Theodore Bernardi collection 1991.-01
Kelcy Shepherd
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
January 1999; updated May 2006
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: Theodore C. Bernardi Collection
Creator:
Bernardi, Theodore C., 1903-1990
Identifier/Call Number: 1991.-01
Physical Description:
10 Linear Feet:
2 boxes, 1 flat file drawer;
Additional boxes from the 2018 accretion: 4 cartons, 2 document boxes, 4 rolls, 1 large flat box
Date (inclusive): 1920-1968
Date (bulk): 1920-1934
Date (bulk): 1955-1968
Abstract: The Theodore C. Bernardi collection consists of student work, HABS information, and one project file. Student work includes
books of basic drawing exercises as well as elaborately rendered presentation boards. The collection also contains elevations,
plans and detail drawings of the San Carlos Presidio Church (Monterey) completed as part of the Historic American Buildings
Survey (HABS), as well as procedural bulletins from HABS. Project records consist of drawings and specifications for residences
designed and built for Mr. and Mrs. Russell Giffen by the firm Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons.
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
Curator.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Theodore C. Bernardi Collection, [1991 - 01] Environmental Design Archives, University of California,
Berkeley.
Biographical Note
Theodore C. Bernardi (1903 - 1990)
Theodore C. Bernardi was born in Korčula,Yugoslavia (then Austria-Hungary), in 1903. A year later, his mother and uncle brought
him to the United States to join his father who was already in America. In 1906 the family returned to Yugoslavia where Bernardi
attended school until the family once again moved to the U.S. in 1912. Bernardi studied architecture at the University of
California, Berkeley; he earned his bachelor's degree in 1924 and stayed at the University for a short time to study at the
graduate level. Over the next nine years he complimented his academic studies by working as an architect and draftsman in
a number of Bay Area firms, including the office of Timothy Pflueger.
Bernardi obtained his architectural license in 1933, and joined the firm of William W. Wurster the following year where, during
the next eight years, he led the design and construction of major Wurster office projects. Bernardi directed his independent
architectural practice in the Wurster office in San Francisco from 1942-1944. During that time his projects included more
than a dozen government housing projects. When William Wurster left the Bay Area in 1942 for Harvard University to study and
later become Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT from 1944 to 1950, Bernardi directed the Wurster office
in San Francisco. In late 1945 Donn Emmons joined Wurster & Bernardi (formed in 1944) establishing the firm Wurster, Bernardi
& Emmons (WBE). Bernardi was Principal-in-Charge of many major WBE projects, including the Schuckl Canning Company office
building in Sunnyvale (1942), the Master Plan for University of California Santa Cruz (1962), the Ice House renovation in
San Francisco's North Waterfront (1967), and the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley (located in Kensington). His own home
in Sausalito (1950) won an AIA Award of Merit in 1956.
In addition to his work with WBE, Bernardi was a lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture between 1954 and 1971.
In 1962 he was elected to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects, and in 1965 WBE won the AIA Architectural Firm
Award Medal. Though his role in the firm became less active during the 1970s, Bernardi continued to work on projects until
his death in 1990.
Scope and Contents
The Theodore C. Bernardi collection is arranged in three series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Project Records.
The bulk of the collection consists of drawings, though some correspondence is also included. The first series, Personal
Papers, contains Bernardi's student drawings, including books of basic drawing exercises as well as elaborately rendered presentation
boards. Professional papers contains minimal correspondence, drawings of the San Carlos Presidio Church (Monterey) completed
as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey and some unidentified competition boards. The final series contains records
of residences designed and built for Mr. and Mrs. Russell Giffen by the firm Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Bernardi Family
Personal Papers I.
1920-1925
Scope and Contents
Box 1, Flat Files
Contains examples of student projects, including three volumes of basic drawing exercises as well as elaborate presentation
renderings
Box 1, Folder 1
Bernardi Biographies
1961-1990
Box 1, Folder 2
Bernardi family letters
1960-1963
Box 1, Folder 3
Bernardi family tree
1962-2005
Box 1, Folder 5
California State Board of Architectural Examiners
1930-1932
Box 1, Folder 6
Civil Service Commission
1932-1933
Box 1, Folder 7
Department of the Interior employment
1934
Box 5, Folder 1
HABS Bulletins - instructions
1934
Box 1, Folder 8
Home Planning Bureau correspondence
1934
Box 1, Folder 9
Job / Project Correspondence
1932-1936
Box 1, Folder 10
Job / Employment lists
1927-1933
Box 1, Folder 13
SF MoMA exhibit - Wurster Houses
1995-1996
Box 1, Folder 16
Miscellaneous Correspondence
1960-1971
Box 1, Folder 17
Born, Ernest - letter
1933
Box 1, Folder 18
Art Exhibit booklets
1932-1934
Box 1, Folder 19
Chepourkoff Artist Photos
1933
Box 1, Folder 20
Bernardi sketch- possible South West trip?
undated
Box 1, Folder 22
Travel photos - New Mexico
1930
Box 5, Folder 1
Unidentified student work
1918
Box 5, Folder 2
Architecture 107 drawings
1922
Box 7
Courses in Drawing workbooks
1920-1921
Professional Papers II.
1926-1934
1967-1968
Scope and Contents
Box 2, Flat Files
Correspondence relates to Bernardi's responsibilities as juror for the R. S. Reynolds Memorial Award. Early work includes
elevations, plans and detail drawings of the San Carlos Presidio Church of Monterey (completed for the Historical American
Buildings Survey), a watercolor of the George Rolph Memorial and unidentified competition boards. Records from the Historical
American Buildings Survey also include bulletins outlining HABS procedures.
A. Correspondence
B. Early Work
Box 1, Folder 27
Bay Area Environmental Design bus tour and draft publication
1968-1970
Box 1, Folder 28
Lecture on Modern Architecture
1960
Box 1, Folder 30
ABC's of Urban Renewal
undated
Associations and Committees
Box 1, Folder 31
AIA Convention lunch - Orient Tour Reunion
1973
Box 1, Folder 33
AIA Report on City Planning
undated
Box 1, Folder 34
AIA Soviet American Conference on Architecture and Urban Design
1973
Box 1, Folder 36
AIA Zoning correspondence
1954
Box 1, Folder 37-38
Citizen's Advisory Committee / City of Sausalito
1957-1959
Box 1, Folder 39
Sausalito, City of Master Plan and General Plan
1958
Box 1, Folder 40
San Francisco Planning and Housing Association
1947
Box 1, Folder 41
AIA San Joaquin Chapter Jury
1962-1975
Box 1, Folder 42
AIA Juries- Nebraska and Wisconsin
1974-1975
Box 1, Folder 43
McNeil Island Chapel Competition Jury
1962
Box 5, Folder 2
R.S. Reynolds Memorial Award Jury
1967-1968
Box 2, Folder 1-11
General (personal and professional)
1959-1985
Office Records III.
1944-1987
Box 2, Folder 12
WBE financials / stocks
1973-1974
Box 2, Folder 14
WBE Staff Lists
1969-1987
Box 2, Folder 16
WBE office administration
1952-1973
Box 2, Folder 17
Wurster Around the World Tour correspondence copies
1957
Box 2, Folder 18
Wurster Bernardi Emmons
1953-1959
Box 2, Folder 19
WBE and WWW houses
1946-1966
Box 2, Folder 20-21
Miscellaneous Clippings
1948-1960
Faculty Papers IV.
1956-1970
Box 3, Folder 1
ARCH 201 Housing Facilities
1967
Box 3, Folder 3-5
Bernardi notes and correspondence
1959-1970
Box 3, Folder 6
College of Environmental Design- formation, administration, and building
1957-1958
Box 3, Folder 7
Course Materials
1957-1958
Box 3, Folder 8
Correspondence - Faculty, general
1957-1959
Box 3, Folder 9-10
Curriculum Committee
1957-1961
Box 3, Folder 12-24
Faculty meetings and notes
1957-1970
Box 3, Folder 32-33
Syllabi- various
1957-1966
Project Records V.
1932-1978
Scope and Contents
Boxes 1-2
Contains records related to a chapel and two residences designed for Mr. and Mrs. Russell Giffen. Includes drawings and specifications,
and two blueprints of drawings by Thomas Church.
Box 4, Folder 1
Allen, Howard residence Lake Tahoe CA
1935
Box 4, Folder 2
Anixter, Ivan residence San Francisco CA
1949
Box 4, Folder 3
Architectural Forum competition
1933
Box 4, Folder 4
Auditorium ceiling
undated
Box 4, Folder 5
Automobile Showroom offices Oakland(?) CA
undated
Box 4, Folder 6
Bank of America Mission St. San Francisco CA
1941
Box 4, Folder 7
Bernardi grocery store Oakland CA
1932
Box 4, Folder 8-11
Bernardi, Gene residence Berkeley CA
1967-1973
Box 4, Folder 12
Bernardi, John residence Oakland CA
1954
Box 4, Folder 13
Bernardi, Theodore couch design, coffee table Berkeley CA
1940
Box 4, Folder 14-15
Bernardi, Theodore residence Berkeley CA
1939-1942
Box 4, Folder 16-17
Bernardi, Theodore residence Sausalito CA
1950-1967
Box 4, Folder 18
Channel Heights community building
undated
Box 4, Folder 19
Colthurst, Wallace residence alterations Oakland CA
1954
Box 4, Folder 20
Design for Auburn Dual-Ratio Automobile advertisement
1934
Box 4, Folder 21
Gantner & Mattern building San Francisco CA
1945
Box 4, Folder 22
Gardner, Miss residence schemes Berkeley CA(?)
undated
Box 4, Folder 23
Gooden, P.C. residence Corte Madera CA
1937
Box 5, Folder 1
Griffen, Russell residence Santa Cruz CA
1955-1957
Creator: Church, Thomas Dolliver, 1902-1978
Box 5, Folder 2-3
Griffen, Russell residence alterations Fresno CA
1966
Box 5, Folder 4-6, Box 6, Folder 7-12
Griffen, Russell residence Fresno county CA
1965-1966
Box 4, Folder 24-25
Johnson, George Auto-Camp Richmond CA
1936-1937
Box 4, Folder 26
Melsome, Ruth residence Berkeley CA
1936
Box 4, Folder 27-28
Parent, Edward residence Pittsburg CA
1936
Box 4, Folder 30
Recreation Building Vallejo CA
1940
Creator: Sturtevant, Roger
Box 4, Folder 31
George Rolph Memorial Park
1932
Box 4, Folder 32
Tombstone - Godchaux
1934
Box 4, Folder 33
Satir, Virginia residence Marin County CA
1978
Box 4, Folder 34
Shainwald, R.H. apartment alterations San Francisco CA
1943
Box 4, Folder 35
Unidentified commercial building
undated
Box 4, Folder 36-42
Unidentified residences
undated
Box 4, Folder 43-48
Unidentified sketches
undated
Box 4, Folder 49
Union Square bench San Francisco CA
1934
Box 4, Folder 50-52
University of California, Santa Cruz
1961-1985
Box 4, Folder 53
Wodukma Grove Housing / Federal Public Housing Authority
1940
