The NLA purchased the collection recently from descendants of Griffin’s architectural partner Eric Milton Nicholls. It was the last major Griffin collection in private hands.

Two free events at the NLA

There will be a public viewing of the collection, which will be spread out over two large rooms on the 4th floor of the Library, on Wednesday 28 June from 10am to 4pm. NLA staff will be on hand to answer questions.

There will also be a talk at 12.30pm by Christopher Vernon on the Nicholls Collection. Vernon is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, at the University of Western Australia. Both events are free and do not require registration.

Catalogue information

Eric Milton Nicholls papers are located in the NLA Manuscript collection – MS9957, while the special map collection is located in the NLA Maps collection – MAP NIC 1-7.

The image collection includes drawings, lithographs, photographs, negatives, transparencies, glass lantern slides and postcards. Parts of the collection have been digitised and are available for viewing at the National Library of Australia website.

Other resources at the National Library

There are a number of other architect-related manuscript collections and oral history recordings at the NLA likely to be of interest to readers of this site.

• The papers of Canberra architect Malcolm Moir
• The Donald Leslie Johnson collection of Walter and Marion Griffin documents
• Papers of architect and NCDC Commissioner Grenfell Rudduck
• Engineer Charles Henry Caswell’s papers relating to the Canberra design competition
• Department of Works architect H. M. Rolland’s scrapbooks and memorabilia
• The papers of architect Walter Bunning 1 and 2
• The papers of architect W. P. Godfrey
• The papers of architect and NCDC Commissioner Sir John Overall
• The papers of architect Bruce Litchfield
• The papers of architect Colin Madigan
• The papers of town planner and architect Oskars Pumpurs
• The papers of Roger Johnson
• The papers of town planner Peter Harrison
• An interview with Peter Harrison
• An interview with the architect Noel Potter

During August 2004 thirty of the Dupain photographs were exhibited at the RAIA in Potts Point, along with copies of over 400 other Dupain images where the location was unknown. A lot of these images were of Sydney School architecture and project homes and interiors, including Pettit & Sevitt houses. The RAIA asked the public to help identify what they are.

A number of these Dupain images are now online at the RAIA website. Sydney School architecture, project homes, Pettit & Sevitt interiors: it’s a great collection of images. Some of the locations are still lost. If you recognise them, send the RAIA an email.

Visit the Max Dupain: Lost Locations exhibition online.

The first woman licensed to practice architecture in the United States, Mahony Griffin began her career in Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio, where she developed the striking Japanese-style presentation drawings associated with Wright’s office. In 1911 she married fellow architect Walter Burley Griffin, and together they embarked on a career that included the experimental Rock Crest, Rock Glen residential development in Mason City, Iowa, and of course the winning plan for Canberra, the Federal Capital of Australia.

Drawn primarily from the Block Museum’s collections, Drawing the Form of Nature will include a number of the Griffins’ presentation drawings created for prominent architectural commissions in the United States, examples of Mahony Griffin’s work as a landscape architect, and her little-known series of intricate botanical drawings and paintings of Australian landscapes.

Like her husband and collaborator, Mahony Griffin believed that buildings should reflect the character and culture of their natural surroundings. Her architectural presentation drawings are distinctive in their tall, narrow format, with a mixture of landscaped horticulture and natural growth linking the structure to its natural environment. By emphasizing natural materials and continuous horizontals, her drawings illustrated that architectural design and forms of the natural landscape are inseparable.

The image above is a detail from Walter Burley Griffin, architect (1879-1937), Marion Mahony Griffin, delineator (1871-1961), J.G. Melson Dwelling, Mason City, Iowa, 1912, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Gift of Marion Mahony Griffin.