The Library of Congress and the National Park Service has announced that the 2020 Leicester B. Holland Prize will be presented to an architectural team at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La., led by Guy W. Carwile, architect emeritus and the Ken Hollis endowed professor of the School of Design. The prize honors an outstanding historic building, structure or landscape drawing.
The top prize was awarded to a drawing of the first permanent bus stop shelter built on the fourth and current home of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. The shelter, a structure designed in the Italian Renaissance style, was the first of only three built by the New Orleans architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth. The shelters are emblematic of the second phase of major construction on the LSU campus during the 1930s. A number of small structures, including the bus stop shelters, serve as small pieces of garden ornament juxtaposed to the field of larger campus buildings.
The winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a certificate of recognition. Preservation Architect, the online newsletter of the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee, will publish the winning drawing.
Honorable mention was awarded to a drawing of Casa Alonso in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, by Karen J. Cuadro Esteves, Diana G. Serrano Miranda and Raquel Marrero of Marvel Architects. Dating from the second half of the 19th century, the meticulously restored house presents elements that once characterized Puerto Rican architecture. The building was included as part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and now serves as a museum for the municipality of Vega Baja.
The Leicester B. Holland Prize recognizes the best single-sheet, measured drawing of a historic building, site or structure prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). It is an annual competition administered by the Heritage Documentation Programs of the National Park Service. The competition’s jury recommends winners to a special program, the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, which supports the prize through the Paul Rudolph Trust. For information on how to participate in the Holland Prize competition, visit the National Park Service contest website.
The Holland Prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge and appreciation of historic sites, structures and landscapes throughout the U.S., and to encourage the submission of drawings by professionals and students. All drawings accepted for the competition will be added to the permanent HABS, HAER and HALS Collection in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. View Images of Holland Prize drawings held in the Library’s collection.
The prize honors Leicester B. Holland (1882-1952). Holland was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); chairman of the AIA’s Committee on Historic Buildings; director of the Library of Congress Fine Arts Division; first curator of the HABS collection; co-founder of the HABS program; and the first chair of the HABS advisory board.
The Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering is a program in the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. It was established by a bequest from the distinguished American architect Paul Rudolph, who was a proponent of the art of architectural drawing. The program sponsors activities and publications to engage the public with the Library’s collections. Read for more information.