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Finding Aid to the Arthur Brown, Jr. Photograph Collection, 1906-1921
BANC PIC 1981.161
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Collection Title: Arthur Brown, Jr. photograph collection
Date (inclusive): 1906-1921
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1981.161
Creators :
Bakewell, John, 1872-1963
Bourgeois, Jean-Louis, 1876-1915
Brown, Arthur, 1874-1957
Bakewell & Brown
Bourgeois, Jean-Louis, 1876-1915
Brown, Arthur, 1874-1957
Bakewell & Brown
Extent:
Number of containers: 23 boxes (circa 210 glass negatives and 36 photographic prints)
Linear feet: approximately 9.2
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Arthur Brown, Jr. Photograph Collection contains approximately 200 glass negatives
representing primarily the early architectural work of Bakewell & Brown. The images are mostly of the
completed buildings and residences, but there are also photographs of drawings, models, and of building
construction. It also contains a number of portraits of the design team for San Francisco City Hall, and several
images of drawings produced by students at the San Francisco Architectural Club and the University of Oregon.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice
may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the
Library's online catalog.
Restricted Negatives: Use of negatives only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning
these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in
writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000.
Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to
include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is
restricted to research and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Arthur Brown, Jr. Photograph Collection, BANC PIC 1981.161, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Arthur Brown, Jr. papers, BANC MSS 81/142
Bakewell & Brown photograph collection, BANC PIC 2000.078
The New City Hall, San Francisco, California, 1915, BANC PIC 1905.12274 - ALB
(http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf38700828)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public
access catalog.
Architects--California--San Francisco Bay Area
Architecture--California--20th century
Architecture--Photographs
Bakewell & Brown, Architects (San
Francisco, Calif.)
San Francisco Architectural Club
The Arthur Brown, Jr. photograph collection was transferred from the Arthur Brown, Jr. papers (BANC MSS
81/142), a 1981 gift to The Bancroft Library from Rollin and Sylvia Jensen.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Bancroft Library staff in 2007.
Arthur Brown, Jr. was born in 1874 in Oakland, California. After graduating from Oakland High School in 1892,
Brown went on to the University of California (UC), Berkeley to study civil engineering. During his time at UC,
Brown received informal training from architect Bernard Maybeck, who encouraged Brown to continue his
architectural studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Arthur Brown, Jr. began his studies at the Ecole in
1897 and graduated in 1901, achieving the status of Architecte Diplômé par le Gouvernement
Français. Brown stayed on in France to continue his training in the Atelier Laloux and to travel
through Europe until 1903.
Returning to the United States in 1904, Brown spent a brief time with the firm Hornblower & Marshall
in Washington, DC. In 1905 Brown moved back to San Francisco, where he found employment in the office of Henry
Schulze. Later that year Brown was approached by fellow École graduate, John Bakewell, Jr. with an
offer to open a firm, and the two young architects joined in practice, opening Bakewell & Brown in
1905. Arthur Brown, Jr. acted as the design partner in the firm, while John Bakewell, Jr. handled the
administrative and financial tasks of the firm.
The firm thrived in its early years, largely as a result of the opportunities afforded architects in the
rebuilding efforts after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Early architectural projects include
Berkeley City Hall (1907), the interiors of the City of Paris department store (1908), and several residences in
Oakland. In 1912, Bakewell & Brown won a major competition for the design of San Francisco City Hall.
Completed in 1915, San Francisco City Hall remains the masterwork of Bakewell & Brown.
Many significant commissions followed Bakewell & Brown's winning of the San Francisco City Hall
competition. In 1913, the firm was hired as the design architect and master planner for Stanford University
campus, positions they held until 1942. By 1915 Bakewell & Brown were responsible for the Palace of
Horticulture at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco as well as the San Diego station
for Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. In the following years, they designed the Green Library for Stanford
University (1919), the Pacific Gas & Electric office building in San Francisco (1922-1926), Pasadena
City Hall (1923-1928), Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco (1923-1928), and the California School of Fine Arts
(1924-1928, now the San Francisco Art Institute).
From 1911-1913, Brown along with Jean-Louis Bourgeois led an atelier with the San Francisco Architectural Club
(SFAC), a group formed in 1901 to provide instruction in architectural design for dedicated draftsmen working in
leading San Francisco architectural firms.
The firm of Bakewell & Brown dissolved in 1927, although the two former partners continued to
collaborate on many later projects, most notably several buildings on the Stanford University campus. After the
dissolution, Brown established his own firm, Arthur Brown, Jr. and Associates, while Bakewell formed Bakewell
& Weihe with longtime employee Ernest Weihe. The buildings of Arthur Brown, Jr. and Associates include
Coit Tower (1933), the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and Veteran's Building (1932), the United States
Department of Labor and Interstate Commerce Commission Building in Washington, DC (1934), and the Tower of the
Sun for the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939).
The last ten years of Brown's career (1938-1948) were spent as supervising architect for UC Berkeley, a
position in which he designed many campus buildings. Brown retired from practice in 1950, continuing to consult
on various projects including the extension of the US Capitol building and serve on boards until his death in
1957.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Arthur Brown, Jr. Photograph Collection contains approximately 200 glass negatives representing primarily
the early architectural work of Bakewell & Brown. The images are mostly of the completed buildings and
residences, but there are also photographs of drawings, models, and building construction. It also contains a
number of portraits of the design team for San Francisco City Hall, and several images of drawings produced by
students at the San Francisco Architectural Club and the University of Oregon. There are also a small number of
photographic prints made from the glass negatives, probably around 1965.
The collection has been arranged by Bancroft Library staff into three series based upon the
Standard Series for Architecture and Landscape Design Records (Kelcy Shepherd and
Waverly Lowell, 2000): Personal Photographs; Professional Photographs; and Project Photographs.