Baumann, H.C.
Entry Author: David
Parry
Architect
 San
Francisco was extremely fortunate during the building boom
of the 1920's to have H. C. Baumann practicing here. The growth
of apartment living in the City spread from the rebuilt Downtown
area to the City's 'Western Addition'. The economics of residential
property was such that many Victorian structures, particularly
large detached houses on good-sized corner lots became expensive
to maintain and inefficient in their use of space, even when
subdivided into apartments. This was particularly true in
Pacific Heights, an area which had been largely spared in
the fire that followed the earthquake of April 18, 1906.
Even the casual observer of apartment house architecture will
notice today that there are many similar-looking buildings,
especially in Pacific Heights and the Marina. Understandably,
there were just a limited number of developers and they became
comfortable with the work of just a few architects. One such
developer was Marian Realty (President - Arthur F. Rousseau)
and one such architect was Herman Carl ('Mike' to his friends)
Baumann.
Baumann was born in Oakland, the son of German immigrant parents,
but his family moved into San Francisco when he was just one
year old. After graduating from grammar school, he worked
first for architect Thomas Edwards, and later for Norman Sexton.
He studied at the San Francisco Architectural Club. In 1921
he qualified for his State Architectural license (B1083).
He then worked for the George Wagner Construction Co. until
opening his own practice in 1924. His office was located at
251 Kearny, a commercial building occupied mainly by contractors
and architects. For several years he had a partner, Edward
Jose, a former City building inspector, who provided onsite
supervision for Baumann's construction projects.
Baumann's output was truly prolific. During one 12-month period
(1927-28) he designed an astonishing 137 apartment buildings!
In a career summary he wrote in 1952 he listed more than 400
apartments or hotels (over 100 being five stories or higher
with steel frames, the remainder being three-story over basement
wood-frames), 250 pairs of flats, and 500 single-family homes.
His apartment building legacy is seen in just about every
San Francisco neighborhood, but a few of his more distinguished
buildings include 620 Jones (1928, the Gaylord Hotel, now
San Francisco Landmark #159), the magnificent Bellaire Tower
at 1101 Green (1930) on Russian Hill, 3401 Clay (1931), a
rare Presidio Heights apartment building, and 290 Lombard
(1940) on Telegraph Hill, which takes advantage of wonderful
Bay views.
In Cow Hollow, the adjoining three-story wood-frame apartment
buildings at 2845 and 2855 Pierce (1924) are good examples,
and in the Marina, the pair opposite each other at 1690 and
1700 Bay (from 1931 and 1936) provide good examples of different
Art Deco exterior treatments while having the exact same floor
plans inside.
But Pacific Heights would be the neighborhood in which his
work is most readily visible. A walking tour might start with
the Art Deco classic at 1950 Clay (from 1930), continue up
the hill to 1950 Gough (1926), proceed west to 2201 Sacramento
(1928), north to 2400 Buchanan (1937), west to admire 2400
Pacific (1932), north and east to 2090 Broadway (1935), and
then continue past 1945 and 1955 Broadway (twin buildings
from 1929), to 1890 Broadway (1938), on to 1800 Broadway (1927),
with 1801 Broadway opposite (1931), and then turn up Gough
Street to peer into the beautiful Deco lobby of 1895 Pacific
(built in 1931) on the corner. That tour would have covered
just a fraction of his work in Pacific Heights.
Baumann's buildings typically have projecting bays, rounded
windows on the top story, decorative cornices, and ornate
lobbies. Influences of Baroque classicism, Spanish Churrigueresque,
and Art Deco Zigzag and Moderne can be seen in different buildings.
His larger apartment designs would have a living room, formal
dining room, kitchen, one, two or three bedrooms, and one
or two hall closets. His smaller apartments ('efficiencies')
would have a breakfast room off the kitchen instead of a formal
dining room, and a large living room, with a Murphy bed as
standard equipment attached to the back of a closet door to
provide additional sleeping accommodation. Such was Baumann's
demand for Murphy beds that the President of the company manufacturing
them made a special trip West to see where all of his product
was going!
The Great Depression of the 1930's brought to a close the
apartment building boom in the City and was a financial disaster
for Baumann who had invested heavily in the construction of
the Bellaire Tower. He remained busy however, accepting more
commercial and industrial assignments (breweries, supermarkets,
and a printing plant, for example). During World War II he
held a contract with the U.S. Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks,
designing many structures for them at Mare Island and other
locations. After the war he designed about a dozen multi-family
housing projects in the Bay Area. His last apartment house
commission was the 10-story International Style building at
1800 Pacific (designed in 1959), very different from his earlier
work such as 1895 Pacific at the other end of the block, which
is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in
the City.
Entry taken from the website of David Parry at www.classicSFproperties.com
and is used by permission. Unauthorized use of this copyrighted
material is strictly forbidden without permission from the
author.
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Born: in Oakland, California