The David S. Castle Architectural Drawings Collection contains over 6,500 pages of architectural drawings and blue prints created primarily during the first half of the 20th century. All materials have been digtized and are available in the Portal to Texas History.

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The collection contains approximately 6,500 total pages of blueprints and architectural drawings representing over 700 individual buildings. The bulk of the collection was created during the first half of the 20th century. Buildings from both the public and private spheres are present in the collection. To date, only about half of the collection has been transferred to UNT.

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Founded in Abilene in 1915, the David S. Castle Company became the most successful architectural firm in West Texas during the first half of the 20^th century. Castle designed churches, schools, courthouses, shopping centers, theaters, hotels, hospitals, and residential buildings. Practically everyone living in West Texas has stepped into a Castle building at least once during their lifetime. Although the majority of Castle’s construction was in Abilene and Midland, he worked extensively throughout West Texas – from Olney to Ozona and as far west as Fort Stockton. Castle also produced plans for projects in Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, Bryan, and Tyler.

The Castle plans and drawings represent a big piece of our state’s history, and while so many of his buildings continue to exist and be used, the drawings are useful for future restoration or renovation projects. From a historical perspective, the Castle drawings present an excellent opportunity to trace Texas’ past through the evolution of its architecture.

The collection was formerly owned and maintained by the Tittle-Luther Partnership, an architectural firm in Abilene, Texas. The digitization of the collection, managed by the Abilene Library Consortium, was made possible in part by a $35,000 TexTreasures grant, awarded by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

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