Leonard John Lundgren received his Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949. Directly out of school he practiced as an independent architect. In 1950 Maurer graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with his Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture, and he also began practicing architecture in Austin. Three years later Ed Maurer contacted Leonard Lundgren about working together and in February 1953 the two formed the architectural firm of Lundgren & Maurer and occupied offices at 1003 W. 24th Street in Austin.
The firm designed a wide range of buildings including medical centers, public building for the State of Texas and the City of Austin, commercial retail stores, banks and office buildings, churches, schools and residences but they were perhaps best known for their work in hotel design. In the 20 or so years of practice the firm designed hundreds of hotels in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Saudi Arabia for Holiday Inns and other hospitality chains. In 1954 Lundgren & Maurer received an American Institute of Architects Award of Merit for the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity House in Austin. This building, along with some other Lundgren & Maurer commercial and residential projects, was an excellent example of Modernist or the International style of architecture.
After the partnership ended in the early 1970s, Lundgren continued to practice as Lundgren and Associates (ca. 1974). At about the same time Lundgren also became part of the international hotel consulting firm Phillips Lundgren & Wallace. This partnership dissolved just over a year later in August 1976. Maurer formed Maurer Associates around 1975. Maurer then went on to practice as Maurer International between 1977 and 1983.
The materials within this collection originate from two separate acquisitions. After the dissolution of Lundgren & Maurer, each retained approximately 50 percent of the partnerships files and drawings. Lundgren donated his portion first and Maurer's portion was donated by his son after his father's death. Since these records were initially created together, they have been arranged, filed and described as one single collection.
The Project Files, arranged by building type, contain such material as correspondence, specifications, field reports and financial records documenting the design and construction of some of Lundgren & Maurer's work dated 1963 to 1985. Only thirteen projects are represented in this series, including both the Carver Branch and the University Hills Branch of the Austin Public Library, Bank of Austin, Serena Woods Development and the round tower design for Holiday Inn.
The Office Files series (1961-1981, undated) consists of administrative files and correspondence relating to the partnerships of Lundgren & Maurer and Phillips, Lundgren and Wallace. Also included in this series are the individual correspondence files for both Lundgren and Maurer. The items within these two folders are a mixture of personal and business items. Both Lundgren and Maurer were members of the Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and there is a single letter included in the collection written to the City of Austin Mayor and City Council documenting the A.I.A.'s review of the Town Lake Committee Report in 1966.
The third series contains Photographs, all of which are undated. Photographs of Austin/Travis County buildings were transferred to the AHC Photo Collection (see Separated Materials for locations). Images of unidentified or out-of-town projects are filed in this series by building type. Some images are photographic reprints of drawings or renderings which have been reduced for presentation reports.
Oversize materials such as photographs, photo renderings of the Cross Country Inn in Houston, TX and the Adams Extract Building in Austin, and a single firm brochure of hotel projects are filed in series four.
The Drawings series contains about 5780 drawings representing approximately 364 projects. Approximately one third of these projects are for hotels, the majority of which were for the hotel chain Holiday Inn. Lundgren & Maurer began designing Holiday Inns in Texas in the late 1950s and early 1960s and ultimately designed Holiday Inn buildings built nationally and internationally. Lundgren and Associates continued designing hotels for Holiday Inn after the dissolution of the partnership. Another third of the drawings are for residential projects, the majority of which are located in Austin. The remaining third of the drawings represent other types of commercial buildings (retail, restaurants, medical, etc.), schools, churches and public buildings.
The following items originally in this collection were separated into the photo collection:
Pearce Jr. High School (4 color prints) - AF-Public Schools-Junior High P8800(10) Pearce, PICA 25829-25832
Guadalupe St. (1 black and white print)- AF qHB (box) Guadalupe, 2352, PICH 06799
Maurer residence (1 black and white print)- AF qHB (box)Woodlawn Blvd, 1508, PICH 07355
Gamma Phi Beta Sorority House - University of Texas (1 black and white and 1 color print)- AF qHB (drawer) Pearl, 2222, PICH 07356-07357
708-712 Congress Avenue - AF qHB (drawer) Congress Ave 708-712 PICH 06802
Carver Branch, Public Austin Library (6 Polaroid prints and 5 color prints)- AF L2710 (44), PICA 27539-27546
Shettles Memorial Methodist Church (6 Polaroid prints)- AF C3690(11), PICA 27547-27552
Bank of Austin (3 black and white prints)- AF B0700(6), PICA 27553-27555
815 Brazos (6 Polaroid prints) - AF HB Brazos, 815, PICH 07831-87836.
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Open to all users.
None
The collection was donated by Leonard Maurer on July 14, 1987 and by Scott Maurer in September 1990.
Lundgren & Maurer Drawings and Records (AR.2009.025). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Donor #: DO/1987/061, DO/1990/097
Donation Date: 1987, 1990
Finding aid was prepared by Tim Wilder/1991, updated by Molly Hults/2010 and Kathryn Garvey/2012.
Finding aid was encoded by Evan Usler/2010.
View an index of the architectural drawings