Ernest M. Frank Photograph Collection
Dublin Core
Title
Ernest M. Frank Photograph Collection
Subject
Frank, Ernest M., 1914-1968
Photograph albums
Williamsburg (Va.) - Photographs
Architecture, Domestic - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Williamsburg (Va.) - Buildings, structures, etc.
Description
Ernest Maurice Frank, a graduate of Cornell University, rose from the ranks of Draftsman to Assistant Vice-President over the course of a three-decade career at Colonial Williamsburg. During the late 1930s, a team of architects drafted plans to fill in the gaps with reconstruction or restoration of structures not included in the initial group completed in the early 1930s. Known as “Phase II” in Colonial Williamsburg’s evolution, the period launched an expansion of plans for future projects at sites such as the George Wythe and Peyton Randolph Houses, many of which became reality after the end of World War II. Singleton P. Moorehead, an architect who joined the Restoration team in 1928 and became part of the architectural office in 1934, and A.E. Kendrew, Foundation Architect, proved to be pivotal in moving Colonial Williamsburg forward with the Phase II transition. They hired Ernest Frank in 1939 to join their team of draftsmen beginning work on Phase II planning. Unfortunately, World War II intervened, and Frank and many other employees left the organization to fulfill their military duties in 1942.
Frank re-joined Colonial Williamsburg in 1946 and established his own architectural practice in Williamsburg on the side in 1947. He rapidly advanced to Senior Draftsmen in 1947, Designer in 1948, and assumed the position of Assistant Director of the Architecture, Construction, and Maintenance Division from 1949-1956. In 1957, he became Director of the division until 1964, when he received a promotion to Assistant Vice-President for Colonial Williamsburg Inc. under Charles Hackett. One of Frank’s major projects involved overseeing the reconstruction of additional eighteenth-century features of the Robert Carter House complex. He and his team researched and designed the two long covered ways connecting outbuildings to the main house, as well as Dr. McKenzie’s Shop and several outbuildings. His architectural drawings for the Powder Magazine and Guardhouse, Bryan House, Ewing House, John Crump House, and the new Visitor’s Center complex and Motor House all attest to his extensive contributions. A member of the American Institute of Architects, Frank regularly spoke at architectural forums and design schools and became a recognized authority on colonial Virginian architecture. In his final years at Colonial Williamsburg, Frank served as a deputy to Charles Hackett, who led Colonial Williamsburg Inc. and Williamsburg Restoration Inc., until his death in 1968.
A record of Frank’s meticulous research conducted as part of the process of developing designs for reconstructions can be found in the Ernest M. Frank Photograph Collection, AV2009.58, housed at the Rockefeller Library. Frank joined other members of the architectural team in the late 1940s and early 1950s in a series of trips throughout the mid-Atlantic region and to Great Britain to visit sites and record details that might be used as precedents for features of buildings planned for reconstruction. The team had to engage in a certain amount of educated guesswork for certain features of structures for which they could not find archaeological, historical, or visual evidence. A series of ten photo albums encompasses images from the late 1940s to early 1950s of sites at Colonial Williamsburg, various counties in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and Great Britain. The two albums focusing upon his 1951 trip to England are organized by various types of details under study, such as lamp brackets, signs, shop windows, foot scrapers, chimneys, gates, and fences. Together, the photo albums offer insight into the process used to gather clues for drafting designs for some of the buildings that constitute the second phase of Colonial Williamsburg’s development after World War II.
Frank re-joined Colonial Williamsburg in 1946 and established his own architectural practice in Williamsburg on the side in 1947. He rapidly advanced to Senior Draftsmen in 1947, Designer in 1948, and assumed the position of Assistant Director of the Architecture, Construction, and Maintenance Division from 1949-1956. In 1957, he became Director of the division until 1964, when he received a promotion to Assistant Vice-President for Colonial Williamsburg Inc. under Charles Hackett. One of Frank’s major projects involved overseeing the reconstruction of additional eighteenth-century features of the Robert Carter House complex. He and his team researched and designed the two long covered ways connecting outbuildings to the main house, as well as Dr. McKenzie’s Shop and several outbuildings. His architectural drawings for the Powder Magazine and Guardhouse, Bryan House, Ewing House, John Crump House, and the new Visitor’s Center complex and Motor House all attest to his extensive contributions. A member of the American Institute of Architects, Frank regularly spoke at architectural forums and design schools and became a recognized authority on colonial Virginian architecture. In his final years at Colonial Williamsburg, Frank served as a deputy to Charles Hackett, who led Colonial Williamsburg Inc. and Williamsburg Restoration Inc., until his death in 1968.
A record of Frank’s meticulous research conducted as part of the process of developing designs for reconstructions can be found in the Ernest M. Frank Photograph Collection, AV2009.58, housed at the Rockefeller Library. Frank joined other members of the architectural team in the late 1940s and early 1950s in a series of trips throughout the mid-Atlantic region and to Great Britain to visit sites and record details that might be used as precedents for features of buildings planned for reconstruction. The team had to engage in a certain amount of educated guesswork for certain features of structures for which they could not find archaeological, historical, or visual evidence. A series of ten photo albums encompasses images from the late 1940s to early 1950s of sites at Colonial Williamsburg, various counties in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and Great Britain. The two albums focusing upon his 1951 trip to England are organized by various types of details under study, such as lamp brackets, signs, shop windows, foot scrapers, chimneys, gates, and fences. Together, the photo albums offer insight into the process used to gather clues for drafting designs for some of the buildings that constitute the second phase of Colonial Williamsburg’s development after World War II.
Creator
Frank, Ernest Maurice
Is Part Of
Ernest M. Frank Photograph Collection, AV2009.58
Extent
Ten albums
Rights Holder
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
