John Gaw Meem Drawings and Plans
Collection
Identifier: SWA JGM Drawings CSWR Microfilm NA737 M438 J64
Scope and Content
The John Gaw Meem Drawings and Plans consists of architectural drawings, including floor plans, elevations, preliminary sketches, site surveys, and some details and perspectives. Designs for residences, churches, school buildings, and commercial structures are included, many of them fashioned in the Pueblo Revival and Territorial Styles that are popular in the Southwest. Among the projects are the Library and Administration buildings at the University of New Mexico, both Public Works Administration projects from the early 1930s. The majority of the projects represented in the collection are for buildings in New Mexico, but a few are located in Colorado, most notably the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. A few projects that were in preliminary stages when Meem left the firm, Meem, Holien, Buckley and Associates were completed by Holien and Buckley and are included with the Meem drawings and plans. Also includes drawings and plans designed by the various partners of Meem; Cassius McCormick, Hugo Zehner, Edward O. Holien, and William R. Buckley
Dates
- 1925-1961
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.
®<emph render="italic">JOHN GAW MEEM</emph>
The United States Patent and Trademark office registered JOHN GAW MEEM as a trademark for any commercial use of the name related to John Gaw Meem's "archtiectural plans and drawings of architectural works and architectural details." Trademark number 2,225,118.
Biographical Information
John Gaw Meem, 1894-1983, is one of New Mexico's most renowned architects. Perhaps more than any other individual, John Gaw Meem is responsible for the conservation, development and propagation of the Southwestern regional architectural style. He was born in Pelota, Brazil of American parents. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1915 with a Bachelor of Science. In 1920 he contracted tuberculosis and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in order to recover. While bedridden at Sunmount Sanatorium, he developed an interest in architecture. When he was sufficiently recovered, he went to Denver where he worked in the office of Fisher & Fisher and studied at the Atelier Denver, a Beaux Arts Institute studio. In 1924 he opened an office in Santa Fe and practiced architecture continuously until his retirement in 1960.
Meem was a leading advocate of Spanish-Pueblo style architecture and designed new buildings in a soft adobe style that reflected New Mexico's rich cultural heritage. He was involved in historic preservation throughout his life, collecting a significant number of Historic American Buildings Survey photographs, now housed in the pictorial collections at the Center for Southwest Research, Zimmerman Library. John Gaw Meem was the leading architect for the University of New Mexico from 1933 to 1959, designing some 40 buildings on the campus that lend to its Southwestern atmosphere.
In 1975 Meem donated his collection of plans, drawings, models, photographs, and office papers to the University of New Mexico library. These formed the basis of the John Gaw Meem Archives of Southwestern Architecture, which houses collections of records from a number of New Mexico architects and their firms.
Meem died in Santa Fe on August 4, 1983.
Meem was a leading advocate of Spanish-Pueblo style architecture and designed new buildings in a soft adobe style that reflected New Mexico's rich cultural heritage. He was involved in historic preservation throughout his life, collecting a significant number of Historic American Buildings Survey photographs, now housed in the pictorial collections at the Center for Southwest Research, Zimmerman Library. John Gaw Meem was the leading architect for the University of New Mexico from 1933 to 1959, designing some 40 buildings on the campus that lend to its Southwestern atmosphere.
In 1975 Meem donated his collection of plans, drawings, models, photographs, and office papers to the University of New Mexico library. These formed the basis of the John Gaw Meem Archives of Southwestern Architecture, which houses collections of records from a number of New Mexico architects and their firms.
Meem died in Santa Fe on August 4, 1983.
Extent
50 drawers (12 lin. ft.)
Language of Materials
Undetermined
Abstract
The John Gaw Meem Drawings and Plans consist of architectural drawings, including floor plans, elevations, preliminary sketches, site surveys, details, and perspectives. Designs for residences, churches, school buildings, and commercial structures are included, many of them fashioned in the Pueblo Revival and Territorial Styles that are popular in the Southwest.
Alternate Form Available
Available on Microfilm (ZIM CSWR MFM NA 737 M438 J64).
Processing Information
Collection is arranged according to the job numbers assigned by Meem's firm, which is basically a chronological order. Plans for individual buildings, including later additions and remodels, are filed together under the original job number. Finding aid is alphabetical according to building name.
- Architects
- Architectural drawing -- Southwest, New
- Architecture -- New Mexico
- Architecture, Domestic -- New Mexico
- Architecture, Modern -- 20th Century -- Southwest, New
- Architecture--Designs and plans
- Buildings -- New Mexico
- Church buildings -- New Mexico
- Drawing
- Edward Holien and William Buckley (firm)
- Holien, Edward O. (Edward Obert)
- John Gaw Meem (firm)
- John Gaw Meem, Hugo Zehner and Associates
- Meem, Holien, Buckley and Associates
- Meem, John Gaw, 1894-1983
- Meem, Zehner, Holien and Associates
- Pueblo Revival
- Territorial Style
- Title
- Finding Aid of the John Gaw Meem Drawings and Plans, 1925-1961
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Date
- © 2007
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- December 2016; Church of the Holy Faith additions 04/19/17: Revised by Erin Fussell
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu