Brian,
I've done lots of architectural photography with a Toyo 45A before I got an Arca for the times I need more movement. At first much of it was done with a 90mm f8 (Nikon) 50mm and 250mm - only later on did I get a 75mm, 125mm and a 250mm, 300mm etc and various other lenses.
With the 90mm Nikon I can get enough rise on the Toyo for most exteriors unless it's a multi storey building (bellows scrunch up a bit) certainly enough for most of the exteriors I did.
Also, if you spend some time hunting through the archives here, there are lots of hints on architectural photography.
Neither transparency nor colour neg are as "archival" as B&W tends to be - but unless you are shooting for a rigorously controlled programme of documentation, either would be good - best choice would be the one you are most comfortable with/used to shooting. Both have their pros and cons for different circumstances, but this project probably isn't the time to be going through a learning curve like that...
Check you library for the McGrath book and also any of the books from the HABS/HAER project
http://www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/
(Their photo manual is very technical - but it might give you some ideas on how to document your shoot - photos without documentation aren't much use to an archive - etc
http://www.cr.nps.gov/habshaer/habs/guidelines/photospecs.pdf )
Indeed, hunt around at the library for any books documenting historic buildings (or in fact, archliberal photography in general) - get some ideas from them of approaches to take and figure out how the shots were done - without restricting yourself, give yourself a checklist of ideas to cover for each building.
In fact I nearly always find it valuable to check out the buildings first - as my old Sgt Major used to say "time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted..." You can see what the possibilities are, what might work, what problem their could be with physical access, where the light falls at different times of the day etc.
Bookmarks