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Atlanta, GA | Posted: September 19, 2013
Jody Thompson, Head of Archives
Jody.Thompson@library.gatech.edu
Georgia Tech Library
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Henry Smith
Henry Smith 2Georgia Tech Library Archives recently recovered a lost collection of over 400 drawings by Francis P. Smith, a renowned Atlanta architect and first director of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture.
Valued at $618,000, the collection of architecture drawings was tucked away in the Smith family’s attic for more than 50 years. A crew of construction workers made the startling discovery in 2011 while renovating the historic North Druid Hills home for its new owners, Mark and Donna Bergeson.
“It was quite a find,” said Donna Bergeson, a health care lawyer at Alston & Bird, LLP. “I’m just glad they [construction workers] recognized the drawings were of value and didn’t throw them away.”
The Bergesons decided to donate the collection to the Georgia Tech Archives. But first, they invited Francis’ youngest son and fellow Atlanta architect, Henry H. Smith, to see his father’s work and the renovation of his childhood home.
Originally designed by Francis, the house was renovated by designer/architect Bill Baker to restore historic elements, expand on Francis’ themes, and completely modernize the home. “I have to think that Francis is smiling somewhere,” said Bergeson. “I hope he would like what we’ve done. The house had beautiful bones and I really respect his work.”
Upon seeing the lost drawings for the first time, Henry admired the quality and detail of his father’s work. “This is before I was born,” he said while spotting his father’s initials hidden in an early master plan of Tech’s campus.
An active participant in Tech’s growth, Francis also designed several campus buildings including the original Whitehead Memorial Infirmary (now known as the Chapin Building) and the Mechanical Engineering Building (now the J.S. Coon Building).
“It’s really an honor to be able to look at it [collection],” added Henry, who began his career apprenticing under his father and later renovated some of his father’s buildings. Now at the age of 80 years old, he has designed a number of churches and buildings in Georgia, but is best known for earning the Atlanta Urban Design Commission Award of Excellence for his work on St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in 1994. Like his father, Henry taught an architecture course at Tech, but only for one year. In 2009, he donated a large collection of his own work and his father’s work to the Georgia Tech Archives.
“It’s great that they located them and that the Bergeson’s called us so we could archive them,” said Jody Thompson, Head Archivist at the Library. “These drawings are unbelievable and another amazing piece of history.”
For more information about the Francis P. Smith and Henry H. Smith Collections, contact Jody Thompson at jody.thompson@library.gatech.edu or visit library.gatech.edu.
