Laszlo Hudec fonds
| Record No. | SC132 |
| Main Entry | Hudec, Laszlo, 1893-1958 |
| Title | Laszlo Hudec fonds |
| Dates | 1913-1937 |
| Physical Description | 80 cm of textual records. -- ca. 550 architectural drawings. -- ca. 100 photographs. |
| Bio/Admin History | László Ede Hugyecz (1893-1958), known as L. E. Hudec, Hungarian-Slovakian, was born in the northern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, what is now Slovakia. While a teenager, his father, a builder, encouraged László to work in all aspects of the trade. From 1911 to 1914, Hugyecz studied architecture at the Királyi Magyar József Technical University in Budapest. The advent of World War I coincided with the completion of his degree. He joined the Austro-Hungarian army, only to be caught by the Russians in 1916 and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. Two years later, in 1918, Hugyecz escaped from a prisoner of war train close to the Chinese border. Hugyecz made his way down from Siberia into China to eventually arrive in Shanghai. In Shanghai, Hugyecz joined the American architectural firm, R. A. Curry, and started to use the name L. E. Hudec in official writings. In the space of seven years, Hudec had several major projects under his belt, and by 1925 he had established his own office and a place as one of the leading architects in the city. By 1941, according to his autobiography, Hudec had designed hundreds of buildings and supervised their construction. The buildings included the Park Hotel and many private residences. Hudec left Asia in 1946 for America, living in Berkeley, California until his death in 1958. |
| Scope and Content | The fonds consists of approximately 550 presentation drawings, sketches, conceptual drawings, working drawings, technical drawings (inclusive of blueprints), travel sketches and photographs. These include exterior and interior renderings of plans and designs for work produced in both Europe and in China. The architectural collection consists of works by Hudec and two other unknown authors. The work of Hudec is transcribed in English, German and Chinese characters. The work of the unknown authors is transcribed in Hungarian and German. There are also 2 boxes of textual records including notes, notebooks, photo albums, documents, letters, memos, scrapbooks, photos, legal records, rare journals, and newspapers clippings. The body of work covers 1913-1937. |
| Title Source | Title based on the contents of the fonds. |
| Finding Aids | A temporary finding aid has been prepared by Lenore Hietkamp of the Maltwood Museum. |
| Online Finding Aids |
Finding Aid for Acc. 1996-022 (PDF, 33 kB) |
| Restrictions | |
| Notes | |
| Provenance | Hudec, Laszlo, 1893-1958 |
| Repository | University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections |
| Subject Headings | Architecture, Modern--19th century--Europe Architecture, Modern--20th century--Europe Architecture, Oriental Architecture--China--Shanghai Architecture--Designs and plans Architecture--Designs and plans--Presentation drawings Architecture--Designs and plans--Working drawings Hudec, Laszlo, 1893-1958 Shanghai (China)--Buildings, structures, etc. |
| Related Links |
Architecture Collections |