Restored plan of the Erechtheum (Project ‘F’ and ‘G’). Drawn and published by W.B. Dinsmoor in AJA 36 (1932), 321, fig. 4.
The Archives report that the conservation of another 56 architectural drawings by William Bell Dinsmoor has been completed. The majority of the drawings, executed in the 1930s and 1940s, comprises plans, sections, or details of buildings on the Athenian Akropolis (Agrippa Monument, Temple of Athena Nike, Erechtheum, Parthenon, Pinacotheke, and Propylaea). Curled with wrinkles and tears, these drawings required immediate attention. The conservation took place at the Conservation Department of the Benaki Museum under the supervision of Myrto Delivoria, and was made possible by a generous grant from Dorothy Dinsmoor. This grant followed one in 2010, which allowed us to conserve more than 100 architectural drawings of the Akropolis Propylaea made by William Bell Dinsmoor Sr. and Dinsmoor Jr.
Dorothy Dinsmoor, a niece of William B. Dinsmoor Sr., who visited the American School on July 16th, recalled favorite moments with her older cousin Bill Dinsmoor Jr. and her aunt Zillah during Thanksgiving dinners at the Dinsmoor’s residence in Amsterdam Avenue, near Columbia University. Dorothy Dinsmoor, who has studied architectural preservation, is the Vice-President of The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of the chemical sciences.
