Laib, Arthur Joseph
Entry Author: David
Parry
Architect
Most residential architects practicing in San Francisco from
1900 on had to respond to the demand for multi-family structures.
Apartment buildings were seen as a necessary response to high
land values and were regarded as a good investment by their
owners. One modern measure we can use of the quality of an
architect's work is how many of his apartment buildings have
been converted to condominiums.
Arthur Joseph Laib was born in San Francisco and grew up in
a pair of flats owned by his family. He was educated at local
public schools and took an architecture course at Wilmerding
School of Industrial Arts, graduating in 1901. He started
work as a draftsman in the office of architect Philip Schwerdt
at 927 Market, remaining with Schwerdt for four years. In
1906 he opened his own practice.
Laib's earlier styles are Colonial Revival and Mission Revival.
Many examples remain including a fine matching pair of single-family
homes at 1360 & 1368 McAllister (1909) and many sets of
flats and apartment buildings, which became his specialty.
On Nob Hill there are four adjacent triplexes at 1308-30 Taylor
(1908), and another triplex at 1242-46 Mason (also 1908).
In Presidio Heights look for 3934-36 Clay (1909), a design
which was to be reprised later in Jordan Park at 58-60 Palm
(1911).
Two interesting Mission Revival apartment complexes followed,
both built into hillsides, at 1925-55 Jackson (1912, Glenlee
Terrace, a collection of two duplexes and four triplexes -
16 flats in total,) and at 2772-86 Jackson (1914, six flats
and a studio in three terraced buildings).
On Nob Hill, opposite the block on which Charles Crocker's
French Second Empire mansion had stood until the 1906 earthquake
and fire, and where, since 1910, the Nôtre-Dame-inspired
Grace Cathedral had been planned, Laib designed three adjoining
buildings, two apartments with a house in between, in the
Parisian-style at 1224, 1230 and 1242 Sacramento (1915).
Resisting pressures to obtain a State architectural license,
Laib's practice inevitably slowed and he pursued other employment
for a while, but his legacy of fine San Francisco apartment
architecture later included 3337 Clay (1923), a six-unit apartment
building he built for himself next door to his residence at
3333 Clay, and another fine six-unit building at 3101 Clay
(1924).
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: San Francisco, California, 1884