Richard Koch (1889 – 1971) (pronounced Coke) was an architect who specialized in architectural conservation and the restoration of historically significant buildings. He emphasized buildings in New Orleans, Louisiana. Koch worked with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) during the Great Depression. He was an early leader of the Vieux Carré Commission.
Koch was also an architectural photographer with many of his works archived by the Library of Congress. His photography highlighted the antebellum period in Louisiana. He was a founding partner of Koch & Wilson, a firm that specializes in architectural preservation.
Early life and education
Koch was born on June 9, 1889, to parents Julius Koch and Anna Koch (née Frotscher) in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father was an architect and a builder in New Orleans and had immigrated to the city from Stuttgart, Germany. He enrolled at Tulane University, graduating in 1910, being the first graduate of the Tulane School of Architecture. He subsequently studied for a year at the Atelier Bernier in Paris, France.
Following matriculation, Koch was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps during World War I.
Career
Early professional career
On completion of his military service, Koch worked as an architectural apprentice for a brief time in the northeastern United States before returning to New Orleans. He then joined the architectural firm of Charles Armstrong, eventually becoming a partner in the firm. Through Koch's influence, the firm of Armstrong & Koch focused on restorations and designs of traditional Louisiana buildings and structure. The firm was dissolved in 1934.
In 1922, preservationist William Weeks Hall commissioned Koch to restore Hall's plantation home, which was known as Shadows-on-the-Teche. Within a year, Koch completed the project and the plantation home became part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Years later, Koch photographed this plantation as part of his efforts with the Historic American Buildings Survey.
Koch traveled in Spain in the early 1920s, an experience that enhanced is interest and skills in architectural photography. His photographic subjects in Spain included the Generalife in Granada and the Alcázar of Seville. During this time, Koch also made architectural drawings of historically significant structures in Spain.
Architectural photography
Early in the 1930s, Koch became director of the Louisiana division of the Historic American Buildings Survey, which was part of the United States Department of Interior. At that time, Koch began his photographic documentation of historic buildings in Louisiana. This task also included employing teams of draftsmen who developed architectural drawings of historic buildings.
Koch typically used a view camera with 4 inch x 5 inch film for his architectural photography. Many of the photographs were sent to HABS offices in Washington, DC, although Koch often retained duplicates in his own collection. Many of his works were later recombined into a single collection late in Koch's life.
Among the notable plantations that Koch photographed during this period of his career are the Uncle Sam Plantation, the Butler Greenwood Plantation, the Belle Grove Plantation, the Homewood Plantation, and others.
At the peak of Koch's tenure as regional director of HABS, he had a team of 19 architects and photographers as subordinates. They photographically documented approximately 150 structures in and around Louisiana, sorting the documents into categories according to the age, state of decay, rareness, and building type of the subjects. During his time with HABS, most of his photographs went to the Library of Congress.
While Louisiana director of HABS, Koch hired artist A. Boyd Cruise who later became the first director of The Historic New Orleans Collection. He commissioned architectural photographer Robert W. Tebbs to join the HABS effort in Louisiana. Koch was also a colleague of Frances Benjamin Johnston during her efforts as an architectural photographer in Louisiana.
Koch's efforts on photographic documentation of historic buildings continued until 1965, long after his term with HABS had ended. Koch's photographic style was to depict the buildings as they appeared, regardless if they were in disrepair. He often avoided harsh sunlight on the subjects, and often included people or automobiles in the photographs in order to provide size perspective.