Applegarth, George A. collection, 1918-1919

Summary

Title:

George A. Applegarth Collection

Dates:

1918-1919

Creators:

Applegarth, George A., 1876-1972

Abstract:

The George A. Applegarth collection primarily documents the construction of Clyde, California, a company town built for the employees of the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company and funded through a United States government loan. The collection documents both the planning and growth of company towns and the construction of low cost housing. Correspondence includes memoranda from Bernard Maybeck, supervising architect on the project.

Extent:

4.5 Linear Feet: 2 boxes, 4 card file boxes, 6 oversize folders, 1 tube

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], George A. Applegarth Collection, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The George A. Applegarth Collection focuses on the construction of Clyde, California, a residential and commercial development for the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company. The collection is important for documenting both the planning and growth of company towns and the construction of low cost housing. The collection contains no personal papers, and very few papers on other projects in San Francisco.

Series I. Town of Clyde is the largest series in the collection. It includes the files of the project, specifications, photographs, and drawings. The files include correspondence between Applegarth, Maybeck, and the Clyde Company, which was the subsidiary of the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company responsible for the construction of the town. The series documents the planning of the town and the construction of the hotel and residences. The drawings include blueprints for commercial buildings that were unbuilt.

Series II. Additional Donations contains photographs of the Clyde Hotel taken after the building was no longer in use; drawings of an Applegarth commercial project located at Two Pine Street, San Francisco; one blueprint of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor; drawings of the Bemiss building in San Francisco; and a commercial project for Davis, Winfield Scott in San Francisco.

Biographical / historical:

George A. Applegarth was born October 4, 1876 in Oakland, California. He began his professional career as a draughtsman for his uncle George Sanders, of the architectural firm Wright & Sanders in San Francisco. After studying at the University of California, Berkeley under Bernard Maybeck, and at his encouragement, Applegarth attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he was a member of LaLoux atelier, and received his diploma in 1906.

Upon his return to the United States, he formed a partnership with Kenneth MacDonald, which lasted for six years, after which time Applegarth practiced on his own. Applegarth's career comprised over forty projects, including the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Clift Hotel, residential and commercial projects for the Spreckles family, and the town of Clyde, California. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He died in 1972.

Applegarth's most recognizable project is the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, which was financed by Adolph and Alma de Brettville Spreckles and presented to the city of San Francisco in 1924. He also designed several other commercial and residential projects for the Spreckles family. Clyde, California was a company town built for the employees of the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Company and funded through a United States government loan. Applegarth prepared the plans for the town for funding purposes and was the architect of the project. During the Clyde project he worked with Bernard Maybeck, who was hired as the supervising architect to oversee the government's interests. As the plans for the project were generally completed prior to the hiring of Maybeck, the project layout is more the work of Applegarth, with the influence of Maybeck coming in later designs and improvements.

Sources: Applegarth, Katherine. "Reflections on my Grandfather." Term paper, University of California, Santa Barbara, n.d.

Cardwell, Kenneth H. Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist. Santa Barbara, CA: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1977.

Processing information:

Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

Bernard Maybeck Collection, 1956-1

George A. Applegarth papers, Bancroft Library

George A. Applegarth papers, Bancroft Library

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Architects -- California.
Architecture -- California.
Company towns.

Places:

Clyde (Calif.)
Maybeck, Bernard R.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Heather Briston, Gabrielle T Clement

Sponsor:

Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-07-20 16:11:12 UTC .

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