Cal Poly

Horner Architectural Photography Collection, MS 110

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content

Scope and Content Note

The Horner Architectural Photography Collection contains 307 vintage, black and white mounted photographs taken by Benjamin Bean Horner (1893-1971), an architect who practiced in Southern California, primarily Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. While the size of the photos themselves varies somewhat, they are generally about 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 or 7 1/2 x 9 1/2; with the mounts they are all 12 1/2 x 19. The photos are mounted on watercolor stock.

Where possible, the provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved. However, in order to simplify access to the collection for researchers, some materials in specific formats and topics were reorganized and refoldered to more accurately reflect their contents.

The Horner Architectural Photography Collection has one series and five subseries:

Series 1. Photographs, c. 1920s

1. California Adobes
2. England
3. France
4. Italy
5. Switzerland

The Horner Architectural Photography Collection is housed in 10 boxes, with subseries A. California Adobes and B. England containing the most extensive (3 boxes and 7 boxes respectively) portions of the collection.

Subseries A. California Adobes contains unique material depicting historic adobe structures dating back to California’s Spanish and Mexican periods (19th century). Most of the buildings were in a state of decay when Horner photographed them during the 1920s; today many of them have since either been restored or destroyed.

Subseries B. England contains the largest number of photographs; these include images of historic buildings, halls, manor houses, and villages, as well as close-up studies of architectural details such as doorways, windows, stairways, and drawer pulls.

Pages: Collection Summary | Biographical Note | Scope and Content