{"id":250869,"date":"2016-10-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-life-of-the-architect\/"},"modified":"2016-10-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T07:00:00","slug":"the-life-of-the-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-life-of-the-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"The life of the architect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who designed our homes and shaped our neighborhoods?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Michael Bueno | Visitas a domicilio<\/p>\n

They say you will know a man by his works.<\/p>\n

If that were true, we should know a lot more than we do about the architects who designed our early 20th-century houses. These shadowy figures put their stamp on the plans that produced our houses and then departed the scene. A few left behind plans and news clippings, a few left behind children to tell their stories. But most left little or no evidence of their stay upon this earth \u2014 other than the houses they designed that we call home.<\/p>\n

We can walk the halls, pad the floors, run our hands over the woodwork, but the men and women who built these houses remain inscrutable cyphers.<\/p>\n

Over the years I\u2019ve written about a number of San Diego designers, architects and master builders. Looking over my notes, a sort of group portrait emerges \u2014 not of a bunch of artists, dreamers and great men, but more of a group of principled pragmatists, with a touch here and there of the artist, the dreamer, and if not the great man, at least the man aspiring to greatness.<\/p>\n

\"Irving<\/a>
Irving Gill\u2019s Marston House (Photo by Michael Good)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the turn of the 20th century, only a handful of architects were listed in the San Diego City Directory. Some might have had a classical education, or a degree from accredited architecture school, or a license. But most were just winging it, a well-worn tradition at the time, as self-reinvention was practically a requirement in early 20th-century San Diego.<\/p>\n

To put things in perspective, California didn\u2019t have any laws on the books regulating architects until 1901. The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) wasn\u2019t formed until 1928. The California Contractors State Licensing Board wasn\u2019t created until 1929. Few architects or contractors felt compelled to get licensed or registered. Cliff May, in fact, never earned his architect\u2019s license.<\/p>\n

For centuries, craftsmen had built houses without plans, relying on the traditions of the trade. But with the advent of indoor plumbing, electricity and balloon framing, houses became more complicated and builders needed to communicate clearly with workers about how the parts fit together.<\/p>\n

Not all designers started with a blank slate. Some local builders used designs they had purchased from plan books, or they paid a draftsman to draw up a plan to their specifications, which they varied so no two houses would look alike.<\/p>\n

Some builders, such as Nathan Rigdon, used the same plan a dozen or more times \u2014 but modified it and altered the details so thoroughly that each house seemed unique. Irving Gill, on the other hand, seemed restless. He famously changed the exterior trim of the Marston house in midcourse, after rethinking the half-timbering during a trip East.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Owen Dryden china cabinet (Photo by Zack Gemmell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You might be under the impression that the architect is the author of the house. But the Auteur Theory doesn\u2019t apply to the early years of 20th-century architecture, particularly in the office of Irving Gill. Mary Taschner, who wrote her master\u2019s thesis on Richard Requa (who learned the trade in Gill\u2019s office), put it this way:<\/p>\n

\u201cIrving Gill ran his office as an atelier where all his employees became apprentices for professional positions. In that atmosphere of learning, Richard [Requa] not only acted as job superintendent for Gill\u2019s construction work, but he began to design buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gill was influenced by Louis Sullivan, his mentor in Chicago, who didn\u2019t believe in the value of formal training. Sam Hamill, a draftsman in Requa\u2019s office, told Taschner \u201cGill treated his employees as students, but at the same time allowed them freedom to make their own decisions.\u201d And, he added, \u201cGill encouraged his employees to discuss their work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edward Hussey, a draftsman for San Francisco architects Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck, provides another view of the architect\/draftsman relationship. Maybeck was in the middle of what turned out to be a 17-year project, Principia College.<\/p>\n

Hussey, who lived with Maybeck and his wife, claimed the architect was almost constitutionally incapable of telling anyone what to do.<\/p>\n

As Hussey described it, when Maybeck thought it was time to take out the trash, he would do anything to avoid saying, \u201cPlease take out the trash.\u201d The Maybecks were in the habit of sending their garbage next door, where it was consumed by the neighbors\u2019 pigs (it was the Depression after all).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the pigs might be getting hungry, \u201c Maybeck would tell Hussey.<\/p>\n

\"Marston<\/a>
Marston House stairway (Photo by Michael Good)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After following what he took to be Maybeck\u2019s instructions for drawing a particular building, Hussey would take his work to the veteran architect. \u201cIf you were going to change it,\u201d Maybeck would say, looking at a tower, for example, \u201cwould you make that higher or would you make that lower?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hussey had learned from the garbage experience: \u201cI looked at it and said, \u2018If anything, I\u2019d make it a little bit lower.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust draw it again,\u201d Maybeck would say. \u201cDraw it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Diego, homeowners had to be convinced they needed an architect. Requa was a member of the San Diego Ad Club. He wrote a column about architecture for the San Diego Union called Requa\u2019s Rants. He wrote at least three books, as well as many articles for national magazines. He took photographs. He made movies. He gave lectures and slide presentations to women\u2019s clubs. He tried his darnedest to promote the heck out of himself.<\/p>\n

May, who started out building Mexican haciendas in Talmadge, also understood the value of self-promotion. He partnered with Sunset magazine on houses, articles and a book. Some of the photographs were of May\u2019s personal residence, and his actual family.<\/p>\n

Craig Elwood, a Los Angeles architect who designed a house in the College Area, used his family for promotional purposes as well. His wife was particularly good at it, since she played a housewife on TV, in the sitcom \u201cDennis the Menace.\u201d<\/p>\n

When times were good, San Diego\u2019s architects, designers and master builders did relatively well. But times were rarely good for long. The World Wars were particularly hard on architects and builders. Construction virtually stopped in 1918 and didn\u2019t start again in earnest until the early 1920s. People like Requa survived by consulting on military projects (for a 2 percent fee). Others, like David Dryden, went bust.<\/p>\n

During the Depression, Requa worked on the 1935 Exposition and the County Administration Center. Hamill worked with Requa on the rehab of the House of Hospitality and alone on the Del Mar Racetrack.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/a>
Nathan Rigdon Prairie Style house (Photo by Michael Good)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While some architects rolled with the punches, Requa emerged from the Depression battered and beaten. He died in his office of a heart attack on June 10, 1941. He was 60 years old, and broke. He had been the master architect of Kensington Heights, Rancho Santa Fe and Presidio Hills, but like his mentor, he left nothing behind in terms of personal papers, plans or sketches.<\/p>\n

But also like Gill, Requa left behind a legacy of prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, friends and colleagues whom he mentored and inspired. Some, like Hamill, did a better job of providing for posterity. His papers are in the archives of the San Diego History Center, where you\u2019ll also find the current exhibition, \u201cIrving J. Gill: New Architecture for a Great Country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Comun\u00edquese con Michael Good en housecallssdun@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who designed our homes and shaped our neighborhoods? By Michael Good |\u00a0House Calls They say you will know a man by his works. If that were true, we should know a lot more than we do about the architects who designed our early 20th-century houses. These shadowy figures put their stamp on the plans that […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":250870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"The life of the architect","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}