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Carl P. Berger collection
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Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Philadelphia native Carl P. Berger was born to Carl P. F. Berger, a theatre and set designer from Breslau, Germany, on June 15, 1873. Berger was educated in Philadelphia, first in the public school system, then at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art and University of the Arts), where he studied architecture. After a series of apprenticeships, Berger opened his own Philadelphia office in 1899, and his career extended over forty years. Berger had considerable ties to the German community in Philadelphia. He designed the New German Theatre on Girard Street in Philadelphia, as well as the Liederkranz Hall. Berger was also a member of the Moose Lodge and designed a number of the group's Philadelphia buildings. Additionally, he worked throughout the Philadelphia suburbs, including central and southern New Jersey, and designed a number of churches, theatres, public works buildings, and other commercial and residential structures. He died in Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, in 1947.
The Carl P. Berger collection spans the first half of the twentieth century and highlights Berger's professional work and life, primarily through his architectural drawings, and secondarily through a few reference publications, photographs, and some business correspondence. Spanning five boxes and sixty-three flat files, the materials have been arranged as found into two groups: the first one includes photographs, prints, correspondence, reference materials, and notes; the second group contains architectural drawings, plans, and blueprints.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Theorodre Marantz, 1970.
Some items in the collection show signs of old (non-active) mold, and folders containing such material have been marked.
Subject
- Architects--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- Dwellings--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- Religious architecture--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Place
- Publisher
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Cary Majewicz.
- Finding Aid Date
- , March 2010
- Sponsor
- Processing made possible by a generous donation from Carol A. Ingald.
Collection Inventory
Making up most the papers in this group are several published items that, presumably, Berger used as reference materials. These items include Detached Dwellings, Country and Suburban, a compilation of architectural drawings by several architects; two issues of the Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art, 1907-1908; The Orders, a portofolio of technical drawings of various structures such as columns and arches; two issues of Liturgical Arts from 1931 and 1932; and other photograohs of office builings, churches, and houses.
Other items in this group include Berger's business corrspondence that pertains specifically to projects he obtained during the 1940s, a list of abandonded projects, and a folder of small photographs of several of Berger's buildings.
0.6 Linear feet
0.2 Linear feet
0.2 Linear feet
0.3 Linear feet
This group consists solely of Berger's architectural plans for both new buildings and improvements on existing buildings. While the types and number of plans in each folder vary, there are an assortment of blueprints, site and floorplans written on both tracing and linen papers, and scattered notes. Originally, these plans were rolled; now flattened, most of the papers retain old creases and some are particularly fragile or show signs of mold. (While the mold is old, such folders are marked nonetheless.) The folders were numbered in the order found and are not in alphabetical or chronological order.
Physical Description0.9 Linear feet