As can be seen in the archive, Tafel was mostly designing private homes, churches, and school buildings during his early career in the 50s and 60s. However, Tafel did work on some projects that were out of his usual scope. For example, in the early 1970s, the City was looking to revitalize Washington Square […]
Category: Project Records
Projects Then and Now
The cataloging of Tafel’s architectural projects is almost complete. The projects range from 1953-1991 and are comprised of about 200 rolls of drawings. Before I delve into more theoretical posts about archiving, I would like to share more photos and information about Tafel’s architectural projects in New York that can still be seen today. Pictured […]
Architectural Projects
Edgar Tafel designed many projects including churches, colleges, and residences. Included in Tafel’s archive are drawings showing the progression from initial conceptual sketches to as-built drawings of both his completed and unbuilt projects. Pictured above are three sketches from Tafel’s project, the Twenty-First Century Institute in Vermont, drawn in 1974. The three drawings show […]
Archival Fragments and Personal Interests
Edgar Tafel was a man of many interests and not just an architect, a writer, a public speaker, and a community activist. And even though the archive is cohesive as whole, bringing together what one would normally expect of an architectural archive (project records, office files), Tafel’s archive also reflects his many interests, especially in […]
Tafel The Writer
The Tafel blog is back after a short break after I was visiting ancient architectural ruins in Peru. And now back to contemporary architecture! Edgar Tafel was a prolific architect who was very active in his field. Aside from seeking out building projects, Tafel also sought out publishers with book ideas in mind and completed […]
Tafel house to be demolished?
A house designed by Edgar Tafel between 1948-50 is being threatened to be demolished. The house was originally designed for Carl and Marie Albert and is found at 4945 N. Main Street, in Racine, Wisconsin. Read the original article here. A correction to the article states that the house may have been a collaboration between […]