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Architectural Research within subject area: annotated source list
[Updated 5/15/08]
Biographical Dictionary of American Architects [Deceased]
by Henry F. Withey and Elsie Withey; Los Angeles, New Age Pub., 1956.
Reprinted 1970, Los Angeles. Hennessey and Ingalls Pub.
Found: Univ. of Louisville Art Library [Good Condition]
Offers concise and humane summaries of relevant life events and professional high marks of subjects. Architects' work listings
are necessarily limited and incomplete. Interesting is the account of Dodd's contraction of a fatal illness while on European
tour. Also interesting is implication that Dodd was primarily a free-lancer. Useful data on William Richards, Dodd's LA partner.
First Architectural Exhibition Catalogue, 1912 - Louisville Chapter of A.I.A. [pub. ?? c1912] Found: Univ. of Louisville
Art Library [Good Condition].
Also: Louisville Free Public Library (L.F.P.L.) [Damaged-Vandalized]
Catalogue includes lists of organizers, A.I.A. officers, exhibitors and advertisers. Excellent photographs of buildings,
design plans, some window designs and interior details. Advertisements of related services and contractors are extra attractions.
Foreword to catalogue offers a lament on uncontrolled urban sprawl and the desire for "The City Beautiful" - the
exhibition's theme.
Book of the 24th Annual Exhibition of the Chicago Architectural
Club Held in the Galleries of the Art Institute of Chicago Illinois, March 7-26, 1911. [pub.??] Dodd himself is not listed
as a member by 1911 however, a member and advertiser, John M. Dodd - a dealer in English tiles, mosaics and fireplace furnishings
- is listed with an address associated with W.J.Dodd (in Darling's book) and may prove to be kin. NOTE: Extensive study of Chicago
Directories from 1893 to 1913 has shown Darling to be wrong in associating W. J.Dodd, then an established architect at the
height of his Kentucky career, with an address in Chicago during this period or suggesting that he was a salesman of tiles,
a clear mix-up with J.M. Dodd or another different American-born W.J.Dodd living in Chicago.
"Sport & Recreation in the Pullman Experiment: 1880-1900" by Wilma Pasavento. Journal of Sport History, Vol.
9.2 Summer 1982. Identifies Dodd as member of the Pullman crew (team) for the national regatta held in Detroit during August
1882.
The Victorian to the Beaux-Arts: A study of Four Louisville Architectural Firms, McDonald Brothers,McDonald & Sheblessy,
Dodd & Cobb and McDonald & Dodd.
by Marty Lyn Poynter Hedgepeth; M.A. Thesis, 1981 Univ. of Louisville
Found: LFPL, Kentucky History Collection [Good Condition]
The best source I've found on Dodd's midwest architectural work. Very comprehensive within the study's defined scope; includes
decent photos, one of Dodd himself, and very good work catalogues, style discussion and bibliography.
Notable Men of Kentucky; by Ben La Bree.
Louisville, G. Fetter, pub. 1902
Found: LFPL [Poor condition]
Source of the Dodd photo reprinted below and in other publications. Digital text is now available at Internet Archive.
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| William J. Dodd ca. 1900 in Louisville KY |
The Synagogues of Kentucky by Lee Shai Weissbach
Univ. of Kentucky Press, Lexington. 1995
Location: LFPL, KY His. Coll.
Some new Dodd data; enlarges the social context of Dodd's professional work in Louisville as a frequent designer for the establishment
in the city's Jewish community.
America's Religious Architecture:
Sacred Places for Every Community, Marilyn Joyce Segal Chiat. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. publishers: New York, 1997. Location:
University of Louisville Art Library. Material on Dodd and Adath Israel temple contradicts the account by Weissbach of same
temple and its design.
Designation Report on LFPL Western Branch Library Landmark Site
Historic Landmarks and Preservation Districts Commission
City of Louisville [unattributed, unpublished report from April 1975]
Found: Good copy of document in Western Branch Library archives.
No new specific data but widens the social context of Dodd's work; good presentation of the dynamic exploration and application
of styles in pre-WWI Louisville. Notable is the enthusiastic and signifying voice of the writer; also interesting implications
about Dodd's professional status as represented by his Louisville partnerships Wehle & Dodd, Maury & Dodd, McDonald
& Dodd, Dodd & Cobb.
A History of the Profession of Architecture in Kentucky
by C. Julian Oberwarth and William B. Scott, Jr.
Louisville, Gateway Press, 1987
Found: Univ. of Louisville Art Library
Biographical material on Dodd seems mostly based on Withey.
Good appendices traces professional licensing and partnerships.
Old Louisville: The Victorian Era by Samuel Thomas and Will Morgan
Published for The Courier-Journal [C-J] and Louisville Times
Louisville: Data Courier, Inc 1975
Found: in personal possession; published in style of coffee-table novelty but more substantial. Good photos, discussion of
succession of design styles in subject area; reprints of period newspaper columns create a milieu, a time of transaction and
growth in Louisville's history.
"Memphis: An Architectural Guide" by Eugene J. Johnson
& Robert D. Russell. Knoxville, Univ. of Tennessee Press 1990
Found: LFPL in good condition. Cites the C. Hunter Raine House
with photo and text; speculates on other work Dodd may have done in Memphis; is only source connecting Dodd with landscape
architect Bryant Fleming.
The Prairie School: Design Vision for the Midwest
The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 21/2
Found: in personal possession
Forewords by Robert Twombly and Richard Guy Wilson; other essays by A.I.C. faculty Judith Barter, Mary Woolever, Christa Thurman,
Janice Pregliasco. Excellent discussion of the social agency of architecture in turn-of-the-century America; the broad new
eclecticism of the Midwest styles point toward greater abstraction and away from specific historical reference - the push
toward the modern styles.
Teco: art pottery of the Prairie School
by Sharon S. Darling with a contribution by Richard Zakin. Erie Art Museum, pub. Erie PA, c 1989. Good source, enlarges the
historical context of Dodd's work in Chicago, his membership in the Chicago Architectural Club, includes a reproduction of
the Gates Potteries Teco catalogue ca 1906 containing at least 8 Dodd Teco designs.
Mason Maury and the Influence of the Chicago School in Louisville
by Tooba K. Latham. Louisville, KY: Univ. of Louisville, 1975.
Found: Art Library theses, Univ. of Louisville. Call #1975 L352
Another helpful piece of the puzzle; fills in the the period of the early-1890's. Suggestive of how two strong imaginations
struggled and the product that resulted. Excellent supported account of possible aesthetic conflicts between Maury & Dodd
ending their partnership. Useful bibliography and discussions of impact of Richardson, Burnham, McKim-Mead-&-White, Sullivan
and Wright.
Promotional brochure of the designs & work of Maury & Dodd. Photocopies exist at Louisville Landmarks Commission Office,
Preservation Office of Urban/County Government Bldg. and LFPL downtown. The original brochure has not surfaced since the 1970's.
The Louisville Courier-Journal [C-J] Newspaper Microfilm Archives Location: LFPL KY His. See: Sunday Magazine, June 25, 1911,
p. 12 "Beautiful New Home in St.James' Court"
See: Section 2, May 2, 1905 "Seelbach Opens"
See: Section 2, October 29, 1905 "Architects chosen for Seelbach addition"
See: Building Section, March 13, 1897.
Los Angeles Times Archive 1861-1962 [ProQuest Historical Newspapers Service] http://www.proquest.com
New York Times Archive 1857-current [ProQuest Historical Newspapers Service] http://www.proquest.com
Chicago Tribune Archive 1861-1962 [ProQuest Historical Newspapers Service] http://www.proquest.com
Ancestry.com Genealogical website service by subscription.
The Cary-Estes-Moore Genealogy by Helen Estes Seltzer; Barn Hill Press. 1981 First edition, first printing. Source of
data on Ione Estes, her sisters and parents. Also, includes rare 1898 photo of William J. Dodd with Ione Estes. Found in
World Cat online and acquired through interlibrary loan.
The Pendennis Club Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws, Rules, Officers and Members: Sept. 30, 1904. Found: LFPL, KY His. Coll.
Establishes years of Dodd's membership and his complete dissociation after he leaves Kentucky for California. The present
day Club historian (Mr. J.Johnson, in 2002) found the dissociation by Dodd
unusual since most members maintained an "out-of-state" status of membership when they moved out of Kentucky. Johnson
speculated that Dodd may have intended not to return to Louisville in the future or maintain his contacts there.
Rustic Canyon and the Story of the Uplifters by Betty Lou and Thomas R. Young. Casa Vieja Press, Santa Monica CA 1975. Location:
Univ. of Illinois-Urbana Library. A must-read for those interested in the final "Land of Oz" years of Dodd's life
in oil crazed Los Angeles.
Includes a photo of Dodd in costume as "John Barleycorn" for an Uplifters outing. Dodd was a founding member
of The Uplifters Club in 1913 along with Harry M. Haldeman (H.Rs grand dad), Frank Baum (Wizard of Oz), Harry Chandler (LA
Times), Harrison Otis of the LA Water Co. and others.
Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History, Betty Lou Young and Randy Young. Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA,
1997, 182pp
The Uplifters Club collection of ephemera [Collection #2062] housed in the Special Collections of the Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
"Literary L.A" by Lionel Rolfe: Jews, Methodists and
the Uplifters Club. The url address that follows is a hyperlink to the online document. Click on it to open in a new window.
"The Man who brought Chicago to Louisville: William J.
Dodd (1862-1930)" by Melissa Taylor. Online posting of undergraduate academic paper. Text and Photos. Commentary on technical
and stylistic borrowings and innovations in Dodd commercial structures. Biographical data is obsolete. Online paper is nolonger
available on the web (as of year 2006) except in web archive version. http://web.archive.org
Southwest Builder and Contractor, June issue 1930. [p. 37]
F.W. Dodge, pub. Los Angeles CA. Obituary of Dodd, includes a better
account of Dodd's sudden illness and death and a summary reference to his wife, left unnamed, and no children mentioned as
survivors.
Located: Los Angeles Public Library (copy of article secured by interlibrary loan;
attribution could not be established by the copy.)
The Architect and Engineer, Vol. CII, Number 3, September 1930
San Francisco, pub. The Architect and Engineer, Inc.
Found: Denver Public Library Microfilm Coll.
Particular issue has posthumous appreciation of Dodd by his peers.
Warm, high-minded and Victorian in tone, it includes mention of some important commercial buildings by Dodd & Richards
in LA and introduces the fact, confirmed in Pasavento's article "Sports & the Pullman Experiment", that Dodd
pulled crew while a young man working for the city of Pullman Illinois.
Caron's Louisville Directories [1890's - 1914] and The Louisville Red Book of 1888.
Found: LFPL KY His. Coll. [Poor condition in published form.]
Offers tracing of Dodd's various addresses from arrival in Louisville to departure 30 years later.
| from The Southern Magazine,1894 Vol. V, #25, p.60 |
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| Image file provided by Stefanie Buzan |
The Southern Magazine, founded by Sam "Stone" Bush, incorporated in Louisville Kentucky ca 1892. Reference discovered
by Stefanie Buzan in rare 1894 edition of the
magazine. The Bushes and Dodds had a close 20-year relationship; Dodd handled the funeral arrangements when Sam's sister,Nellie
Gordon, nee Bush, in 1895, was shot and killed by her husband Fulton Gordon, as she was caught in adultery with Archie Brown,
the son of then Kentucky Governor Brown in a trysting house in Louisville's colored district.
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| Boys will be boys: an Uplifters Hi-Jinks, ca 1930 |
Dodd's life in California and
The Uplifters Club: circa 1913-1930.
Besides enjoying a second successful career, now in LA, Dodd and his wife, Ione Estes, took part in the high life of the
screen star community. His obituaries in the trade journals, SOUTHWEST BUILDER & CONTRACTOR [and] ARCHITECT & ENGINEER,
both identify Dodd as a member of the Uplifter's Club; SOUTHWEST BUILDER names him as a founder of the club in 1913. In fact,
it was Dodd along with Hal Roach, L. Frank Baum and Harry M. Haldeman (HR Haldeman's granddaddy and for a time Dodd's closest,
most powerful friend in LA .) See photos below. The latter periodical, ARCHITECT, implies that Dodd had a positive influence
on the behavior of the club's rowdy members. Dodd designed the second Uplifter's Clubhouse after the original building burned
in 1922. The second structure, a lodge in Mission style, still stands today in Rustic Canyon.
| December 1916 caricature of Dodd singing on stage. |
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| Reproduced from an Uplifters Club annual [Charles E. Young Special Collections Library, UCLA. |
Here is a description of lifestyles in the Santa Monica canyon area where Dodd socialized and played; excerpted from "Santa
Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History" [Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp.] by Betty Lou Young and
Randy Young. Reference provided by site visitor, Kelyn Roberts.
"...Eccentric style founded The Canyon. People who resided here had unique tastes. They loved the good life and the
elements that only The Canyon could offer: the warmth of the sun, the ocean breezes, the hidden groves of eucalyptus and sycamore,
the towering trees, and the wildlife that abounded amongst it all. For example, Mary Kyte, who lived on Ocean Avenue, bought
a parcel of land in 1913 on Mesa Road...enclosed it with a fence, built two restrooms, put in a pond, gardens, trees, and
brought school children...to go to the beach...The property remained intact until the 1930s when it was sold and subdivided."
"It was during this romantic time that a group of men from the Los Angeles Athletic Club were looking for a spot to build
a summer retreat. After considering numerous locations, there was no place as magical or as dedicated to enjoyment of the
good life as Rustic Canyon. At the old forestry station, they founded the Uplifters Club. The Club was active for thirty years.
They commissioned the building of the Spanish Colonial Structure [designed by W.J. Dodd: see "Rustic Canyon and the Story
of the Uplifters" by Young, p. 75], which today is part of Rustic Canyon Park, where they became known for musical and
dramatic presentations, for their equestrian and polo fields, and most raucously, their annual all-male summer excursions.
Committed to enjoyment of the good life, The Uplifters Club became known as the Cuplifters Club during prohibition."
[For more info, click link below]
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