Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection Ms2013-023, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
6.92 Cubic Feet 6 boxes; 6 oversize folders
Creator:
King, Dorothée
Abstract:
Born in Berlin, Germany. Dorothee Stelzer King is an architect and professor who has practiced in Germany, the United States, and the Bahamas. The collection consists of material (drawings, presentation boards, photographs, and printed material) created and accumulated by King as a student and during her professional career. Some examples include: her award-winning student project of creating a flexible and transportable exhibition hall and her project work for the Government of the Bahamas. Materials in this collection range in date from 1950-2008.
Language:
Material is in English and German.
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection Ms2013-023, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of material created and accumulated by King during the course of her days as a student and her professional career. This material primarily comprises drawings, presentation boards, photographs, and printed material related to various design projects undertaken by King during the time period 1957 to 1988. Also included within the collection is a detailed biographical narrative written by King describing the trajectory of her career and a family history and genealogy titled "From the Basilius, Gersdorff and Horn Families to the King, Kruppa and Stelzer Families", also written by King.

This subseries consists of Dorothee S. King's personal documents, school reports, drawings, and notes on projects relating to her at Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (HBK) and the University of Pennsylvania.

Materials present include a project description, 2 model photographs, 1 set of photographic reductions of the model, 1 set of slides of the drawings and model, along with a publication "ars viva 62" featuring the project. Drawings include: 7 original ink drawings on board and transparent paper and 2 blueprints.

2 original ink drawings on board and transparent paper.

9 original ink drawings in transparent paper.

7 original ink drawings on transparent paper.

Several serial and standalone German publications on architecture and architects. Some publications likely belonged to King's mother, Gudrun Horn (Stelzer), who was studying architecture when she met King's father, Gerhard Stelzer. She resumed her studies in the late 1940s after divorcing Stelzer, at which time she reverted to her maiden name, Horn. [Source: Dorothee Stelzer King's family history, Box 1, Folder 3, Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection, Ms2013-023]

Builder: Monthly journal of architectural culture and practice [two issues]

International Building Exhibition Berlin: Reconstruction of the Hansa neighborhood (West) Berlin [two issues]; King won second prize for a student project conpetition associated with the exhibition

Serial publication on architecture, construction technology and industry[5 issues]

Reconstruction of the Helgoland Archipelago

Work and Time [two issues]: "From the 1920s: An Inheritance and Its Heirs," and "Form and Formalism"

2 hand colored presentation drawings on prints.

3 original construction drawings, pencil on vellum.

2 hand colored original presentation drawings on board.

Tusculum Plantation, New Providence, Bahamas Illustrations - Recorded and Drawn by Dorothee Stelzer King

Figure Number Followed by Subject and Description

One copy of description and a documentation report titled"Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas," April 2014

Original report, printed text with hand drawn icon diagrams for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas"

Original report drawings on transparent paper of houses(site plans, floor plans, sections and elevations) for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas".

Hand written notes and first hard line draft drawings for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas"

Original field notes, sketches and resident interviews(1983-1984) for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas."

Original field notes, sketches and resident interviews(1983-1984) for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas."

Photographic negatives of houses analyzed for the documentation report "Ten Small Houses in Grants Town, Nassau, Bahamas"

Corespendence and meeting records, 1980-1985

Introduction for Louis I. Kahn for a Talk He Gave at Pratt, 1973

General class talk, introduction to Amerinds, Pueblo Lecture #1, Puebloe Lecture #2 (in depth), Seminar outline: plazas and countryards, maps

Amerinds Slides Records of Lectures

Pueblo Reports, The Navajo Hogan and Eskmo Dwellings, 1978

Pueblo Settlement Patterns, notes and discussions, general and details, 1978

Pueblo Seminar, May 1978

American Pueblo Lecture Materials, Notes, Semi-final, 1978

Course Outline and Class Schedule

Hand Wrriten Course Notes

Housing Design Studio Notes

Class List and Course Information

Biographical / historical:

Born in Berlin, Germany. King is an architect and professor who has practiced in Germany, the United States, and the Bahamas. She graduated from the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (HBK) with the title 'Diplom Architect HBK Berlin' in 1962. Upon graduating from HBK she worked for two years (1962-1964) in the architectural office of Dipl. Ing. Hilde Westrom, one of the few independently working women architects in Berlin. King would go on to receive the Airlift Memorial Scholarship and Fulbright Travel Grant allowing her to study under Louis I. Kahn in his Master Studio at the University of Pennsylvania (1965-1967). Her experiences with Kahn would greatly influence her own style of teaching at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture (1969-1981) and other organizations.

King and her husband, fellow architect Douglas King, were offered the opportunity to work as architects with the Government of the Bahamas in Nassau (1981-1985). There she primarily worked on projects for the Ministries of Health and Housing including: public rental units with a senior citizen complex, design for a high school library in Cooperstown, and as project architect and head construction supervisor for the Bahamas Nursing School. 1985-1991 saw King commuting between New York, Nassau, and Florida as she finished supervising the Bahamas Nursing School and partnered with her husband on a design-build company called Kingston Homes in West Palm Beach, Florida. Shortly after returning to New York full-time (1991) King began teaching at several New York institutions and public schools within the city (1993-2008).

Acquisition information:
The Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection was donated to Special Collections in December 2008.
Processing information:

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection was completed in May 2013. Additional donations processed in September 2021.