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Archival Collections Portal > Avery Drawings & Archives Collections > Finding Aid: Serge Chermayeff architectural records and papers
Serge Chermayeff architectural records and papers,
1909-1980
1930s-1970s
Preferred Citation
Serge Ivan Chermayeff architectural records and papers. Located in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
COinS Metadata
available (e.g., for Zotero).
Summary Information
At a Glance
| Avery ID: | D&A Chermayeff View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Chermayeff, Serge, 1900-1996. |
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| Title: | Serge Chermayeff architectural records and papers,
1909-1980
1930s-1970s
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| Physical description: | 17 linear feet of papers, 1,508 photographs,
915 drawings (38 manuscript boxes, 35 rolls, 6 portfolio boxes, 2 flatfile drawers,
and 2 film reel boxes)
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| Language(s): |
In English.
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| Access: |
This collection is available for use by qualified readers by appointment in the Archives
and Drawings' Reading Room, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia
University. Collections maintained in off-site storage will be retrieved with advance
notification only; for further details, please consult the Drawings & Archives staff.
For further information and to make an appointment, please call (212) 854-4110.
More information » |
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| Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection: | Correspondence,
typescript papers,
carbon typescript papers,
holograph papers,
printed papers,
photographic prints,
film negatives,
photographic transparencies,
architectural reprographic prints,
mixed media drawings,
VHS videocassette,
35mm film,
maps.
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Arrangement
Arrangement
This material is arranged in fourteen series: Personal Papers; Correspondence; Project
Records; Professional Papers; Faculty Papers, Académie Européenne; Faculty Papers,
Brooklyn College; Faculty Papers, Institute of Design; Faculty Papers, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology; Faculty Papers, Harvard University; Faculty Papers, Washington
University; Faculty Papers, Yale University;
Community and
Privacy
;
Shape of Community
; and
Design and the Public Good
.
The arrangement of materials within each series is described at the beginning of each
series inventory.
Return to top Description
Scope and Content
This collection contains materials related to Chermayeff's personal, professional, and
academic lives, the bulk originating during his residency in the United States,
beginning in the late 1930s. Project records document the full range of his work,
including many records from his British period. The collection also contains extensive correspondence with
personal friends, clients, and professional and academic colleagues.
The archive also contains significant papers and images related to
publication of
The Shape of Community
,
Community and Privacy,
and
Design and the Public
Good,
including manuscripts, images, and some production records.
Lastly, the collection contains a large number of reference files relating to
architecture, design, urbanism, technology, sociology, anthropology, and current events,
compiled throughout Chermayeff's professional life.
Abbreviations used in the item inventory: SC=Serge Chermayeff.
Return to top Using the Collection
Access Restrictions
 This collection is available for use by qualified readers by appointment in the Archives
and Drawings' Reading Room, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia
University. Collections maintained in off-site storage will be retrieved with advance
notification only; for further details, please consult the Drawings & Archives staff.
For further information and to make an appointment, please call (212) 854-4110.
Restrictions on Use
Columbia University is providing access to the materials
in the Library's collections solely for noncommercial educational and research purposes. The unauthorized use, including,
but not limited to, publication of the materials without the prior written permission of Columbia University is strictly prohibited.
All inquiries regarding permission to publish should be submitted in writing to the Director,
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For additional guidance, see
Columbia University Libraries' publication policy.
In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission
of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal
assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item.
Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.
Preferred Citation
Serge Ivan Chermayeff architectural records and papers. Located in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Related Material
A small collection of Richard Plunz's academic papers is also held in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Library.
For additional information, please consult the staff.
Selected Bibliography
Plunz, Richard, ed.
Design and
the Public Good: Selected Writing, 1930-1980, by Serge Chermayeff.
Cambridge, Mass. and London, England:
The MIT Press,
1982
For Further InformationFor more information about using the collections and conducting research in the Department of Drawings & Archives, please see our FAQ. Return to top About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Finding aid written by Annemarie van Roessel, Archivist, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Annemarie van Roessel, Mellon Project Archivist, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, in 2005.
EAD instance generated by Annemarie van Roessel from Access database source and MARC-AMC
source April 4, 2006.
Finding aid written in English.
CLIO ID: 3464750 View CLIO record Return to top Index Terms
The names and terms listed below are represented in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a consortial/union catalog offered by OCLC that allows users to search the holdings of multiple archives and libraries. All links open new windows.
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| Weekend houses --Architects' --United States --Wellfleet
(Massachusetts) --Chermayeff house. | Portal | CLIO | ArchiveGRID |
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Return to top History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Serge Ivan Chermayeff was born on October 8, 1900 near Grozny in the Chechen region of the Northern Caucasus. Chermayeff attended
secondary school in England. He began his career as an interior designer for the London
firm of Waring & Gillow, creating streamlined modern interiors for various
residential and commercial clients. In 1931 he formed his own architectural office and
was joined in 1933 by German émigré Erich Mendelsohn, with whom he designed several
notable projects in and around London and Southern England, including the De La Warr Pavilion
(1934-1935), the R. J. Nimmo residence (1935), and the Dennis Cohen residence (1936), each a
notable example of International Style design. Although his partnership with Mendelsohn ended in 1936, both
men remained friends for many years. Among Chermayeff’s most important designs during
this period was that for his own residence, Bentley Wood (1937-1938), in East Sussex,
England. A controversial laboratory for his ideas about public and private spaces and
modern aesthetics, it received considerable attention from the architectural press. It
led, however, to financial difficulties and Chermayeff was forced to sell in 1939,
barely a year after completion.
In 1940, Chermayeff immigrated to the United States, settling briefly in San Francisco,
California, to collaborate with local architects on several residential and commercial
projects, including the Clarence Mayhew residence (1942) and the Walter Horn residence
(1942). Chermayeff soon moved to New York City to become professor of art at Brooklyn
College, a position he held until Walter Gropius recommended him in 1946 to serve as
president of the Institute of Design in Chicago following László Moholy-Nagy's death.
Chermayeff left Chicago in 1951 after the Institute of Design merged with the Illinois
Institute of Technology. Teaching briefly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Chermayeff joined the faculty at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard in 1953, where
he was instrumental in developing a rigorous curriculum for urban design and planning
and in organizing symposia and collaborative projects around issues of contemporary urbanism.
During this period, Chermayeff also maintained a small private architecture practice with
Hayward Cutting. In 1962, Chermayeff accepted a position at Yale’s School of
Architecture, where he continued his research and teaching in areas of human interactions
with city planning and architecture.
With co-author Christopher Alexander, Chermayeff published
Community and Privacy: Toward a New Architecture of Humanism
(Garden City,
N. Y., Doubleday, 1963), and with co-author Alexander Tzonis he published
Shape of Community: Realization of Human Potential
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), both idiosyncratic but widely considered studies of how
human biological and social needs intersect with the built environment.
Chermayeff’s selected lectures and writings were
published in
Design and the Public Good
, in 1982, which was edited by Richard Plunz,
professor in the School of Architecture at Columbia University. A frequent speaker, guest critic,
and prolific writer, Chermayeff was also active in numerous professional organizations,
including CIAM, MARS, and the American Society of Architects and Planners, and was awarded
honorary degrees from several colleges and universities. In addition, he was a
life-long artist, industrial designer, and poet, exhibiting at galleries in Chicago and
Boston and self-publishing several anthologies of his poetry.
Throughout his years in the United States, Chermayeff also sustained close ties to Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, maintaining a home and studio near Wellfleet, designing experimental architecture
for several clients in the area, and advocating for the establishment of the Cape Cod
National Seashore. Chermayeff died in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in 1996.
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