How did architects get hired?

[Bill Brightly]

This may be a hard question to answer, but do any of you historians know how much work an architect would typically do BEFORE they got hired? Do you think it would have beed standard practice for each architect to submit a preliminary routing or would they each simply make a "dog and pony show" presentation?

In reviewing old board minutes at my club, I see that Tillinghast, Stiles & Van Kleek, and Banks submitted "propositions" to build our course. (Donald Ross responded that he "couldn't possibly take on the work.") Unfortunately, I could only find the 1926 "Special Report of the Grounds Committee" and not the actual propositions.

Do you think standard practice in the 1920's would mean that each submitted a routing as part of their proposition?

[Tom_Doak]

Bill:

I doubt that the architects of the 1920's felt like giving away free work any more than we do today.

Some clients will insist on this process, and then it's up to the architect whether to "compete" for the job or not.  (Perhaps that's the real reason Mr. Ross couldn't possibly participate.)  However, as with today, I suspect most selections came down to who you know, and name reputation in the local area.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I'm involved in the histories of a number of English clubs and in almost every case a particular architect was invited (on the strength of previous commissions or success in Open Championships) to come to see the site and subsequently to submit plans for the new course. These were never very detailed plans although they seem to have been remarkably precise given the short nature of the visit. (Braid, as he grew more experienced, coud remember - without making notes - the relevant features of a piece of land [or an existing course if he was going to refashion it] and submit his plans by post within a few days! In none of the cases on which I am working was any form of competitive tendering required. Sometimes an architect was summoned to suggest alterations to a course and only some (or even none) of those alterations were carried out. Braid, Colt, Fowler, Herd and MacKenzie all worked in the Lancashire/Cheshire area by invitation.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Mark- Asking for a plan by a number of architects sometimes happens in the UK. I did it once, never got the job, they went for someone local but still u sed my routing, so I won't be doing that again and have declined when I have been asked since. Generally, I think they decide a name they want on the basis of the courses they want or ow budget courses go with the closest. I suspect largely this principle is unchanged for over 100 years.

[Phil_the_Author]

Bill,

Tilly would not have provided a design or have done any substantive work toward one. In the case of your club, whose job he didn't get, he would most likely have done what he did at 5 Farms which he contracted for in 1924.

I chose 5 farms as the example because it is one of the few clubs that have almost all of the Club's and Tilly's correspondence in their files, despite it having been lost at one time. Note what he wrote:

      “Gentleman,
      “This will confirm the verbal agreement which I made with your committee on Monday, June 9th, 1924. It is agreed that the Baltimore Country Club retains my services to perform the following duties:

[So here we see that the job has been awarded to him. Note in the next paragraph what he HASN't yet done...]

      “After a careful examination and analysis of the new property, I agree to lay out two (2) courses, each of eighteen (18) holes. These are to be staked on the ground and after the various points had been located by your surveyor, I am to prepare a completely detailed working plan of the thirty-six (36) holes, showing other vital features, such as Driveways, Parking places for motor cars, Tennis Courts and Practice Grounds for Driving and Putting..."

[So Tilly had yet to make a real design or even a long examination of the property BEFORE he had given both a proposal and plan.]

This was his normal means of contracting for his work. he would make both a strong presentation and also have overcome any political pressures beforehand suually due to his knowing one or more of the decision-makers. It is they who would usually get him invovled. Still, where he didn't personally know any of the parties he would concentrate on the presentation and design the course later. The closest he would come to design work would usually be pointing out certain holes that might be available to build if he got the job.

Rarely did Tilly ever get into a design competition...