Unboxing Contexts
The Unrealized Projects of Douglas D. Ellington
The Asheville Art Museum is proud to share Unboxing Contexts: The Unrealized Projects of Douglas D. Ellington, a digital exhibition curated by undergraduate interns Berit Raines and Sarah Willoughby. This digital exhibition examines unbuilt architectural projects that were designed by noted 20th century architect Douglas D. Ellington. Ellington is well known for designing several significant Art Deco structures in western North Carolina, such as the Asheville City Building and the S&W Cafeteria.
Most of the materials that appear in this exhibition come from the Asheville Art Museum’s Douglas D. Ellington collection; an authoritative body of records comprising nearly 6,000 pages of schematics, correspondence, and other documents that Ellington collected throughout his entire personal and professional life. These records were graciously gifted to the museum by Douglas D. Ellington’s grand-niece, Sallie Middleton Parker. The preservation and digitization of these materials, as well as the research that was conducted to create this digital exhibition, was made possible through funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Notable exhibition materials that appear in this exhibition were also provided by the Dominican Republic’s General Archive of the Nation, the Buncombe County Special Collections, the State Archives of North Carolina, and the UNCA Special Collections and University Archives.
To explore more of the Douglas D. Ellington Collection, or to view other artworks at the Asheville Art Museum, please visit our digital collection database.
