On June 17, 1946, Caleb F. Gates, Chancellor of
the University of Denver, sent a Memorandum to the Board of Trustees,
recommending that a School of Architecture and Planning be established
in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Denver,
to be located on the Civic Center Campus. Provisions for additional
drafting space were made in Rodney Curtiss Hall and in the workshop
of Clayton Plumbing Company. It was recommended that the Planning
Department be transferred to the School of Architecture.
The justification advanced for the establishment of such a school
was the lack of any school of architecture between Lincoln, Nebraska
and the West Coast. Further, such a school at the University of
Denver could draw upon its existing faculty.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences would be joined by the School
of Business Administration and the School of Engineering to serve
in this capacity. Cognizance was made of accrediting requirements.
These were explored in some detail in 1951, when the decision for
accreditation was postponed for one year. A Bachelor Degree in architecture
and planning in the College of Arts and Sciences was proposed. The
1947 to 1950 brochures outlined a 5-year basic curriculum. After
two years of operation, the Director submitted a revision for the
last three years of the training program, and submitted it to Dean
James E. Perdue, January 30, 1948. This was basically a rearrangement
of the sequence of courses. Relationships of additional curricular
studies in other areas of the University were stipulated for Engineering,
Business Administration and Law, Arts and Sciences and the Library.
The Director of the School was Professor Carl Feiss; Mr. Leonard
Currie was temporarily designated as assistant to the Director and
Assistant Professor. Joseph Shelley was designated as instructor.
The 1949 correspondence still names Carl Feiss as Director. In the
1950 Report, Professor Vance Kirkland is listed as Director (administration
only); and others, Eugene Steinberg, Associate Professor; Howard
Miller, Assistant Professor; and Victor Horbein, instructor.
A professional advisory committee of eight men was appointed.
The initial recommendation to the Board of Trustees outlined a tentative
basic curriculum of three quarters and a recommended budget. Members
of the Advisory Committee consisted of practicing architects, planners
and the builders. They were: Paul Atchison, Alan Fisher, Burnham
Hoyt, Irvin McCrary, G. Meredith Musick, Thomas Moore, Earl Morris
and Lyle Webber.
The graduation of June 10, 1952 had 16 students who had been cleared
for the Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Architecture; and 7 students,
Bachelor of Architecture and Planning.
The December 17, 1951 Report by J. M. Shelley states that the
basic aims of the school had still not been accomplished. He believed
that outside subsidy was justified; that private practice by members
should be approved; and emphasized the need for a full-time permanent
Director.
In 1952, the School of Architecture at the University of Denver
was discontinued, the probable cause being competition from the
newly established School of Architecture in the College of Engineering
at the University of Colorado. The University of Denver, a private
school and dependent upon outside subsidies, apparently felt it
could not successfully compete with a large state-supported program.
Furthermore, two schools of architecture, so close geographically,
were not warranted.
[Prepared by] M. Molek, Graduate Student
July 26, 1966 [for the] Fifth Annual Institute Of Archival Studies
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