Donald L. Hardison Collection, 1936-2003

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Summary

Creators:
Hardison, Donald. and Hardison and Komatsu Associates.
Abstract:
The Donald L. Hardison Collection spans the years 1936-2003, and includes files created by Hardison and his firms. The collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records that cover Hardison’s career including his education, professional interests and involvement with associations, and architectural practice.
Extent:
43 Cubic Feet: 6 cartons, 3 document boxes, 2 oversize flat boxes, 62 tubes, 6 flat file folders; 43 cubic feet
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Donald L. Hardison Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The Donald L. Hardison Collection spans the years 1936-2003, and includes files created by Hardison and his firms. The collection is organized into four series and covers his career including his education, professional interests and involvement with associations, and architectural practice. Hardison is known for designing churches, multi-family housing, and water treatment plants throughout the Bay Area, though many of the projects in this collection are focused within Richmond, CA.

The Personal Papers series consists of biographical information, correspondence, photographs, and a scrapbook that includes clippings on projects completed over the course of Hardison’s career. Professional Papers contain correspondence, information on associations and committees, research notes and reference files, which include topics relating to the planning needs of the Bay Area and the development of multi-family housing projects. The Office Records series include administrative files, correspondence, firm brochures, photographs, and news clippings.

Project Records containing drawings, photographs, and files comprise the majority of the collection. This series contains more than 60 tubes of rolled drawings for projects ranging from single-family homes to large institutional buildings. Well-documented projects include Easter Hill Village (1950-1954), UC Berkeley’s Student Union (1958-1961) and Zellerbach Hall (1962), in collaboration with Vernon DeMars.

Biographical / historical:

Donald L. Hardison, (1916-2012)

Donald Leigh Hardison was born on March 23, 1916 in Fillmore, CA. Raised on a citrus ranch, he first expressed interest in becoming an architect at age 14 in a mechanical drawing class. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1938 with an AB in Architecture. Following graduation, he joined a union in order to work as a carpenter’s helper on the large Wyvernwood project in Los Angeles, designed by Witmer and Watson, Architects, who then offered him his first paying draftsman job in their offices. In 1940, he returned to the Bay Area, taking a position at Contractors, Pacific Air Bases, Alameda, checking plans prepared by Louis Kahn. He married Betty Hardison and they had two children, Steve and Jan. He served during World War II as a naval architect at Mare Island and Richmond’s Kaiser Shipyards, remaining with Kaiser through its C-4 contract at the end of 1945.

After leaving Kaiser, Hardison and two classmates (George Rhoda and Ted Moist) formed Hardison, Rhoda and Moist, Designers out of a small storefront office in Richmond, offering designs not requiring an architect’s license. Their work included a conceptual layout for the Richmond Art Center that was incorporated in the proposed Richmond Civic Center (designed by Timothy Pflueger); and Gordon’s Drive-In, which was published in the Architectural Record in 1946. Hardison received his license to practice architecture in 1948, after which he founded the firm Donald L. Hardison, Architect and invited his UC Berkeley classmate, S. Richard Komatsu, to assist on projects including the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church, and the firm’s first public work, the Contra Costa County Building in Richmond in 1950, which received recognitions for the design of its innovative courtrooms and aluminum-glass curtain walls. Komatsu and Harry Clausen joined the firm in 1950, creating Hardison & Associates. Projects of note include the Federal Public Housing Authority’s Bayo Vista (ca. 1950), a 250-unit low-rent family housing project in Rodeo; and the Richmond Housing Authority’s100-unit Hacienda (ca. 1955) senior housing in Richmond. Hardison founded Hardison & Komatsu Architects in 1960, which continues today as HKIT, Architects, in Oakland.

In 1950, Hardison’s firm was selected by the Richmond Housing Authority to design the city’s first post-war PHA public housing. A quarry site known as “Easter Hill” was selected, and Hardison invited Vernon DeMars to collaborate on the 300-unit project named Easter Hill Village. It received national recognition for its innovative design and variety of unit styles. Lawrence Halprin, the project's landscape architect, conceived its unique landscaping plan, utilizing boulders from the site. It was selected as “One of the Ten Buildings in America’s Future” in 1957 for the AIA’s Centennial Exhibit at the National Gallery, Washington, DC and as the subject of a book describing its social qualities by Clare Cooper Marcus, as well as receiving Special Commendation from the Public Housing Administration in 1964.

Hardison and DeMars collaborated again in 1957 when they were invited by the U.C. Regents to participate in a six-firm design competition for the Berkeley Student Center, to include buildings for the Student Union, Dining Commons, Eschelman Hall, and Zellerback Auditorium. Upon winning the competition, Hardison and DeMars with their respective partners, formed Hardison & Demars, Architects During the next 12 years, the teams designed and administered the projects, largely from Hardison’s office. The completed projects received the Progressive Architecture Design Award in 1958; the First Honor Award of the Community Facilities Administration in 1964; and the Certificate of Excellence, California Governor’s Award in 1966.

During the 1960s, Hardison was approached by The Richmond Redevelopment Agency to help design homes to replace the thousands of war-housing units demolished on the south side of the city. Barrett Construction Company was selected as the developer, and Hardison again invited Vernon DeMars to collaborate on the project. The resulting joint venture, identified as Donald L. Hardison and Vernon DeMars, Architects, created hundreds of single-family houses, row-houses, duplexes and triplexes. Plaza Homes and Potrero Homes were well received by the community and buyers, with Plaza Homes receiving the AIA/Sunset Special Award in 1969 and House & Home First Honor Award in 1970.

Throughout his career, Hardison was active in the American Institute of Architects at the national and regional level, serving as president of the East Bay Chapter in 1954 and was elected a Fellow in the College of Fellows by the national AIA in 1966. He received the AIA California Council Distinguished Service Award in 1984 and the AIA California Council Achievement Award in 2001. After retiring in 1987, he worked to restore the SS Red Oak Victory ship in Richmond, for which he received a City of Richmond, Community Service Award in 1990. He died on September 17, 2012 at the age of 96.

Firm History • Hardison, Rhoda & Moist, Designers o Ted Moist and George Rhoda o 1945-1945 • Hardison & Moist, Designers o 1946-1947 • Donald L. Hardison, Architect o Ted Moist still on staff o 1948-1952 • Donald L. Hardison & Associates, Architects o Associates: S. Richard Komatsu (1952); Harry B. Clausen (1953) o 1952-1956 • Hardison, Clausen & Komatsu, Architects o 1956-1960 • Hardison & Komatsu, Architects o Richmond office (1960-1970) o San Francisco office (1980-1990)

Sources: Donald Hardison obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 October 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?pid=160304851

Donald L. Hardison collection.

Arrangement:

This collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records. Within each series, original order has been maintained when evident. Order has been imposed by the archivist in cases where original order was not apparent.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

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], Donald L. Hardison Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820, US
Contact:
(510) 642-5124
designarchives@berkeley.edu
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