Bernard J. S. Cahill Records 19XX.-3
Joanne Miller
Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation.
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
October 1998
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820
designarchives@berkeley.edu
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
Title: Bernard J. S. Cahill Records
Creator:
Cahill, B. J. S. (Bernard J. S.), 1867-1964
Creator:
Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Creator:
Gibson & Cahill
Identifier/Call Number: 19XX.-3
Physical Description:
16.75 Linear Feet:
3 boxes, 1 flat box, 1 small box, 1 flat file drawer, 2 artifacts
Date (inclusive): approximately 1889-1938
Abstract: 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.
Language of Material:
English
.
Access Statement
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
Director.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Bernard J. S. Cahill Collection, [19XX-3) Environmental Design Archives, University of California,
Berkeley.
Biographical note
Bernard J. S. Cahill (1866-1944)
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 & Contents note
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.
Related collections
Bernard Joseph Stanislaus Cahill Papers (83/39), The Bancroft Library
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architects -- California.
Architects -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area.
Personal Papers I.
1929
Scope and Contents
Contains typescript autobiography, photo of Cahill, and a bookplate. The incomplete autobiography primarily discusses his
childhood.
Box 1, Folder 1
Autobiography manuscript
1929
Professional Papers II.
1932
Scope and Contents
Contains articles written by Cahill on the plan for San Francisco and on memorial buildings.
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
Office Records III.
1889-1917
Scope and Contents
Contains scrapbooks, clippings, and photographs related to Cahill's projects, primarily his funerary architecture. 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.
Box 2, Folder 3
Project Photographs
n.d., 1894, 1911
Box 2, Folder 4
Photographs, Unidentified Projects
n.d.
Box 2, Folder 8
Woodlawn Memorial Park - Photographs
n.d.
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.
Project Records IV.
1909-1938
Scope and Contents
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.
Box 4, Folder 4
Miscellaneous Renderings
n.d.
Calkins Newspaper Syndicate Building San Francisco CA
Civic Center "Plan to Beautify Market Street" San Francisco CA
1899-1912
Box 3, Folder 2, 5, Box 4, Folder 1
Cypress Hill Memorial Park Petaluma CA
1924
Cypress Lawn Cemetery Colma CA
1918-1920
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Flat-File 1, Box 2, Folder 3, Box 3, Folder 5
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Folder 1
Box 1, Folder 2, Box 3, Folder 1-4
De la Montanga Mausoleum at Cypress Lawn San Francisco CA
Diamond Head Memorial Park Honolulu HI
1928-1930
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Flat-File 2
Box 1, Folder 2-3, Box 3, Folder 3
Evergreen Cemetery Oakland CA
1916-1933
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Flat-File 3, Box 2, Folder 6, Box 3, Folder 6
Box 1, Folder 2, Box 3, Folder 1
Guittard Company Building San Francisco CA
1909
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Henry, C.K. Marble Skyscraper Portland OR
1910
IOOF Alisal Lodge Crematory, Office, and Columbarium Salinas CA
1935
IOOF Columbarium and Crematorium San Francisco CA
1894
Creator: Cahill & T.P. Ross
Box 1, Folder 1-2, Box 2, Folder 3, Box 3, Folder 1, 4, 6
Kohler & Chase Building San Francisco CA
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Magnavox Company Building Oakland CA
ca. 1919
McKinley, William Memorial San Francisco CA
Meads Poultry Farm Hayward CA
Memorial Terrace Mausoleum Glendale CA
Multnomah Hotel Portland OR
1911-1912
Box 2, Folder 1, 3, Box 3, Folder 1
Native Sons of the Golden West Building Design
1895
Norton, B.W. Manufacturing Company Hayward CA
1920
Pacific Mausoleum-Columbarium Oakland CA
1933
Pashmore, Sir Francis Residence San Francisco CA
1936
San Francisco City Hall Competition San Francisco CA
1909
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Box 3, Folder 4
San Francisco City Hall Temporary Building San Francisco CA
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Santa Cruz Mausoleum Santa Cruz CA
1928
Seamen's Institute San Francisco CA
Skaggs, M.B. Residence Pediment CA
St. Mary's Mausoleum Sacramento CA
ca. 1930
Box 1, Folder 2, 5, Box 3, Folder 6
Sunset View Cemetery Berkeley CA
Terbush Hotel at Powell & Clay Streets San Francisco CA
1907
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Unidentified Church
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Unidentified Columbarium Fresno CA
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Flat-File 5, Box 3, Folder 4
Unidentified Library
1909
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
University of California Phoebe Hearst Architectural Competition CA
Box 3, Folder 4, 6, Box 4, Folder 3
Vancouver City Hall Vancouver WA
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
West Coast Soap Company Plant Oakland CA
1919
Woodlawn Memorial Park Colma CA
1932
flat-file-drawer W 15.20, Flat-File 4, Box 4
Wright, Rushforth & Cahill Office at 571 California St San Francisco CA
Creator: Wright, Rushforth & Cahill
Cahill World Map Company V.
1913-1933
Scope and Contents
Consists of brochures and promotional materials related to the company, a three-dimensional octahedral map, and an embossing
stamp.
Box 1, Folder 1
Butterfly Map and Cahill World Map Company Promotional Materials
1913-1933
