Taylor A. Woolley (1884-1965) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 10, 1884, the second child of Taylor Harrar Woolley and Caroline Louise Ahlstrom Woolley. After receiving architectural training in the Salt Lake City firm of Ware and Treganza, Woolley moved to Chicago where he attended classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. Beginning in 1908, he worked in the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, and in 1910, Woolley accompanied Wright to Italy where they worked on the " Wasmuth Portfolio," a monograph of Wright's early work. Between 1911 and 1917, Woolley frequently moved between Salt Lake City, Chicago, and New York, working with Wright, Howard Shaw, von Holst and Fyfe, and Grosvenor Atterbury. He married Dorit Evans in Salt Lake City on December 15, 1915.
In 1917, Woolley returned to Salt Lake City permanently and entered a partnership with Miles Miller and Clifford Evans. Their firm practiced architecture and landscape architecture which was a new innovation in Salt Lake City at that time. Their early work was in the prairie style reflecting Wright's influence on Woolley's work. In later years, their designs moved more towards historical eclecticism. After the firm of Miller, Woolley, and Evans was dissolved in 1922, Woolley reopened an office with Evans. Woolley planned Highland Park, Wasatch Lawn Cemetery, Memory Grove, and the Utah State Capitol grounds. He also designed the Belvedere Apartments, automobile showrooms along Social Hall Avenue, " This Is The Place" Monument, and several L.D.S. chapels (some of these designs are included in Ms0466). He was elected to the presidency of the Salt Lake Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and was appointed State Architect under the administration of Governor Henry H. Blood. Woolley retired from active work in 1950. He had two children, a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Ellen Louise " Blossom." Woolley died on February 2, 1965.
The collection consists of two parts: Wright's Fiesole, Italy studio and copy prints of blueprints found in the manuscripts collection. The studio prints are arranged in various exterior, interior, courtyard and miscellaneous views. There were three draftsmen for the Wasmuth Portfolio (which was being produced at the time): Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd, Jr. and Taylor Woolley. This building was identified as being the studio where the renderings were transfered from office drawings to the Wasmuth format. The two women and man remain unidentified. These prints were made from nitrate negatives, and copy negatives were made from the prints.
The blueprint copies are an incomplete set of the microfilm located in the Woolley manuscript. Numbers 13-17 deal specifically with Wright's plans for the village of Bitter Root in Montana.
Collection is arranged topically
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Donated by Barbara Cox in 1999.
Processed by Drew Ross in 1994.
Manuscript materials were transferred to the Taylor A. Woolley papers (MS 0452).
See also the Clifford Evans photograph collection (P0002).
Black and white negatives and photos taken by Taylor Woolley in 1910 while he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright in Fiesole, Italy on drawings for the Wasmuth Portfolio. Subjects include: Italian Gardens, Roman Ruins, Venice, Aboard a ship