Build a Collection of Architectural Drawings

By Anne Gilbert

You don't hear much about collecting architectural drawings or renderings. However, over the years many major collections have been donated to museums and universities. There are still opportunities for discovering drawings of famous buildings by well known architects.

Basically, architectural drawing began as a set of instructions. Not until the 16th and 17th centuries were completed renderings, showing surroundings as well as the building, were done. As the architect became more important in the 18th and 19th centuries, he was seen as more of an artist.

Treadway/Toomey Auction Galleries, which specializes in 20th century art and objects, have sold Frank Lloyd Wright architectural drawings for more than $8,000 and his portfolio prints for over $400. There are many drawings by lesser known architects, including those from the 19th century, that come to auction galleries around the country for a few hundred dollars. Collections often overlap to cover blueprints, photographs and architectural fragments.

CLUES: Architectural drawings can turn up anywhere. I well remember coming across an architectural drawing of a Boca Raton house by famed Florida architect Addison Mizner at an estate sale in Evanston, Ill. It was priced at $5. That was in the 1970s. These days, it would cost thousands.

Opportunities come when families don't recognize the historical or aesthetic significance of architectural art. It gets trashed. Or sometimes dealers get a collection of architectural drawings rolled up when they buy an estate. If you keep your eyes open in shops, you may discover them, under priced. Not every dealer is expert on everything in his shop. If they have been framed, expect to pay a thousand dollars or more.

From the late 19th century, architects reproduced their drawings and had them hand colored. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the copies from the original drawings. One clue: the paper used has a smooth, almost polished surface. When moistened, an original pen-and- ink drawing won't smudge. Since it is doubtful that any dealer would take the drawing out of the frame, so if you are paying top dollar, get a certificate of authenticity from the seller. Then when you get it home, if you are doubtful, take it out of the frame.

The more colorful and detailed, the more expensive the drawing. Even if the structure was never built, it is still collectible.

There are many good, original, contemporary architectural drawings available in specialized galleries. These are house portraits done in addition to the drawings and plans. Look for the unusual or stylized architecture. Important public buildings as well as bridges, public buildings and churches are collectible. Consider it collecting history.

Architectural drawing of St. John The Divine Church, New York, 1887; Theophilus Parsons Chandler, Jr., architect. (Photo: University of Pennsylvania;
gift of G. Holmes Perkins.)

Architectural rendering, 1954, presentation drawing of the Neuromuseum for the Wisconsin Neurological Foundation, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect; signed and dated. (Photo: John Toomey Gallery, Oak Park, IL.)