Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Contents
Related Materials
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
Title: James D. Wickenden Collection
Creator:
Wickenden, James D.
Identifier/Call Number: 1968.-1
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet:
5 oversize folders, 1/2 box
Date (bulk): 1915-1937
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
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], James D. Wickenden, (19XX-13), Environmental Design Archives. University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California.
Biographical / Historical
James D. Wickenden
James Donald Wickenden was born on May 25, 1900 in Los Alamos, California. He was a descendent of two Spanish soldiers who
came to California in the 18th Century (Pablo Cota on his father's side and Manuel Villavicencio on his mother's). Wickenden's
mother (Margaret Sauer Wickenden) lived in a two-story craftsman style home built in the 1910s, located on Johnson Drive in
San Luis Obispo across from the San Luis Obispo Mission.
In 1918, Wickenden enrolled in the UC R.O.T.C. program at Berkeley where he studied for seven years, switching majors during
that time from Engineering to Architecture. While there, he met his future wife, Virginia deLormier Booker, in a life drawing
class. She was a reader for the department of Decorative Arts. Virginia also collected Guatemalan textiles and sold various
objet d'arts in her own shop on Bancroft Way (where Zellerbach Hall is presently located). Wickenden graduated from the UC
Berkeley School of Architecture in 1925 and he married Virginia in the same year in Pasadena.
Wickenden's first job as a draftsman was in the office of Clarence Tantau in San Francisco. He then worked in William W. Wurster's
office on California Street in San Francisco. In 1937, he moved to Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife and young daughter, where
he worked for a series of different architects (including Claude Stiehl, Lemmon Freith & Haines, and Dickey and Vladimer Ossipoff).
In June 1942, Wickenden moved back to San Francisco, rejoined Wurster's office, and worked there until his death in January
1968 in Berkeley.
Some of Wickenden's independent projects include: the Joseph & Minnie Gilman house on the Arlington in Berkeley (built before
1928), the Cordelia Gilman house on Dolores/12th two NW in Carmel-by-the-Sea (built in 1936), the Kenneth Douglas residence
in Oahu (built 1939-40), and the Rosen house on the corner of Bay View Place and Euclid Avenue in Berkeley. He also won a
national home/cottage design competition.
Source: James Donald Wickenden Biography from Margaret Wickenden.
Scope and Contents
The James D. Wickenden collection consists of student work and other drawings. Coursework includes drawing exercises from
high school and from a Stereotomy course (Architecture 107) at UC Berkeley. Project drawings are primarily residential, and
include the Gilman house in Carmel (1937), the Campbell house in Palo Alto (1932), the Hinman house in Lake Tahoe (N.D.),
and the Dowsett house (1929, location unknown). The collection also includes numerous unidentified sketches. A second donation
from the family includes two sketchbooks from 1929.
Related Materials
Clarence A. Tantau Collection (19xx-08), Environmental Design Archives