Industrial Urbanism as an Archival Project: The Work of the Building Arts Foundation

Abstract

St. Louis-based salvage contractor and self-taught curator Larry Giles has spent the last thirty-seven years assembling one of the largest collections of architectural artifacts in the United States. Under the auspices of the non-profit Building Arts Foundation, he has gathered together tens of thousands of unique artifacts in material and print form. In this interview conducted in the fall of 2006, Mr. Giles talks about the origins of his collection, its unparalleled scope, and his vision for its future home in a new national museum devoted to architecture and the allied arts. The authors provide an update on the work of the Building Arts Foundation as of January 2009.