Charles Warren Callister collection, 1936-2007, n.d.

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Summary

Creators:
Callister, Charles Warren, 1917-2008
Abstract:
The Charles Warren Callister Collection spans the years 1936 to 2007, and includes files created by Callister and his numerous firms. The collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records. These records contain correspondence, notebooks, project files, drawings, photographs, slides, research notes, articles, lectures, manuscripts, and patent files.
Extent:
215.0 Linear feet. 13 cartons, 46 document boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 flat file drawer, 518 tubes
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Charles Warren Callister Collection, (2008-13), Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

The Charles Warren Callister Collection spans the years 1936-2007, and includes files created by Callister and his numerous firms. The collection is organized into four series and covers his career including his education, research interests, and architectural practice. Callister is known for designing homes and communities, of which many are well documented in this collection.

The Personal Papers series consists of biographical information, notebooks, student work, party files, and military service paperwork, which include photographs of land plotting for the ALCAN Highway in Canada. Professional Papers contain correspondence, information on associations and committees, patent research and photographs from professional events. This series also contains resource and reference files, including numerous notebooks that Callister kept to track research and ideas throughout his career. The Office Records include administrative files, extensive firm and project brochures and portfolios, project related notebooks, news clippings, and photographs.

Project Records containing drawing, photographs, and files comprise the majority of the collection and span the entirety of Callister’s career. This series contains more than 500 tubes of rolled drawings for 425 projects ranging from large organizations to single homes. Well documented projects include Talcott Village (1968-1973) in Farmington, CT, Heritage Village (1955-1971) for client Otto Paparazzo in Southbury, CT, and the California State Exposition and Fair (1965-1968, 1972) in Sacramento, CA.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Warren Callister (1917-2008) was born in Rochester, NY. He studied at the University of Texas, Austin from 1935-1941 before serving in the United States Corps of Engineers during WWII from 1941-1955, where he helped to build the ALCAN Highway in Alaska and later served as a pilot for the Air Force. Upon returning from the war, Callister, his wife Mary Frances, and their two sons moved to Northern California where he and his former Texas classmate Jack Hillmer (1918-2007) established an architectural practice in San Francisco. Their first project was Hall House in Kentfield (1947), considered to be the first residential application of post-tensioned concrete slab technology in the United States. Callister and Hillmer were both active in Telesis, an organization of architects and urban planners who wanted to create art that would make a better world.

Callister went on to establish the firm of Callister, Payne and Rosse in Tiburon, California in 1950, which would later expand to include an east coast office in Amherst, Massachusetts in the 1960s. John Payne and Martin Rosse worked alongside Callister designing residences, churches, and communities, for which they received many awards, including the National Lumberman’s 1965 Wood Structure Design Award. His most recognized designs are the Christian Science churches in Belvedere (1953) and Mill Valley (1955), California; the Mills College Chapel (1958) in Oakland, California; and the UC Santa Cruz Field House (1955). Rossmoor (1964), a retirement community in Walnut Creek, California, gained the firm national attention. Later design partners included Jim Bischoff, David Gately, and Michael Heckmann.

Callister is well known for incorporating high-level design in large developments and new communities. Though he did not receive his architect’s license until 1988, Callister’s design process focused on “creating together appropriate designs that belong to the natural environment and that are rooted in the nature of the clients.” His numerous sub-division developments for client Otto Paparazzo show a unique understanding of community planning and residential needs.

Callister was an active researcher and educator throughout his career. He lectured at Stanford University from 1961; was a visiting lecturer at Syracuse University, New York, 1962, 1965; Columbia University, New York, 1962; University of Colorado, Boulder, 1963; and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1964. He was the recipient of the Award of Excellence, Urban Land Institute, 1982 and the prestigious Award of Honor, San Francisco Art Commission, 1983.

Callister died in Novato, California on April 3, 2008.

Sources: Richard Ehrenberger and Charles Sholten, “Charles Warren Callister, 1917-2008.” The Architect’s Newspaper. 30 April 2008. -- Weinstein, Dave, "Appreciation: Architect Warren Callister." San Francisco Chronicle. 31 May 2008. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Appreciation-Architect-Warren-Callister-3212823.php.

Firm History:

  • Callister, Payne, and Rosse, Tiburon, CA, 1955-1969
  • Callister, Payne, and Rosse, Amherst, MA, 1968
  • Callister and Payne, Tiburon, CA, 1969-1972
  • Callister, Payne and Bischoff, Tiburon, CA, 1972-1981
  • Callister, Gately, Heckmann, Bischoff, Tiburon, CA, ca. 1982-1995
  • Callister, Gately, Heckmann Associates, Tiburon, CA, 1995- [1999]

Processing information:

Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by a grant from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Collection processed by Emily Vigor, Cailin Swarm, and Fiona Brodie

Arrangement:

This collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records. Within each series, original order has been maintained when evident. Order has been imposed by the archivist in cases where original order was not apparent.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

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], Charles Warren Callister Collection, (2008-13), Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820, US
Contact:
(510) 642-5124
designarchives@berkeley.edu
Website