Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library© 2001 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Special Collections Department
There are no restrictions.
See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Papers of Benjamin Charles Baker, 1914-1950, Accession # 10819, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
These papers were given to the Library by Ms. Hylda Taylor of Trumansburg, New York, on January 27, 1989.
The papers of Benjamin Charles Baker (1884-1955), a central Virginia architect, consist of his personal diary, 1914-1918, two watercolor paintings of architectural interest done by Baker while studying at the Beaux Arts in Paris, France, a pen and ink drawing of an hostler's place of business by Baker, and an album containing photographs of the "Rosemont" estate of Ivy, Virginia, its outbuildings and surrounding area (ca. 1950).
The diary of Benjamin Charles Baker contains detailed daily records of his dairy farming activities, including repairs to buildings, livestock breeding, dairy cream shipments, orchard yields, egg production, and other related activites. There is no information about architectural endeavors or life during World War I.
"Rosemont" was the home of Baker and his wife for almost a quarter of a century. Baker lived there during his retirement from the first of his two architectural careers and restored the old farm dwelling to its early American appearance. Baker was a graduate of M.I.T., Brown University, and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, France, and had worked for McKim, Mead & White before joining the architectural firm Baker, Heyward, and Llorens of Charlottesville, Virginia. An obituary for Baker is located in the Michigan Society of Architects Monthly Bulletin, Vol. 30, p. 15, January 1956.