In 2004, Cambridge Architectural Books, one of only a handful of premier architectural bookstores in the United States, closed its doors after 15 years in business. This store was notable not only for the quality of its architectural offerings but also for its breadth of topics including planning, urban design, landscape architecture, industrial design, and graphics.
The store’s owner set aside one of every remaining book—5,000 in total with a retail value of approximately $250,000.
Knowing the quality of these books, Dean Reiter immediately expressed an interest on behalf of the college, and AED Librarian Deborah Koshinsky reviewed the entire catalogue.
The college acquired the 5,000 titles, most of which have been processed and are available in the AED Library. The acquisition increased the AED Library holdings by 12 percent, primarily with titles that the college does not currently own.
This collection is of real interest to the professional design community. Local architect and designer, Jack DeBartolo II—a generous spirit, experienced practitioner, and community leader—led a fundraising campaign to fund the purchase of the Cambridge Architectural Books collection.
Much of the cost of the collection has been covered but approximately 20 percent of the purchase price must still be raised. If you are interested in supporting the college in our efforts to bring a diversity of design and planning books to our underfunded libraries, please contact Sharon Haugen at 480.965.6384 or sharon.haugen@asu.edu.
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