Bernard Maybeck Records at the University of California Berkeley, 1895-1956 (bulk 1902-1940)

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Summary

Creators:
Maybeck, Bernard, 1862-1957
Extent:
35 boxes, 5 flat boxes, 1 card file box, 2 oversize volumes, 35.5 flat file drawers, 227 tubes, 8 large framed drawings, table, carved panel, plaster ornament (ca. 351.1 linear feet)
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The Bernard Maybeck materials at the University of California, Berkeley encompass all aspects of his life. The contents include personal papers, correspondence, office files, project files, drawings, and photographs. The records describe the unique vision of Maybeck's designs, including his use of unusual materials and color schemes. The materials are useful for researching the Bay Regional style, the use of industrial materials in architecture, the use of cement and other earthquake and fire resistant materials, and the planning of campuses or town spaces. There are no records from his work as an instructor for the University of California or his involvement with the establishment of the Department of Architecture.

Important materials include documentation for residential projects, including clients such as Earle C. Anthony, Guy Hyde Chick, Issac Flagg, Alma Kennedy, A.C. Lawson, and Leon Roos, as well as commercial projects for the Earle C. Anthony Packard dealerships and religious projects such as the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley. Maybeck's work for the University of California is documented by the materials for several projects with particular emphasis on the Pheobe Hearst Memorial Complex of which only the gymnasium was completed, a project that he designed with Julia Morgan. Maybeck's designs for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, including the Palace of Fine Arts, and designs for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition are also a part of the materials. A significant project in the materials is Principia College, a college for the Church of Christ, Scientist. Maybeck was the consulting architect on the project, with Julia Morgan as the supervising architect and Edward Hussey as the supervisor on site. The materials for Principia include correspondence, financial records, individual building project records, drawings, photographs, product literature, vendor contracts, and research for campus design.

The collections represented in this finding aid include drawings, and manuscript materials and photographs related to the projects. The personal, professional and office records are primarily manuscripts, except for some personal photographs.

This finding aid summarizes the collections of Bernard Maybeck papers and records, focusing on the project records housed in the various repositories. Description of the personal papers, professional papers, and office records are found by following the links to the Container Lists for each of the individual collections. In the description of the project records that follows, the Project Index for this finding aid contains all of the project records held at the University of California, Berkeley. Please note that in some cases the records for an individual project may be split among many different collections and repositories. The Project Index also contains a selected number of digitized images from the materials at the University.

Biographical / historical:

Bernard Maybeck (1862-1957)

Bernard Ralph Maybeck was born February 7, 1862 in New York City. At the age of nineteen, Maybeck moved to Paris to apprentice in a furniture-maker's shop, following in the footsteps of his father, but instead became intrigued by the architectural profession. He enrolled in the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied in the atelier of Monsieur Jules-Louis André. After finishing his coursework, Maybeck returned to New York City and worked for Carrère & Hastings. Impatient with the firm, Maybeck moved west to seek his fortune. In Kansas City, he met Mark White, an engineer, who introduced Maybeck to his sister, Annie. Maybeck continued on to San Francisco where he found work as a draftsman in various architectural offices, including one with his Ecole classmate, A. Page Brown. He briefly returned to Kansas City to marry Annie White in 1890, and the couple moved to Oakland.

After 1890, Maybeck held many short-term drafting jobs. Steady employment came when he was appointed an instructor of descriptive geometry at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1894. He also held informal architectural courses at his house where he taught students such as Julia Morgan, John Bakewell, and Arthur Brown Jr.

From 1896 to 1899 Maybeck orchestrated the two-stage Phoebe Hearst International Competition for the Plan of the University of California. Maybeck designed the Phoebe Hearst Reception Hall, which held the final rounds of the competition, and was later moved to the University grounds. In 1899 he founded the Department of Architecture at the University of California.

While at the University, Maybeck began to receive commissions for modest homes in the Berkeley hills. Maybeck often designed small dwellings for friends and neighbors. In 1902 he opened an architectural office in San Francisco with his brother-in-law, Mark White. Annie White Maybeck played an integral role in their practice as secretary, office manager and liaison between Maybeck and the office. Maybeck's buildings were eclectic, sometimes combining elements of Mediterranean buildings, Swiss chalets, Arts and Crafts, and Gothic styles. These styles and combinations are evident in residences for Charles Keeler, Leon Roos, Guy Chick, S.H. Erlanger, and Earle Anthony. Maybeck also designed several club houses, including the Faculty Club at the University of California, the Hillside Club, and the Bohemian Grove Club House.

Maybeck designed several buildings for the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Lumbermen's Building and House of Hoo Hoo, and the livestock pavilion. The Palace of Fine Arts, one of his most famous works, was a favorite building at the fair.

In the 1920's Maybeck designed the Phoebe Hearst Memorial Complex at the University of California, Berkeley. The complex was to include an auditorium, a museum, and a gymnasium. Julia Morgan worked with Maybeck to complete the designs of the complex, and supervised the construction of the Women's Gymnasium, the only portion of the complex completed.

Maybeck often chose materials that were unusual for his time. He experimented with materials such as cement, industrial steel sashing and cement-asbestos insulation panels as seen in the First Church Christ, Scientist, Berkeley. Maybeck designed a reinforced concrete residence built to withstand earthquakes for Andrew Lawson. After the 1923 Berkeley fire destroyed about twenty of the houses he had designed, Maybeck increasingly tried untested "fireproof" materials such as bubblestone (a type of aerated cement) and burlap covered in cement gunite (concrete applied with a sprayer). These materials were used for a Maybeck cottage and the Maybeck studio, also known as the "Sack House."

Maybeck designed all types of structures, and often gave his opinion to others in architectural planning. Maybeck designed town plans for the company town of Brookings, Oregon, and entered the competition to plan Canberra, the capital of Australia. Maybeck designed a campus plan for Principia College, which was to be in built St. Louis, Missouri (1923-1930). Before construction began, the college was moved to Elsah, Illinois necessitating a redesign of the campus plan (1930-1938). Maybeck became the design consultant on the project, with Julia Morgan as the supervising architect and Edward Hussey as the supervisor on site.

The American Institute of Architects recognized Maybeck's work when they awarded him the prestigious Gold Medal in 1951. Maybeck continued to help others design and build residences in the Berkeley area until his death in 1957.

Sources:
  • Cardwell, Kenneth H. Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist.Salt Lake City:Peregrine Smith, Inc,1977.
  • Woodbridge, Sally B. Bernard Maybeck: Visionary Architect.New York:Abbeville Press Publishers, 1999.
  • Reinhardt, Richard. "Bernard Maybeck."American Heritage Magazine (Aug/Sept 1981), 36-47.
  • Burt, Cecily. "Bernard Maybeck Crafted Romantic Buildings for the East Bay"The Oakland Tribune, (May 18, 1999).
Arrangement:

Arrangement for each collection follows the same format: personal papers, professional papers, office records, and project records in that order, when they appear in each collection. The personal, professional, and office records are described on the Container List and the project records described on the Project Index. The project records are arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the client or project name.

Note:

The Project Index is a way to organize the various formats of architectural records from the same project. Each horizontal row holds information about a project and the location of the project records.

Client Name/Project Name:
The first column lists the Client or Project name. The client name is always listed first. If the project has a name, this may be listed with a see reference to the client. This is the most likely way that researchers will wish to find a project.
Collaborator/Role:
Often architects worked with other architects, engineers, or landscape architects. The name of the collaborator is listed, Last name, and first initial. The role of the collaborator follows in the same column in parenthesis.
e.g. Maybeck, B. (architect) = Maybeck as a collaborating architect
Date:
The date of the project. May be a single year, a range of years, or a circa date.
Physical Location of Materials:
Manuscript Records, Drawings, Detail Drawings, Photographs
    The next set of fields are used to designate the physical location of any materials related to the project. Materials may include records, files, correspondence, and papers, drawings, detail drawings, or photographs.
    The location of the materials is formatted to have the box number, then folder number.
    e.g. Box # | Folder # - one box, one folder: 5 | 2
    Folders in consecutive order, but the same box will be hyphenated. e.g. additional folders - same box, consecutive: 5 | 6-9
    Folders not in consecutive order, but in the same box will be separated by a comma.
    e.g. additional folders - same box, not consecutive: 5 | 6, 11
    Materials that reside in more than one box are separated in the cell with a comma.
    e.g. additional folders - different box: 4 | 3, 5 | 2
    If the material is not a box, but actually a Tube, a T will be entered before the tube number, or if the oversize folder is in a Flat File, FF before the folder number. In some cases the size of the folder will be entered after the folder number.
    e.g. number, oversize folder - 10 B
Location and State:
The geographical location of the project.
Project Type:
The general term for the category of building.
e.g. a commercial building or a residence.
Microfilm:
This column will appear if the collection has been microfilmed. The column tracks the amount of material microfilmed for each project: all, selected or none.

Access and use

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