Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Leicester B. Holland Prize: A Single-Sheet Measured Drawing Competition.
Top Prize Awarded for Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Drawing of Illinois Beach State Park South Bathouse
On January 24, 2024, the Library of Congress and the National Park Service announced that the 2023 Leicester B. Holland Prize will be presented to Shelbye Doyen, Chanen Hanson, Laura Hershner, Victoria Hill and Sol Scherer-Estevez, students attending the Architecture/Interior Architecture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, for a drawing of Illinois Beach State Park, South Bathhouse in Zion, Lake County, Illinois.
Illinois Beach State Park, South Bathhouse (HABS IL-1285-A)
Delineators: Shelbye Doyen, Chanen Hanson, Laura Hershner, Victoria Hill, and Sol Scherer-Estevez (2023)
Faculty Sponsor: Charles Pipal, AIA
The Illinois Beach South Bathhouse structure was erected in 1961, along with several other buildings in the Illinois Beach State Park. The architects, Barancik, Conte & Associates, were based in Chicago. Its cast-in-place concrete construction is typical of Modernist structures of this period. Most significantly, the building features a prominent series of interconnected, cast-concrete barrel vaults and a prominent tower.
This points to a Modernist tradition, while drawing on the local environment for inspiration, as the waveform roof speaks to its location on the beachfront and the waves on the lake. Associated extant structures include a nearly identical bathhouse and cast concrete picnic shelters to the north and a large convention center and hotel just to the south. The ensemble, all designed by Barancik, Conte & Associates, creates a cohesive Mid-Century campus.
The Leicester B. Holland Prize recognizes the best single-sheet, measured drawing of a historic building, site or structure prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record or the Historic American Landscapes Survey. For information on how to participate in the Holland Prize competition, visit the National Park Service contest website.
The Holland Prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge and appreciation of historic sites, structures and landscapes throughout the United States, and to encourage the submission of drawings by professionals and students. All drawings accepted for the competition are added to the permanent collection in the Library of Congress. Images can be viewed here.
The prize honors Leicester B. Holland (1882-1952). Holland was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects; director of the Library of Congress Fine Arts Division (now the Prints and Photographs Division); and co-founder of the Historic American Buildings Survey program.
The Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering is a program in the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress that sponsors activities and publications to engage the public with the Library's rich collections. For more information, visit this link.
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The Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) consist of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). The programs document historic sites and structures across the United States through the creation of measured drawings, large-format photographs, and historical reports. Documentation is archived in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress and is available to the public without restriction. HDP is part of the National Park Service's Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science Directorate.
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Robert Arzola
HABS, National Park Service
Washington DC
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