A Review of Architectural Models by Robert Forman

These latter [JDL: ‘latter’ meaning ‘architectural models’] have for many years been the almost exclusive province of card and paper, such models being used extensively by architects in the course of their profession, and these are really a special subject, rather outside the scope of these pages. For those readers who may be interested, an excellent little book on the elements of this craft is “Architectural Models”, by Robert Forman, published by Studio Press.

I ran across that statement in G. H. Deason’s 1958 book Cardboard Engineering with Scissors & Paste, published by Model Aeronautical Press Limited, when I was investigating mentions of ‘Fashion Board’ in old books about miniature building construction. Deason’s book is excellent, so I had to hunt down the one he recommended as an excellent little book on the elements of architectural modelling.

I found an inexpensive and well preserved copy online, but upon arrival I soon discovered what it had to say to be somewhat less than expected, even by the standards of the time it was published - that being 1946. In contrast, John Ahern’s article Madderport’s Buildings that appeared in the July 1942 issue of The Model Railway News is a good example of the beautiful models achievable in that era.

The book itself is a little 64-page gem. It’s full of beautiful line drawings and well written text. The problem seems to be the book is a somewhat simplified overview of the subject, and it never seems to settle on who it’s written for. The dust jacket blurb mentions the book is suitable for children, but once inside the text focuses on the needs and uses of architects, architectural students, and various other professions and students. I don’t think the construction examples and explanations would well serve any of those audiences.

The venerable wall strip technique is shown on the left-hand page - that could be the children's part.

By 1958, when Deason’s book was released, a number of better books on constructing miniature buildings had been published in England: Modelled Architecture by P. R. Wickham in 1948 and Miniature Building Construction by John Ahern in 1950 to name two. Thomas Bayley’s Model Making in Cardboard, which deals almost exclusively with miniature buildings, was also published in 1958, and although quite good, it seems unreasonable to expect Deason to have mentioned it for timing reasons. The point is that by 1958 there were better books on miniature building construction available. Maybe Deason and Forman were friends? Or maybe miniature buildings wasn’t something Deason kept up-to-date on? Who knows? These are more of those unanswerable questions.

And what about recommended materials? The book isn’t focused exclusively on card, but in the materials chapter it mentions: Various papers and cardboard are used, ranging from strawboard to Whatman. I assume Whatman is a brand name of a cardboard, and is being bandied about in the same manner that Strathmore often is by some writers when referring to their Bristol board products. Bristol board is mentioned a few places in the text, as for making window frames, but is not called out in the materials section.

One last thing. Take a look at the following spread:

The so-called American bubble house is shown in the upper left.

I hadn’t heard of an American bubble house, so off to the internet I went. It turns out in the early 1940s there was a Los Angeles based architect, Wallace Neff, who invented a type of semi-spherical house by spraying gunite over an inflatable form such that when the concrete was dry the form could be deflated and removed leaving a dome-like structure behind. What you see in the drawing is a fairly close representation. So, I guess the book was fairly advanced in showing the reader how to model one of those houses.

And then there’s this weird association. Neff? Neff? Where have I heard that name before? Yes, in my favourite movie, 1944's Double Indemnity. Walter Neff was the main character, played by Fred MacMurray. Wallace Neff, Walter Neff? Odd. The movie was based on a 1943 book of the same name written by James M. Cain, but in the book the lead character was called Walter Huff. So, Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder changed the name from Huff to Neff, the last name of our bubble house architect, who by the way was quite famous and made his fortune designing houses for Los Angeles’ elite. Coincidence? Probably, but Architectural Models doesn’t say :-)