Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area - Hardcover

Dave Weinstein

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586857517 ISBN 13: 9781586857516

Publisher: Gibbs Smith, 2006

Synopsis

When talk turns to architects who have made their mark in the San Francisco Bay Area, it often stops after two names-Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. Widely admired, they are the stuff of legend. In a new book on the "signature" styles of Bay Area architecture, author and architecture critic Dave Weinstein takes aim at some of the most important yet lesser-known Bay Area architects-in other words, everyone else. What began as an outgrowth of articles he had written for the San Francisco Chronicle about preserving historic buildings is now a definitive work on the architecture of an area that is unlike any other. The fifteen architects profiled here were chosen not because they are the best the area has produced (though several are) but because their stories, taken together, provide a solid history of Bay Area residential architecture.

Fifteen Bay Area architects are profiled: the Newsom brothers, Leola Hall, Ernest Coxhead, Luther Turton, Albert Farr, John Hudson Thomas, Frank Wolfe, Birge Clark, Carr Jones, Gardner Dailey, Roger Lee, Jack Hillmer, Warren Callister, Donald Olsen, and the firm Ace Architects.

Sidebars cover topics such as What's a Queen Anne?, What's a Stick?, What's an Arts and Crafts Home?, and The Eichler Phenomenon

A summary on each architect including birth/death dates, style, active projects, famous projects, and a list of houses to visit

Architectural styles covered include English Cottage, Stucco, Prairie, Colonial, Modern, and more

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

When talk turns to architects who have made their mark in the San Francisco Bay Area, it often stops after two names-Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. Widely admired, they are the stuff of legend. Maybeck and Morgan did much to create what we call Bay Area architecture. But they didn't do it alone. The fifteen architects profiled in this book were chosen not because they are the best the area has produced, though several are, but because their stories, taken together, provide a solid history of Bay Area residential architecture.

But is there such a thing as Bay Area architecture? Many people say no. Historians have been arguing for years about something called the "Bay Tradition" or "Bay Region Style." The term Bay Regional Style was invented in the late 1940s and refers to several things-the idiosyncrasies of Maybeck; the wit of Ernest Coxhead; the influence of farm houses, barns, and adobes; the influence of Mission Revival; and modern homes that soften the International style by building in redwood and admitting regional influences like Maybeck and Morgan or touches of Japan.

Dave Weinstein offers a detailed look at the Bay Area's master architects. From Frank Wolfe's idiosyncratic mix of details and foolhardy arrangement of windows, chimneys, rooflines and gables to Jack Hillmer's expressive use of natural woodwork and rigorous geometric designs to Ace Architect's playful style allied with post-modernism that deliberately recalls Bay Tradition architects from years past, this fascinating volume offers a rare glimpse of the talented architects who shaped the area.

Dave Weinstein is a long-time Bay Area writer and journalist who has been profiling architects for the San Francisco Chronicle for three years, and writes about modern architects for CA Modern-the Eichler Network magazine and Web site. Dave also writes about historic preservation, the environment, history, and diverse issues for many Bay Area and national publications. A native of Long Island, Dave studied art history at Columbia University and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He's an avid hiker and dog-walker, and a dedicated preservationist who initiated the successful effort to preserve the Cerrito Theater, an Art Deco theater in his hometown of El Cerrito, California.

About the Author:

Dave Weinstein, a native of Long Island, New York, received his undergraduate degree in art history at Columbia University in 1973, and then studied journalism at UC Berkeley. He has lived in the Bay Area for thirty years, and spent twenty years as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers. Dave has written two books, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area, and the text for a photo book Berkeley Rocks. He writes for the magazine CA Modern, and for four years has been writing a popular series of architect profiles for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Linda Svendsen, a graduate of Music and Art High School and Parsons School of Design in New York, has been a renowned photographer for more than thirty years. Her work is showcased in numerous magazines and books; she is the author of Bicycle: Around the World.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1586857517
• ISBN 13: 9781586857516
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144