"Chester [Emil] Nagel (1911-) was among the first architects to bring the International Style to Texas. Born in Fredericksburg in 1911, he studied architecture at the University of Texas, graduating in 1934. From 1935 to 1938 he worked as an architect for the National Parks Service, helping to design facilities for Bastrop and Palo Duro state parks.
"In 1939 Nagel received a scholarship to study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he came in contact with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. After receiving his Master's degree from Harvard in 1940 he returned to Austin and, inspired by Gropius' ideas, designed one of the first International Style structures in the state, a house for himself and his wife on Churchill Drive.
During the war years, Nagel was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers in Bastrop, and from 1943 to 1945 he worked as a test engineer on the new Convair B-36 bomber in Ft. Worth. After the war he returned to Austin and collaborated with Dan J. Driscoll on the Barton Springs Bathhouse (1945). In 1946 he was called back to Harvard to be Gropius' assistant and later became an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Design. He gave up his teaching position in 1951 to join The Architect's Collaborative (TAC) and from 1951 to 1953 he headed the TAC offices in Washington. Nagel's designs, many of which were collaborative ventures with Gropius, included the Valley House in Lexington, Massachusetts (1940), the Overholt Thoracic Clinic in Boston (1955), and the American Embassy in Athens (1956). In 1958 he opened his own practice in Massachusetts and during the course of the next decade designed a series of projects in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands as well as several buildings for the Harvard medical and dental schools.
"Over the years Nagel has also taught and lectured at a host of different institutions among them Williams College, MIT, and the University of Texas. In 1974 he served as a visiting critic at the University of Colorado in Boulder and since 1976 has been a visiting professor of architecture at the University of Colorado, Denver campus. He now lives in Denver where he continues to practice."
Quoted from Christopher Long, n.d., article in Alexander Architectural Archive reference files.
The Chester E. Nagel collection consists of 28 exhibition panels, 13 photographic prints, 1 magazine, 10 prints, 2 drawings, 3 architectural renderings, .1 linear feet correspondence, and 38 pages of video transcripts that reveal the working life of this native Texan who became a proponent of the International Style.
Access is by appointment only to any serious scholar. Rolled materials must be flattened before viewing. A three-day advance notice is required to flatten rolled materials. Portions of this collection are not processed and may not be accessible.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Alexander Architectural Archive's Use Policy.
Chester E. Nagel collection, the Alexander Architectural Archive, the General Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin
Unpublished inventory in archive.
Materials processed by: Wai-Yin Kwan; Beth Dodd, 2003.
Various records representing a sample of Nagel's professional career. Material donated by Nagel, accessions 1993005 and 1993006.
28 (20×30") exhibition panels of Nagel's work that were a part of an exhibition at the University of Colorado at Denver. This exhibition was designed by Nagel. Panels contain photographic prints, drawings and descriptive passages. Material donated by Nagel, accession 1993004.
Copies of correspondence between Walter Gropius and Nagel as student/teacher and later colleague and friend relationships, 1939-1969. Material donated by Nagel, accession 1994002.
Copies of transcripts to Nagel's videos