Henry H. Meyers Collection, 1901-1942

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Summary

Creators:
Meyers, Henry H., 1898-1982 Meyers, Mildred Ward, Clarence R., 1904-1910 Meyers & Ward Klinkhardt, George R.
Abstract:
The collection documents Meyers' architectural work as an independent practitioner, in a number of partnerships, and as Alameda County Architect. The collection also includes records of the architectural work of Mildred Meyers.
Extent:
51 boxes, 3 flat boxes, 3 card file boxes, 3 cartons, 24 flat file drawers, 20 tubes, 2 oversize mounted drawings, 1 framed drawing, furniture, furnishings, and the office library.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Henry H. and Mildred Meyers' architectural office was sealed after Mildred's death in 1982. The entire contents of the office were donated in 1986, including project records, drawings, furniture, furnishings, the library and framed artworks.

The records from Henry H. Meyers' architectural practice span the years 1901-1942. On the first page of a ledger in the collection it is the noted that the earlier office was completely destroyed in 1906 by the San Francisco earthquake and fire. However, there are a few project records from before this time. The majority of the collection documents the work done by Meyers in partnership with Clarence R. Ward, as an independent practitioner, and while associated with George R. Klinkhardt and Mildred Meyers. The collection is arranged in nine series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, Project Records, Highland Hospital Project Records, Veterans Memorial Building Project Records, Mildred Meyers' Records, Art and Artifacts, and Additional Donations. Within these series original order has been maintained wherever it is evident. This finding aid contains digitized images of selected Henry Meyers photographs and drawings.

The personal papers consist of correspondence, a student notebook, and family photographs. Office records include ledgers, a scrapbook of published job notices, clipping files which are subject reference files taken from numerous architectural journals, magazines, and newspapers, mounted photographs and presentation drawings. The professional papers include correspondence, organization affiliation material, and awards. The project records of the firm are quite complete and include contracts, specifications, correspondence, drawings and full size detail drawings. The project records also include an index to drawings from the 1920's.

The Highland Hospital in Oakland was a large Alameda County project and includes files, specifications, contracts, photographs and drawings. The Veterans Memorial Buildings series consists of files, specifications, photographs, and drawings from the ten Veterans Memorial buildings Meyers designed in Alameda County. The Mildred Meyers series contains work for which she was the primary architect, and consists of personal papers, office records, and project records. The Art and Artifacts series includes furniture, furnishings, signs, and supplies, as well as the library and a few pieces of framed artwork taken from the Meyers' studio. The Additional Donations series contains drawings and specifications of Meyers' Alameda County building projects.

Biographical / historical:

Henry H. Meyers (1867-1943) designed over 200 buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, Hawaii, and Guam. Meyers was the oldest of nine children born to Jacob and Mary Myers in the rural Alameda County town of Livermore, California. Jacob Meyers was a contractor. After Henry Meyers graduated from high school, he studied architecture at night in San Francisco. Meyers married Bertha S. May in 1897 and soon had a family of three daughters.

Meyers entered the San Francisco firm of Percy & Hamilton as an apprentice around 1890 and by 1900 was chief draftsman. Following the deaths of Percy (1899) and Hamilton (1900), Meyers succeeded the partners as the principal of the firm and supervised the completion of unfinished projects. Meyers completed the Hahnemann Hospital as well as the Kohl Building, which was the first steel frame building in San Francisco. The Kohl Building was one of the few that withstood the 1906 earthquake and fire, becoming a prototype for future steel framed buildings in the area.

By 1904 Meyers had taken on Clarence R. Ward as a partner. Meyers and Ward were awarded a bronze medal for a "Hotel Perspective" at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The partnership lasted until 1910 and produced numerous commercial buildings during the reconstruction of earthquake-devastated San Francisco. Their most notable project was the Alaska Commercial Building of 1908

Meyers practiced independently from 1910-1922 designing primarily commercial and institutional buildings. He held the position of Alameda County Architect concurrently with his practice from about 1912 until his retirement in 1935. During this time he designed numerous hospitals, governmental structures and ten Veterans Memorial Buildings in the county. Projects included the Highland Hospital in Oakland, the superstructure of the Posey Tube connecting Oakland and Alameda, the Arroyo Sanitarium, and the Del Valle Farm in Livermore.

After 1922, Meyers was associated with architect George R. Klinkhardt. After 1930, Meyers also practiced with his daughter, Mildred S. Meyers, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Meyers retired from architectural practice in 1936, and passed away after an extended illness in 1943. Mildred Meyers took over the practice until her death in 1982.

Sources:
  • Withey, Henry F. and Withey, Elise Rathburn, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased), New Age Publishing Co., Los Angeles, CA1956.
  • Southwest Builder and Contractor, "Henry H. Meyers, Former Bay District Architect, Dead, June 25, 1943"
    Minor, Woodruff, Grant Proposal
Acquisition information:
The entire contents of the Meyers' office was donated in 1986. An additional donation came in 2000.
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
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.
Date:
The date of the project. May be a single year, a range of years, or a circa date.
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