William Wurster

William Wurster

William Wilson Wurster (1895 - 1973) was an influential American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley and at MIT.

Wurster was born in Stockton, California and is strongly associated with the Bay Area and its regional style, along with Wurster's mentor Bernard Maybeck, the landscape architect Thomas Church, and fellow architect Joseph Esherick. Wurster designed hundreds of California houses in the 1920s through the 1940s using indigenous materials and a direct, simple style suited to the climate. His 1928 Gregory Farmhouse in Scotts Valley, California is regarded as the prototypical ranch-style house.

In 1940 Wurster married Catherine Bauer, an influential figure in her own right in the field of public housing. Both withstood accusations of disloyalty during the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Wurster was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1954 and he received the AIA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in 1969. He was a co-founder of the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, where Wurster Hall is named in his and his wife's honor.

Among Wurster's students was the award-winning architect John Desmond in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jim Webb, who taught at the University of North Carolina and was an influential architect in Chapel Hill, worked with Wurster for a while.

Readings

* Gregory, Daniel, "William W. Wurster," "Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts & Crafts Architects of California" (Robert Winter, editor) Norfleet Press Book/University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles London, 1997, pp. 245-254.

* Treib, Marc, "An Everyday Modernism: The Houses of William Wurster", San Francisco Museum of Art/University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1995.

External links

* [http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/01.18.96/wurster-9603.html Biographical notes on William Wurster]
* [http://www.verlang.com/sfbay0004ref_ww.html A thorough on-line catalog of Wurster's houses, including the Gregory Farmhouse, with photos]
* [http://www.marinmodern.com/ William Wurster designed homes in Marin County]
* [http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/profiles/wurster.htm Finding aid to the William W. Wurster/Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons Collection at the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Catherine Bauer Wurster — Catherine Krause Bauer Wurster (May 11, 1905 in Elizabeth, New Jersey ndash; 1964) was a leading member of a small group of idealists who called themselves housers because of their commitment to improving housing for low income families. In her… …   Wikipedia

  • Morley Baer — (April 5, 1916 – November 9, 1995), an American photographer and teacher, was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Clarence Theodore Baer and Blanche Evelyn Schwetzer Baer [1] brought up Morley with a tradition of old world customs and mid West… …   Wikipedia

  • College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley — Coordinates: 37°52′13.98″N 122°15′17.58″W / 37.87055°N 122.2548833°W / 37.87055; 122.2548833 …   Wikipedia

  • Joseph Esherick — (1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ndash; December 17, 1998) was an American architect.Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937, Esherick set up practice in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1953 and taught at University of California …   Wikipedia

  • Wilson G. Combs — Wilson Combs (1914–2007), who was expelled for misbehavior from the University of California during the Great Depression, only to win, two decades later, the University’s highest academic award and then join its faculty of architecture, died… …   Wikipedia

  • University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design — Infobox University name= UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design endowment= $1.72 millionCal Profiles, College of Environmental Design : http://calprofiles.vcbf.berkeley.edu/] dean= Sam Davis, FAIA (interim)… …   Wikipedia

  • Clarence W. W. Mayhew — Clarence William Whitehead Mayhew Born March 1, 1906(1906 03 01)[1] Colorado Died February 13, 1994(1994 02 13) …   Wikipedia

  • John Desmond — Infobox Person name = John Jacob Desmond image size = caption = John Desmond birth date = birth date |1922|4|5 birth place = Denver, Colorado, USA death place = Zachary, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana death date =death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • List of United States architects — A*Abel Oner *Julian Abele *Max Abramovitz *Constance Adams *Otto Eugene Adams *Dankmar Adler *David Adler *Charles N. Agree *Walter W. Ahlschlager *Gregory Ain *Harrison Albright *Chester Holmes Aldrich *William Van Alen *Christopher Alexander… …   Wikipedia

  • MIT School of Architecture and Planning — See also: Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT School of Architecture and Planning Established 1865 Type Private Dean Adèle Naudé Santos Location …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”