Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives ( specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers Records, Ms1992-027, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers Records were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in 1992 and 1994.

Processing Information

Some processing, arrangement, and description of the Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers Records was completed between 1992 and 2009. The majority of the arrangement and description was completed between 2010 and 2019.

Administrative History

Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers, was an architecture firm in Roanoke, Virginia, established in 1935 by Louis Phillipe Smithey and Henry B. Boynton. The firm closed during World War II for a few years while Boynton and Smithey served in the U.S. Army. After Smithey's death in the 1970s, Boynton partnered with Kenneth L. Motley, who began his career as a draftsman with the firm. In 1992, a year following Boynton's death, Motley acquired Smithey & Boynton and renamed the firm Motley + Associates.

Smithey & Boynton designed several structures over the years, including the Christ Episcopal Church, the South Roanoke Fire Station, the Shenandoah Life Building, McClanaham Street Office Building, and the American Theater Building, all in Roanoke. The firm also designed Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech and the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg. The firm became best known for building public schools, even using the same basic layout for numerous schools. Smithey & Boynton had nearly 150 school design commissions during the period of 1945 thru 1953 in at least 19 counties and 10 cities.

Biographical Note - Henry B. Boyton

Henry B. Boynton was born in West Chicago, Illinois, in 1899 and grew up in Amelia County, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering in 1921 and a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1923. Boyton then spent a year at the University of Illinois in Urbana taking architecture classes. He became a registered architect in Virginia in 1930 and later registered in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

From 1924 to 1928, Boynton worked as a draftsman at Carneal & Johnston, Architects & Engineers, in Richmond, Virginia. In 1929, he joined Louis Phillipe Smithey, Architect & Engineer, in Roanoke, Virginia, as an associate. In 1935, Boynton and Smithey partnered to form Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers, in Roanoke. Boynton became senior partner of the firm when Smithey retired in 1963.

Boynton was affiliated with the Virginia Chapter (later the Virginia Society & Blue Ridge Chapter) of the American Institute of Architects from 1938 until his death. He served on the board of directors in 1952, 1953, and 1956; as vice-president in 1954; and as president in 1955. He was a member of the State Registration Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, and Land Surveyors, as a Governor's appointee, from 1962 to 1972, serving as President of the Board in 1967. He received a distinguished service award in 1980 and the Noland Award in 1989, both from the Virginia Society & Blue Ridge Chapter of the AIA.

Boynton served in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, rising to the rank of Colonel. He was a member of the Virginia Tech Alumni Board of Directors from 1969 to 1979 and Chair of its Annual Fund Committee from 1973 to 1979. He also served on the Board of the VPI Educational Foundation, Inc., from 1978 to 1982. In 1976, Boynton received the Virginia Tech Alumni Distinguished Service.

Boynton died on September 13, 1991, at the age of 92, at his home in Roanoke.

Biographical Note - Louis Phillipe Smithey

The son of William Rosser Smithey and Mannie Jane Elizabeth Greene, Louis Philippe Smithey was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, on June 7, 1890. He earned his bachelor and master's degrees at Randolph-Macon College in 1909 and 1910, respectively, and was an alumnus member of Phi Beta Kappa there. He was an instructor and special student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute from 1910 to 1914 and a special student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1914 to 1915.

Smithey was a registered architect in Virginia and West Virginia. A fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), he served as president of the Virginia chapter of AIA in 1940.

Smithey worked as a draftsman and contracting engineer for Virginia Bridge & Iron Company in Roanoke from 1916 to 1918. After serving in the army in World War I, he was contracting engineer for Virginia Bridge & Iron Company again in 1919 and 1920. He practiced as Louis P. Smithey from 1920 to 1922, with Matthews H. Tardy as Smithey & Tardy from 1922 to 1927, and again as Louis P. Smithey from 1927 to 1935.

The Smithey & Boynton partnership formed in 1935 with Henry B. Boynton. Prior to World War II, the firm served as consulting architects for the Roanoke City School Board and Roanoke County School Board for approximately eight years and handled school buildings in Franklin County, Montgomery County, Alleghany County, Pulaski County, and the City of Waynesboro.

While the company was closed during World War II, Smithey served in the U.S. Army as Lt. Colonel from 1942 thru 1945.

Following the war, Smithey & Boynton were commissioned as architects or consulting architects on public school work in Virginia valued at approximately $31 million, distributed in 25 School Divisions of the state. Smithey retired from professional practice in 1963.

On June 11, 1938, Smithey married Dorothy Terrill, and they had daughter Nancy Terrill Smithey on March 10, 1940. He and his family lived in Roanoke. Smithey died on August 19, 1966.

Scope and Content

The collection contains project files and drawings related to more than 1,500 residences, churches, businesses, schools, and community buildings, predominantly in the Roanoke and Southwest Virginia area, designed by Smithey & Boynton, mostly between 1935 and 1957. Materials consist of project files, specifications, framed drawings and photographs, and architectural drawings. Records include designs by Smithey before he collaborated with Boynton, as well as designs by other firms of projects later redesigned by Smithey & Boynton. A small group of materials also relate to the firm of Johnson Associates International from 1968.

Please note: The list of projects/project files below does NOT include the rolled drawings currently being processed. Contact Special Collections for the current inventory of available drawings and how to access them.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series:

Series I: Biographical Information and Organization Records, 1923-1972, is arranged by owner and material type into the following subseries: Subseries A: Smithey & Tardy; Subseries B: Smithey & Boynton; and Subseries C: Sample Floor Plans. The Series contains documentation and administrative files on Smithey & Tardy and Smithey & Boynton. Materials include professional histories of partners and employees, biographical and personnel information, organization charts, legal and tax files, forms and contracts for clients, and some sample plans for school and residential designs.

Series II: Project Files and Drawings, 1923-1985, is arranged by project number, with unnumbered projects at the end. The materials are for designs or renovations by Smithey & Boynton with some files from previous or additional architects and engineers. The project files contain a variety of items that vary with each project. Materials may include blueprints, drawings, maps, contracts, correspondence and memos, and other documentation created by the firm or clients. Project files are listed with the project number, project/client name, and location; some also have dates and the name of the architectural or engineering firm.

Series III: Johnson Associates International, February 1968, contains materials on a single project completed by the firm, Farmland Dairies Inc. Processing Plant (Wallington, NJ). Files on this project date from February 1968.

Related Material

See the Henry B. Boynton Papers, Ms1992-002 , also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives.

Separated Material

Several oversize and/or framed photographs and drawings have been separated to the Art Collection, and several publications have been separated to the Rare Books Collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Architects -- Virginia
• Architectural drawing -- 20th century
• Bedford County (Va.)
• Blacksburg (Va.)
• Boynton, Henry B., 1899-1991
• Buchanan County (Va.)
• Carroll County (Va.)
• Christiansburg (Va.)
• Covington (Va.)
• Franklin County (Va.)
• Local/Regional History and Appalachian South
• Montgomery County (Va.)
• Pulaski County (Va.)
• Radford (Va.)
• Roanoke (Va.)
• Russell County (Va.)
• Salem (Va.)
• Smithey & Boynton, Architects and Engineers (1935-1992) (Roanoke, Va.)
• Tazewell County (Va.)
• Virginia, Southwest
• Wythe County (Va.)

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Smithey & Boynton, Architects & Engineers Records by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).