Finding Aid for the Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers, 1925-1956 0000120
Finding aid prepared by Jillian O'Connor and Chris Marino
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Arts Building Room 1434
University of California
Santa Barbara, California, 93106-7130
805-893-2724
adc@museum.ucsb.edu
Title: Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0000120
Contributing Institution:
Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
45.5 Linear feet
(10 record storage boxes and 13 flat file drawers)
Date (inclusive): 1925-1956
creator:
Coate, Roland E., 1890-1958
Partially processed collection, open for use by qualified researchers.
Gift of Roland Coate Jr., 1973.
Roland Eli Coate, Sr. papers, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Roland Eli Coate, Sr. (1890-1958) was born in Richmond, Indiana. After attending Earlham College for two years, he transferred
to Cornell University where he completed his degree in architecture in 1914. After school, Coate settled in New York and found
work at the Trowbridge and Ackerman architectural firm. During WWI Coate served as a 1
st Lieutenant with the American Expeditionary Forces. In 1919 Coate moved to Los Angeles and joined the architectural firm which
became known as Johnson, Kaufmann and Coate. While he was a junior partner in the firm, Coate helped to design St. Paul’s
Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles and All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. By 1925, the firm had disbanded and
Coate opened his own firm in Los Angeles and continued to design until his death in 1958. His first solo project was the All
Saints Episcopal church in Beverly Hills. He went on to design many homes in the grater Pasadena area and in West Los Angeles.
Coate was one of the early exponents of the Monterey Revival, the style for which he is best known, though he also designed
Colonial Revival houses and California ranch houses.
The Roland E. Coate collection spans 45.5 linear feet and dates from 1925 to 1956. The collection is primarily composed of
Coate’s architectural drawings and reprographic copies of his residential designs, but also includes presentation drawings,
8 x 14 in. black-and-white matted photographs of his buildings, his diplomas, large format scrapbook pages filled with drawings
and reprographic copies, clippings regarding Coate’s work, awards, and Coate’s documents relating to projects.
Related Archival Materials note
Johnson, Kaufmann, & Coate drawing for Saint Paul's Catherdral, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture
Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Coate, Roland E., 1890-1958
Architectural drawings
Architecture -- California -- 20th century
Photographic prints
Presentation drawings (proposals)