Records of Bernard J. S. Cahill, ca. 1889-1938
Joanne Miller
Environmental Design Archives
College of Environmental Design
230 Wurster Hall #1820
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-1820
Phone: (510) 642-5124
Fax: (510) 642-2824
Email: designarchives@berkeley.edu
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/
© 2010
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Records of Bernard J. S. Cahill, ca. 1889-1938
Collection number: 19XX-3
Environmental Design Archives
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
- Processed by:
- Joanne Miller
- Date Completed:
- October 1998
- Encoded by:
- Campbell J. Crabtree, June 1999
- Encoding revised by:
- Devan McGirr, January 2010
- Encoding revised by:
- Kelcy Shepherd, March 2004
- Funding:
- Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation.
© 2010 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Bernard J. S. Cahill records
Dates: 1889-1938
Collection number: 19XX-3
Creator:
Cahill, B. J. S. (Bernard J. S.), 1867-1964
Collector:
Environmental Design Archives
Collection Size:
3 manuscript boxes, 5 oversize folders, 1 flat box, 2 artifacts
Repository:
Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design.
University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California
Physical location: Environmental Design Archives
University of California
Berkeley, California, 94720-1820
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the
Curator.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Records of Bernard J. S. Cahill, 19XX-3, Environmental Design Archives. College of
Environmental Design. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California.
Biographical Note
Bernard Joseph Stanislaus Cahill was born in London, England in 1866. He is known for his cemetery architecture and for the
design of the San Francisco Civic Center. He was also the architect for a number of other commercial buildings, including
the Multnomah Hotel in Portland, Oregon and various buildings in Vancouver, B. C.
Cahill arrived in the United States in 1888. He was married to Lida Boardman Hall in 1897, and to Laura Georgiana McClune
in 1907. He and his second wife had one son, Bernard James Alban.
At the start of his professional career in 1896, Cahill participated in the Phoebe Hearst competition for the design of the
U. C. Berkeley campus. He was elected an Associate Member of the A.I.A. in 1899. He wrote articles for the "California Architect
and Building News" and later for "The Architect and Engineer." An early advocate of city planning, Cahill helped to define
the concept of a "civic center" with his 1904 design of the San Francisco Civic Center, which he felt was the basis for the
plan adopted by the city in 1912. He continued to be involved in the plan for the city, and wrote letters to the editor and
articles expressing his ideas on the proper plan.
A specialist in mausoleum design and mortuary architecture, Cahill designed the catacombs and columbarium for the Cypress
Lawn Cemetery, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (San Francisco), Evergreen Memorial Cemetery Memorial Building (Oakland),
the St. Mary's Cemetery mausoleum (Sacramento), and the Diamond Head Memorial Park in Honolulu.
He was listed in the San Francisco city directory under the partnership of Stone and Cahill from 1894-1895, and then starting
in 1907 with architects George A.Wright and George Rushforth (in the firm Wright, Rushforth, and Cahill). He subsequently
designed buildings (such as the Multnomah Hotel in Portland) as part of the team of Gibson and Cahill.
In addition to designing buildings, Cahill invented the butterfly map, an octahedral system of projection for meteorology,
geography, and geophysics. The map was designed to eliminate exaggeration at the top and bottom and distortion at the edges
and sides found in traditional maps. The surface of the globe was represented by eight equilateral triangles. Cahill founded
The Cahill World Map Co., which sold shares and promoted the map for educational and other uses.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Bernard J. S. Cahill collection is organized in five series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, Project
Records, and the Cahill World Map Company.
The bulk of the collection consists of Cahill's office records, which include photographs, clippings and scrapbooks that illustrate
his completed projects. Project records primarily relate to funerary commissions, but letters and clippings about the San
Francisco Civic Center are also included. The collection also contains a small number of records from the Cahill World Map
Company, and personal and professional writings by Cahill.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Mausoleums.
Architects--California.
Architecture--California.
Cahill World Map Co.
Genres and Forms of Material
Architectural records.
Scrapbooks.
Architectural drawings.
Architectural photographs.
Project Index
The Project Index list is arranged alphabetically by Project/Client Name and contains information, where available, about
the location, date, project type, collaborators, photographers, and formats for each project in the collection.
Project/Client Name (location, date, project type) Collaborator (role), Photographer [Format - Ms=Manuscripts, Dr=Drawings,
Ph=Photographs]
- Brewery Design (Hong Kong; commercial) [Dr]
- Calkins Newspaper Syndicate Building (San Francisco, CA; commercial) [Ph]
- Civic Center "Plan to Beautify Market Street" (San Francisco, CA; 1899-1912; planning) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Coleman Crypt (funerary) [Ph]
- Curtis Crypt (funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ph]
- Cypress Hill Memorial Park (Petaluma, CA; 1924; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Cypress Lawn (Colma, CA; 1918-1920; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ms, Dr, Ph]
- De la Montanga Mausoleum at Cypress Lawn (San Francisco, CA; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ph]
- Diamond Head Memorial Park (Honolulu, HI; 1928-1930; funerary) [Ms, Dr, Ph]
- Dohrmann Crypt (funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ph]
- Evergreen Cemetery (Oakland, CA; 1916-1933; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr, Ph]
- Guittard Company Building (San Francisco, CA; 1909; commercial) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Ms]
- Haller Crypt (funerary) [Ph]
- Halsten & Co. Building (commercial) [Dr]
- Henry, C.K. Marble Skyscraper (Portland, OR; 1910; commercial) Collaborator: Gibson & Cahill [Dr]
- Hewes Crypt (funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ph]
- IOOF Alisal Lodge Crematory, Office, and Columbarium (Salinas, CA; 1935; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- IOOF Columbarium and Crematorium (San Francisco, CA; 1894; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill & T.P. Ross [Ph]
- IOOF Home (San Jose, CA; recreational) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Kohler & Chase Building (San Francisco, CA; commercial) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Dr]
- Magnavox Company Building (Oakland, CA; ca. 1919; commercial) [Ph]
- McKinley, William Memorial (San Francisco, CA; cultural) Collaborator: Cahill [Ph]
- Meads Poultry Farm (Hayward, CA; commercial) Collaborator: Cahill [Ms, Ph]
- Memorial Terrace Mausoleum (Glendale, CA; funerary) [Ph]
- Multnomah Hotel (Portland, OR; 1911-1912; commercial) Collaborator: Gibson & Cahill [Dr, Ph]
- Native Sons of the Golden West Building Design (1895; recreational) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Norton, B.W. Manufacturing Company (Hayward, CA; 1920; commercial) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Pacific Mausoleum-Columbarium (Oakland, CA; 1933; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Pashmore, Sir Francis Residence (San Francisco, CA; 1936; residential) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- San Francisco City Hall Competition (San Francisco, CA; governmental) Cahill [Dr]
- San Francisco City Hall Temporary Building (San Francisco, CA; governmental) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Dr]
- Santa Cruz Mausoleum (Santa Cruz, CA; 1928; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ms, Ph]
- Seamen's Institute (San Francisco, CA; recreational) [Ph]
- Skaggs, M.B. Residence (Piedimont, CA; residential) [Ph]
- St. Mary's Mausoleum (Sacramento, CA; ca. 1930; funerary) [Ms, Ph]
- Sunset View Cemetery (Berkeley, CA; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Terbush Hotel at Powell & Clay Streets (San Francisco, CA; 1907; commercial) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Ms,
Ph]
- Unidentified Church (religious) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Ph]
- Unidentified Church (religious) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Ph]
- Unidentified Columbarium (Fresno, CA; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Unidentified Library (1909; educational) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Dr]
- University of California Phoebe Hearst Architectural Competition (CA; educational) Collaborator: [Dr]
- Vancouver City Hall (Vancouver, WA; governmental) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill [Ph]
- West Coast Soap Company Plant (Oakland, CA; 1919; commercial) Collaborator: Cahill [Dr]
- Woodlawn Memorial Park (Colma, CA; 1932; funerary) Collaborator: Cahill [Ms, Dr, Ph]
- Wright, Rushforth & Cahill Office at 571 California St. (San Francisco, CA; commercial) Collaborator: Wright, Rushforth &
Cahill [Dr]
Related Collections
Title: Bernard Joseph Stanislaus Cahill Papers, ca. 1900-1944
Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library
Boxes 1
I. Personal Papers
n.d., 1929
Series Scope and Content Summary
Contains typescript autobiography, photo of Cahill, and a bookplate. The incomplete autobiography primarily discusses his
childhood.
A. Biographical Information
Boxes 1
II. Professional Papers
n.d., 1932
Series Scope and Content Summary
Contains articles written by Cahill on the plan for San Francisco and on memorial buildings.
Boxes 2-3
III. Office Records
1889-1917
Series Scope and Content Summary
Contains scrapbooks, clippings, and photographs related to Cahill's projects, primarily his funerary architecture.
A. Photographs
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Consists of project photographs, including photographs of Woodlawn Memorial Park, unidentified projects, and others.
B. Clippings and Scrapbooks
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Consists of clippings, photographs, and ephemera--loose or contained within scrapbooks. Includes two volumes of scrapbooks
featuring Cahill’s work, as well as a copy of a third deconstructed scrapbook and the material that was removed from it. Also
includes issues of the
California Architect and Building News that feature the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Competition.
Boxes 1, 4, Flat Files Flat Files 1-4
IV. Project Records
1909-1938
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by project, within subseries.
Series Scope and Content Summary
Contains specifications, correspondence, photographs, and drawings of projects, including the Cypress Abbey Cemetery in San
Francisco, the Diamond Head Cemetery in Honolulu, St. Mary's Cemetery Mausoleum in Sacramento. The only residential project
in the collection is the Skaggs residence in Piedmont (2 photographs). Includes material written and collected by Cahill on
the San Francisco Civic Center, including a 1909 letter of protest sent to the San Francisco Chronicle (but not published)
opposing the opening of the Civic Center design contest to architects worldwide instead of limiting it to west coast architects.
A. Drawings
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Consists of project drawings by Cahill and contributors, including a sketch for the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Competition
for the University of California, a sketch of the plan to beautify San Francisco, the I.O.O.F. cemetery buildings in Salinas,
and others.
B. Files
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Consists of documents and specifications for Cahill's projects. Also includes a scrapbook entitled "Pencil, Pen, and Paint"
that contains copies of sketches, drawings and other material relating to Cahill’s projects.
C. Photographs
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Consists of project photographs of Diamond Head Memorial Park in Honolulu, St. Mary's Mausoleum in Sacramento, and the Skaggs'
Residence in Piedmont.
Boxes 1, 5
V. Cahill World Map Company
1913-1933
Series Scope and Content Summary
Consists of brochures and promotional materials related to the company, a three-dimensional octahedral map, and an embossing
stamp.
A. Product Literature
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Contains brochures and promotional materials relating to the Cahill World Map Company. Includes photograph of Cahill demonstrating
his creation.
B. Artifacts
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Contains butterfly map globe and Cahill''s embossing stamp.
A. Biographical Infromation
Box 1, Folder 1
Autobiography manuscript
1929
Box 1, Folder 1
Manuscript for
Argonaut article "From the Opera House to the Ocean Beach"
n.d.
Box 1, Folder 2
The Architect and Engineer issue featuring Cahill in "Memorial Buildings" article
1932
Box 2, Folder 3
Project Photographs
n.d., 1894, 1911
Box 2, Folder 4
Photographs, Unidentified Projects
n.d.
Box 2, Folder 8
Woodland Memorial Park -- Photographs
n.d.
B. Clippings and Scrapbooks
Box 2, Folder 1
Clippings and Postcards
1911-1916
Box 2, Folder 2
Phoebe Hearst Architectural Competition,
California Architect and Building News, Nov. 1889, Sept. 1899, Dec. 1899 issues
1889, 1899
Box 2, Folder 5
Scrapbook Clippings
1895-1911
Box 2, Folder 6
Scrapbook Photographs
n.d., 1911, 1920
Box 2, Folder 9
"Crematories, Columbariums, etc.: The work of B.J.S. Cahill"
1936
Box 3, Folder 1-3
Work of B.J.S. Cahill Scrapbook Vol. II - Photos, Clippings
n.d.
Box 3, Folder 4-6
Work of B.J.S. Cahill Scrapbook Vol. III - Photos, Clippings
n.d.
Box 4, Folder 4
Miscellaneous Renderings
n.d.
V. Cahill World Map Company, 1913-1933
Box 1, Folder 1
Butterfly Map and Cahill World Map Company Promotional Materials
1913-1933
Cahill Embossing Stamp
n.d.
