Charles Dagit
Citation
Keystones: Oral Histories of Philadelphia's Built Environment (). Charles Dagit. https://digital.philaathenaeum.org/s/keystones/item/15
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Item Metadata
Title
Charles Dagit
Date
2012
Description
Charles E. Dagit, Jr. (1943-2024) was a Philadelphia architect and educator and the third generation of a family of architects whose firm, Henry D. Dagit & Sons, designed many of the region’s Roman Catholic churches and institutions. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied in Louis I. Kahn’s Master’s Studio, Dagit worked at Mitchell/Giurgola before founding Dagit Saylor Architects with Peter Saylor in 1970. Over a 37-year partnership the firm received many professional awards, including gold and silver medals from the Philadelphia Chapter of the AIA, for work ranging from the Agricultural Arena at Penn State to the restoration of Horace Trumbauer’s Eisenlohr residence and the residential village at Ursinus College. Dagit was elevated to Fellow of the AIA in 1983 and taught design at Temple University (1973-1980) and Drexel University (1981-2009).
Related Resource
Interviewee
Dagit, Charles E., Jr.
Interviewer
Myers, Hyman
Laverty, Bruce
Abstract
On February 10, 2012 Hyman Myers and Bruce Laverty interviewed Charles Dagit at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Myers was a preservation architect at VITETTA. Laverty was the Gladys Brooks Curator of Architecture at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
Lynn Mandarano transcribed this interview in 2025. The transcription process was funded by a Historical and Archival Records Care (HARC) Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). Alice Dagit, Charles Dagit’s widow, reviewed the transcript for accuracy in 2025.
In the interview, Dagit traces his family’s history in architecture, including his grandfather Henry D. Dagit’s work on St. Malachy’s and St. Francis de Sales Church, and recalls growing up, meeting Louis Kahn, and studying at the University of Pennsylvania under Dean G. Holmes Perkins. He discusses the founding of Dagit/Saylor Architects and its early projects, describing the Monastery of St. Clare as a “story of our beginnings,” as well as the Olin Building at Ursinus College, the student center at Shippensburg University, the Whitehouse Campus Center at Haverford College, and a collaboration with Hiller on the north campus of Cornell University. Dagit also reflects on his design influences, including the Abbaye du Thoronet and Kahn’s Salk Institute, the growth of his office, the impact of the computer on architectural practice, and public service in architecture.
Lynn Mandarano transcribed this interview in 2025. The transcription process was funded by a Historical and Archival Records Care (HARC) Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). Alice Dagit, Charles Dagit’s widow, reviewed the transcript for accuracy in 2025.
In the interview, Dagit traces his family’s history in architecture, including his grandfather Henry D. Dagit’s work on St. Malachy’s and St. Francis de Sales Church, and recalls growing up, meeting Louis Kahn, and studying at the University of Pennsylvania under Dean G. Holmes Perkins. He discusses the founding of Dagit/Saylor Architects and its early projects, describing the Monastery of St. Clare as a “story of our beginnings,” as well as the Olin Building at Ursinus College, the student center at Shippensburg University, the Whitehouse Campus Center at Haverford College, and a collaboration with Hiller on the north campus of Cornell University. Dagit also reflects on his design influences, including the Abbaye du Thoronet and Kahn’s Salk Institute, the growth of his office, the impact of the computer on architectural practice, and public service in architecture.