
26. Richard Pommer, "The Architecture of Urban Housing in the United States during the Early 1930s," JSAH 37 (Dec. 1978), 235-14
27. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (New York, 1899)
28. Thorstein Veblen, "The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labor," American Journal of Sociology 4 (1898-99)
29. Thorstein Veblen, The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts (New York, 1914), 328
30. Thorstein Veblen, The Engineers and the Price System (New York, 1921), 80
31. For the assertion that Ackerman knew Veblen at Cornell, see Michael Lang, "Town Planning and Radicalism in the Progressive Era: The Legacy of F. L. Ackerman," Planning Perspectives 16 (2001), 143-67, 146
32. and Kermit Parsons, ed., The Writings of Clarence Stein, Architect of the Planned Community (Baltimore, 1998), 188 n. 2, 380 n. 1
33. Along with Robert Kohn and Charles Whitaker, Ackerman was on the executive committee charged with reorganization of the Alliance. See John Dorfman, Thorstein Veblen and His America (1934; rev. ed. New York, 1966)
34. and Frederick Ackerman, The Facts behind Technocracy: How Man's Growing Use of Energy Is Revolutionizing His Social Life (New York, 1933)
35. Frederick Ackerman to Lewis Mumford, 9 May 1941, Letters, 1929-1941, to Lewis Mumford, folder 21, Lewis Mumford Collection, Rare Book and Ms. Library Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
36. See, for example, Frederick Ackerman, "The Function of Architectural Criticism," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 16 (Apr. 1928), 145
37. Frederick Ackerman, "Where Goes the City Planning Movement? V. Drifting," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 8 (Oct. 1920), 351-54
38. and Frederick Ackerman in Murphy, The Housing Famine and Hoz to End It, 16-17
39. Frederick Ackerman, "Forces that Influence the Profession's Future," American Architect 141 (May 1932), 30-32, 120
40. Frederick Ackerman, "Georgian Architecture," Tuileries Brochures (Mar. 1930), 115-27
41. Veblen, The Instinct of Workmanship, 283-84
42. Ackerman, "Georgian Architecture," 116
43. Mumford, "Ackerman," 252
44. Frederick Ackerman, "An Influence for Better Small Homes," Architectural Forum 32 (Apr. 1920), 170
45. Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class, 112-13
46. Also quoted in Catherine Bauer, Modern Housing (Boston, 1934), 212
47. Frederick Ackerman to Lewis Mumford, 19 Feb. 1929, 1-2, Frederick Ackerman file, Lewis Mumford Collection, Rare Book and Ms. Library Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania. Ackerman's letter was written in response to an article by Mumford where the latter argues that "conspicuous waste is quite as much in the salesrooms of the modernists as in the more conservative establishments," and goes on to write that "the machine is a communist" and that "we must design for the millionaire precisely as we would for the manual worker." Lewis Mumford, "The Economics of Contemporary Decoration," Creative Art (Jan. 1929), xix-xxi
48. Charles Ramsey and Harold Sleeper, Architectural Graphic Standards (New York, 1932)
49. Almost all of these modern handbooks were first published, at least in part, as installments in architectural journals, and some were not available in bound book form until later in the next decade. These early journal printings were explicitly intended to be made into books and were printed with a blank verso, marks identified for cutting and punching to put into special ring binders, and printing on different paper stock. See "Time-Saver Standards," American Architect 147 (July 1935), 45
50. Don Graff, "Draftsman's Data Sheets," Pencil Points (Jan. 1932)
51. Ernst Neufert, "Bau-Entwurfslehre," Bauwelt (11 Apr. 1935)
52. and E. and O. E., "Planning: The Architect's Handbook," Architect and Building News (London) (1935)
53. Harold Reeve Sleeper graduated from Cornell in 1915 and began working for Trowbridge & Ackerman in 1919; by the mid-1920s, following Ackerman's advice, he became a specification writer for the office and in 1928 was named an associate. Charles George Ramsey graduated from the Architectural Association of Ireland and emigrated from Dublin in the early 1900s. Ramsey began working for Trowbridge & Ackerman in either 1913 or 1919. Ramsey's employment data sheet has an original ink date of 29 May 1919. Sometime later that date was crossed out and 16 May 1913 written over in pencil. For the promotion for the fourth edition of Graphic Standards, Ramsey indicated his beginning date of employment with Ackerman as 1913. After Ackerman's death in 1950, the firm continued as Sleeper, Ramsey and Schwartzman. See "Harold Sleeper Obituary," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 35 (Jan. 1961), 58
54. Architectural Forum 113 (Dec. 1960), 16
55. House and Home 18 (Dec. 1960), 71
56. and "Charles Ramsey Obituary," Progressive Architecture 45 (Jan. 1964), 60, Charles George Ramsey, Harold R. Sleeper, Employee Biographical Data Sheets, no. 2135, Box 2, and Questionnaire Related to the Promotion of Book, 1, no. 2135, Box 13, Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
57. When Sleeper, late in life, recorded the origins of Graphic Standards, he identified Ackerman as "encouraging" the project. See Harold R. Sleeper, "Architectural Graphic Standards: The Birth of a Book," Graphic Science (Apr. 1960), 19-21, esp. 19. Sleeper kept detailed records to repay Ackerman for the time office employees spent preparing sheets for Graphic Standards in Ackerman's office. Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
58. In Martin Matheson's acceptance letter for Ramsey and Sleeper's proposal, addressed to them c/o F. L. Ackerman, he quotes one of the three reader's reports: "I have very high regard for Mr. Ackerman's office." Martin Matheson, Advertising and Sales Manager of John Wiley & Sons, to Messrs. Ramsey and Sleeper, 29 Nov. 1930, no. 2135, Box 13, Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
59. For Sleeper's articles, see, for example, "Where? What? How? The Specification! By Harold R. Sleeper, of the Office of Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect," Architectural Forum (Nov. 1930), 635-37
60. and "University Housing Problems, by Harold R. Sleeper, Associate of the Firm of Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect," Architectural Forum (June 1931), 761-70
61. See "Assembly of Specification Data by Harold R. Sleeper of the Office of Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect," Architectural Forum (May 1931), 619-21
62. and "The Standard Specification by Harold R. Sleeper, of the Office of Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect," Architectural Forum (Feb. 1931), 237-40
63. Sleeper, "Architectural Graphic Standards," 19
64. "Comparison of Student Living Halls on the Relation between Use and Volume of Structure" was included in Ackerman's report on the Balch Hall project to Cornell University. Frederick Ackerman Report, no. 2/5/953, Box 1, Cornell University Archives. Sleeper indicated that he worked under Frederick Ackerman on projects for Cornell University, including residential halls for women and a recreation building and recreation field for women. "Partial List of Work," typescript, Harold R. Sleeper Papers, no. 2135, Box 8, Cornell University Archives. The Balch Hall women's residences were later described as executed in the "English Renaissance style." Kermit Parsons, The Cornell Campus (Ithaca, 1968), 238 n. 18
65. Frederick L. Ackerman, foreword to Report on an Inquiry into the Utilization of a Certain Tract of Land for Residential Use for Men Students, Submitted to a Special Committee of the Board of Trustees on Housing for Men, 20 Oct. 1930, Cornell University Archives
66. Advertisement for the fourth edition of Architectural Graphic Standards, used on the back of the dust jacket. Harold R. Sleeper, Building Planning and Design Standards for Architects, Engineers, Designers, Consultants, Draftsmen and Students (New York, 1955)
67. Frederick Ackerman, A Note on Site and Unit Planning (New York, 1937)
68. The book proposal identified the contents as collections of standards: "The subjects to be presented may be broadly divided classifications: (I) Data, standards and dimensions fixed by the human scale, (2) Government and trade associations' accepted standards, and (3) Information and standards which have become fixed through usage and practice." Book proposal to John Wiley & Sons, 29 Oct. 1930, no. 2135, Box 13, Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
69. Knud Lönberg-Holm, "Design for Environmental Control," Architectural Record 80 (Aug. 1936), 158
70. Ernest Irving Freese, "The Geometry of the Human Figure," American Architect and Architecture 145 (July 1934), 57-60
71. See also their article on the anthropometrics of children, written with Ruth Leigh, "Houses Are for Children, Too," American Architect (Nov. 1932)
72. and republished in Time-Saver Standards
73. Ramsey and Sleeper, "Statement Concerning Proposed Book," memorandum to John Wiley & Sons, 29 Oct. 1930, 2. Harold R. Sleeper Papers, Cornell University Archives
74. John Hancock Callender, Introduction to Studies of Family Living (New York, 1943), 5
75. Callender was the first editor to appear by name in Time-Saver Standards, in the fourth edition (1966)
76. M. F. (Marcus Fayette) Cummings, Cummings' Architectural Details (New York, 1873)
77. See Daniel Reiff, Houses from Books: Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in American Architecture, 1738-1950: A History and Guide (College Park, Penn., 2000)
78. See also Dell Upton, "Pattern Books and Professionalism: Aspects of the Transformation of Domestic Architecture in America, 1800-1860," Winterthur Portfolio (1984), 107-50
79. These included Francis Chandler, Construction Details Prepared for the Use of Students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston, 1892)
80. and Clarence Martin, Details of Building Construction (Boston, 1899), the latter based on Martin's lectures at Cornell
81. One of the most widely used handbooks in the 1920s through several editions is Philip Knobloch, Good Practice in Construction (New York, 1923)
82. Louis Rouillion and Charles Ramsey, Architectural Details (New York, 1924)
83. Hyungmin Pai, The Portfolio and the Diagram, Architecture, Discourse, and Modernity in America (Cambridge, Mass., 2002), 202 ff
84. also quoted in Bauer, Modern Housing, 212
85. Frederick Ackerman, "The Relation of Art to Education: III. Architectural Schools," Journal of the American Institute of Architects 4 (July 1916), 281-84
86. Frederick Ackerman, introduction to Harold Sleeper, Architectural Specifications (New York, 1940), v
87. Joseph de Chiara, Time-Saver Standards for Building Types (New York, 1980), xv-xvi
88. Ramsey and Sleeper, preface to Architectural Graphic Standards (see n. 31)
89. Ackerman, foreword, and Ramsey and Sleeper, preface to Architectural Graphic Standards
90. For example, see Umberto Eco, The Search for the Perfect Language, trans. by James Fentress (Oxford, 1995)
91. and Theodor Adorno, Prisms, trans. by Samuel and Shierry Weber (1967; Cambridge, Mass., 1981), 75, 92
92. Robert Hahn, Anaximander and the Architects: The Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosophy (Albany, 2001)
93. Patrick Geddes, "A Note on Graphic Methods, Ancient and Modern," Sociological Review 15 (1923), 227-35
94. The orientation chart was published in all five editions edited by Ramsey and Sleeper. Ramsey and Sleeper copied it from The House Beautiful Building Annual of 1925: A Comprehensive and Practical Manual of Procedure, Materials, and Methods of Construction for All Who Contemplate Building or Remodeling a Home (New York, 1924)
95. The chart originally appeared in the anonymous 1922 pamphlet Orienting the House: A Study of the Placing of the House with Relation to the Sun's Rays (Chicago, 1922)
96. For a similar diagram that the author direcdy identifies with the Ptolemaic system, see William Atkinson, The Orientation of Buildings or Planning for Sunlight (New York, 1912), 2
97. The diagram was reproduced in a vertical format without the border in Don Graf's Data Sheets (New York, 1944)
98. and Towne Abercrombie, Applied Architectural Drawing (1931; Milwaukee, 1948), 25
99. Villard de Honnecourt's cathedral plans are drawn with east "up." For the orientation tradition in cartography, see O. A. W. Dilke, Greek and Roman Maps (Baltimore, 1998), 176
100. and Lloyd Brown, The Story of Maps (New York, 1979), 96
101. Aristotle, Historia Animalium, 8. 620a
102. See also Vitruvius, I. IV. 7
103. Pindar, Pythian Odes, 4. 6
104. and Strabo, The Geography, 9. 3. 6
105. For ancient images of eagles on each side of an omphalos, see A. B. Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Three Volumes in Five Parts (New York, 1965), 2: 179, 187
106. William Richard Lethaby, Architecture, Mysticism and Myth (London, 1892), 71
107. For publications referring to Graphic Standards as the architect's bible, see Philip Johnson, foreword to Architectural Graphic Standards (New York, 2000), xiv, xv
108. "Harold Sleeper, Obituary," House and Home 18 (Dec. 1960), 71
109. and "Harold Sleeper Obituary," Journal of the American Institute of Architects, 58
110. Kenneth Kramer, "Architecture's Classic Reference Has Been Transformed into a High Tech Design Tool; Architectural Graphic Standards CD-ROM Version 2.0," Wisconsin Architect 69 (May/June 1998), 6. Architectural Graphic Standards is now available by subscription in a downloadable Web format
111. H. Vandervoort Walsh, "The Draftsman's Own Data File," Architectural Forum 33 (Dec. 1920), 201
112. Parsons, Writings of Clarence Stein, 246, 379 (see n. 17). Stein quotes Ackerman in 1931 as saying, "I passed Bolshevism a couple of years ago" (193). When Roosevelt reopened the banks after the Depression in 1933, Stein wrote "I am afraid Ackerman will have to wait until next time" (253)
113. Georges Bataille, The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, trans. by Michael Richardson (London, 1994), 48