Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Title: Willis Polk scrapbooks
Date (inclusive): 1908-1924
Collection Number: MS Vault
89
creator:
Polk, Willis, 1867-1924
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English
Physical Description:
5 volumes
(3.5 Linear feet)
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Abstract: Five volumes of scrapbooks containing newspaper
clippings documenting the reconstruction of San Francisco, California after the 1906
earthquake and fire, and subsequent city and architectural development. Commercial
and public buildings represented include: the Civic Center, the Hobart Building, the
Hallidie Building, and others. Includes two folders of miscellaneous clippings and
photocopies of articles.
Information for Researchers
Access Restrictions
Fragile originals; use microfilm only.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the California Historical Society. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted
in writing to the Director of Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the
physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Willis Polk Scrapbooks, MS 89. California Historical
Society.
Alternative Form Available
Available on microfilm: Reel 238 (NEG 63)
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Architecture, American--California--San Francisco.
City Planning--California--San Francisco.
Earthquakes--California--San Francisco.
Fires--California-San Francisco.
San Francisco (Calif.)--Buildings, structues,
etc.
San Francisco earthquake, Calif., 1906.
Scrapbooks.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Source unknown.
Accruals
No accruals are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processed by CHS staff.
Biography
Variously labelled brilliant, temperamental, flamboyant and eccentric, Willis
Jefferson Polk was born in 1867 in Jacksonville, Illinois. Receiving no formal
education, Polk grew up learning the building trades from his father Willis Webb
Polk (1833-1906) an itinerant carpenter. In a 1921 interview for
The Chronicle, Polk recalled having worked as a hat boy,
a water boy for a St. Louis contractor; a lemonade stand seller; a handy boy,
sticker and bench boy at a planing mill; and as an office boy for St. Louis
architect J.B. Legg by the age of thirteen. Proudly he related the story of how, at
the age of fifteen, he had shocked the town of Hope, Arkansas by having his drawings
for the design of their new schoolhouse accepted as the winning entry out of a field
of practicing professionals.
By the time he was twenty, he had completed two years as a partner in the general
contracting firm of W.W. Polk and Son. This experience had given him a solid
foundation of practical contractor's skills, and although many of the homes built by
the firm were based on standard formulas and designs, Polk had helped to draw up the
plans for many of these projects. In 1887, a turning point occurred in Polk's
career. He decided to leave the family business in order to go to work for Van Brunt
and Howe, a prominent Boston architectural firm recently moved to Kansas City. This
new position provided Polk with the opportunity to develop an awareness of abstract
concepts of aesthetics and design as well as a familiarity with formal architectural
procedures.
Driven by his desire to learn the prominent architectural theories and cultural
philosophies of his time, Polk began an odyssey of self-education. This quest for
knowledge and exposure to style took him to Washington, D.C. Los Angeles, New York,
San Francisco and Chicago. During these travels he worked with nationally recognized
architects Ernest Coxhead, A. Page Brown, Charles McKim, Stanford White and Daniel
Burnham. Polk's work reflected his belief in the eastern based aesthetics with which
he became acquainted during these two years. He remained closely allied to Academic
Eclecticism, a movement which expressed an overall approach to architecture rather
than a specific style. The motivating precepts behind Academic Eclecticism were a
commitment to an academic understanding of historical periods, a formal knowledge of
design and a recognition of architecture as a fine art.
Arriving in 1889, Polk's first San Francisco period was spent in a remarkable number
of professional, cultural and social endeavors. He assisted A. Page Brown with the
design of the Ferry Building and subsequently, established his own office within the
year. Polk was appalled by the Victorian devotion to newness, clutter and conformity
which contrasted so strongly with his belief in classical simplicity and the
creative use of building materials. Along with Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and
others, he became one of the pioneer proponents of the Bay Region Style, which
combined eastern design concepts with an emerging indigenous western aesthetic. Polk
founded the
Architectural News in 1890 as a response
to the regional prejudice in eastern journals. It was in this journal that he first
expressed his favor toward the newly evolved Mission Revival Style.
In fact, Polk was one of the local leaders in the new wave of late 19th century
artists, architects and city planners. These men and women were steeped in classical
traditions yet they were daring and creative enough to experiment with new forms and
to utilize recent technological advances in their work. Polk and his contemporaries
played a major role in the growth of that aesthetic movement now referred to as the
American Renaissance. Dedicated to the idea that architectural creations must be
beautiful as well as useful, Polk's writings in
The
Wave
between 1892 and 1899, reflected his commitment to Academic
Eclecticism and the ideals of the City Beautiful Movement. In a number of essays, he
expressed his belief that art was beauty and that architecture, as a mean of
expression, could effect the development of civilization.
Living life to its fullest, Polk joined with Gelett Burgess, Bruce Porter and other
San Franciscan bohemians to form Les Jeunes, a group of the elite cultural figures
of their time. A popular subject of the local press, their notoriety was increased
by the publication of a unique literary magazine,
The
Lark
, which is best known for a poem about a purple cow. It was during
this period that Polk met and married Christine Barreda Moore, whose son Austin
would later become a leading partner in Willis Polk and Company. It was also during
these years that Polk became acquainted with William Bourn, President of the Spring
Valley Water Company, who would become one of Polk's major supporters throughout his
career.
By 1901, Polk had moved his family to Chicago and joined the firm of prominent
architect D.H. Burnham, "father of the skyscraper," noted for his ideas on city
planning. Returning to San Francisco four years later, Polk was with Burnham on
April 17, 1906 when he presented his ill-fated plan to the Board of Supervisors.
Following the destruction of the city, Polk was put in charge of Burnham's local
office. They hoped that he could take advantage of the building boom and at the same
time, effect the implementation of all or part of the Burnham Plan. Some of Polk's
early responsibilities in this position included the reconstruction of the Mills
Building, the Pacific Union Club and the Chronicle Building. Although continuing to
accept domestic commissions, the majority of Polk's time was devoted to the design
and construction of commercial buildings.
Willis Polk and Company was formed in 1910 when D.H. Burnham turned over his San
Francisco office to its managing architect and president of the newly formed
Architectural League of the Pacific Coast. During the next fifteen years, Polk's
company completed well over one hundred major commercial buildings and domestic
residences in San Francisco and the Bay Area. His commissions included construction
of churches, auto showrooms, hospitals, town houses, banks, warehouses, recreational
facilities, mansions, PG&E substations, stores, clubs and office buildings. In
addition to basic building construction and in accordance with his artistic beliefs,
Polk applied his eclectic talents to diverse architectural projects. He designed the
Water Temple at Sunol for his friend and patron William Bourn; the street lamp
columns for both the Market Street Path of Gold and the financial district
beautification project; the Vallejo Street connecting ramp; and, the bases and
columns for Douglas Tilden's Donahue Foundation and Admissions Day Statue.
Concurrent with his successful professional career, Polk was involved in a myriad of
related endeavors. In 1911, his architectural talents and commitment to civic
improvement were rewarded by his election to the position of Chairman of the
Architects Commission for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. As a Portola
Commissioner, two years later, Polk returned from visiting Europe as an unofficial
envoy of Spain's King Alfonso. He was involved in trying to save the Palace of Fine
Arts from destruction and in submitting plans for a new stadium for the San
Francisco Seals.
Following the first World War, Polk devoted his time to nationally promoting San
Francisco as a Dream City. Sensitive to trends in construction, he was acutely aware
of the rapid development of Los Angeles and the threat it posed to the city he
loved. He joined forces with the San Francisco Realty Board in trying to attract
investors and residents to the Bay Area by praising the city and its future. To this
end he predicted that by 1971, the population of San Francisco would number five
million and the city limits would extend as far as Palo Alto. Expressing his
annoyance with the people from the south, he stated that "when I'm talking about
California,I talk about every inch of ground here - even Los Angeles. When they talk
about God's fair land, they leave San Francisco out."
Toward the end of his life, Polk was receiving noticeably fewer commissions. Although
greatly admired and respected by his peers, perhaps his infamous political
involvement and temperamental nature had affected his practice. Never an idle man,
Polk went to Washington, D.C. as a dollar-a-year man to serve as a consultant on
post-war construction in the United States. He was responsible for the restoration
of the Mission Dolores in 1920 and spent a great deal of his time promoting civic
improvement and grand architectural schemes, such as bridges across the bay and the
Golden Gate; a shore line railway from Sutro Heights to Fort Funston; and, a major
renovation and landscaping of Sutro Heights. But it was also during this period that
he designed and constructed his masterpiece, the Hallidie Building. Commissioned by
the University of California Regents, the Hallidie Building (1917) was the first
glass curtain walled building ever constructed. It was this building that had given
Willis Polk his place in the annals of modern architecture when he died prematurely
at the age of 59 in 1924.
Scope and Contents
The Willis Polk Scrapbooks consist almost entirely of newspaper clippings which
document the public life and work of one of San Francisco's leading architects,
covering the years between 1908 and 1924. These scrapbooks provide a comprehensive
overview of the reconstruction of San Francisco; the architectural, technical and
aesthetic development of commercial, domestic and public building design,
construction and materials; and the political, social and cultural activities taking
place during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Arrangement
The scrapbooks in the collection are arranged chronologically, with two folders of
subject specific clippings also arranged chronologically.