1. Identity statement

Reference code n/a.

Title Segal MSS.

Dates of creation of the material 1934-5.

Extent 3 boxes.

2. Context

Name of creator Segal, Walter (1907-1985).

Administrative and biographical history
Architect. Born, Berlin, Germany, 1907. Died, London 1985. Son of painter Arthur Segal. Won a scholarship to study architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, then Zürich, 1929-32. During this time he also became interested in joinery. His first commission, a small timber-framed house in Ascona, was for his father's patron, Bernhard Meyer, 1932. Worked as an archaeological surveyor in Egypt, whilst there began a study of furniture, focusing on the chairs and footstools from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1934-5. Moved to London in 1936 to continue his studies at the British Museum. He then worked for interior and furniture designers, and for the Ministry of Supply during the War. Founded his own architectural practice, pioneering the design of inexpensive, self build, timber framed housing. He taught at the Architectural Association, 1944-8. Banister Fletcher Professor, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, 1973. Taught at the Thames Polytechnic, 1976 onwards.

See Building Design, 21 December 2007 (accessed 17 November 2008) [interview with John Segal (son), place of birth quoted as Berlin], and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (accessed 17 November 2008) [place of birth given as Ascona, Switzerland].

Custodial history Given by Walter Segal to Dr Marianne Eaton-Krauss.

Immediate source of acquisition Presented by Dr Marianne Eaton-Krauss in 2008.

3. Content and structure

Scope and content 20 folders containing handwritten notes, pencil drawings, negatives, photographs and postcards.

System of arrangement Kept as received.

4. Access and use

Legal status Property of the Griffith Institute.

Access conditions No restrictions.

Copyright conditions Copyright Griffith Institute, Oxford.

Language of material German.

Physical characteristics Negatives possibly nitrate.

Finding aids Online catalogue.

5. Allied materials area

Location of originals These are originals.

Existence of copies Scans of all the material in the possession of Dr M. Eaton-Krauss.

Related units of description TAA Archive.

Associated material Not known.

Publications Some of the drawings and photographs are reproduced in Eaton-Krauss, M. The Thrones, Chairs, Stools, and Footstools from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Oxford: Griffith Institute, 2008.

(March 27, 2009)