Mathews, Edgar A.
Entry Author: David
Parry
Architect
 Edgar
A. Mathews was a Bay Area native. His father Julius Case Mathews,
originally from New York, was living in Wisconsin with his
wife Pauline McCracken and two children, Walter and Caroline,
when he decided to try to make his fortune out west. He arrived
in Oakland in 1852, with his younger brother Benjamin, and
they tried their luck in the gold and silver mines, supporting
themselves as carpenters. Julius returned to Wisconsin towards
the end of that decade and a second son, Arthur, was born
in 1860. In May 1866 Julius returned to Oakland with his family
and their third son, Edgar, was born on September 8th of that
year.
Julius turned his construction experience into an architectural
practice, opening his own office in Oakland in 1875. His eldest
son Walter, after training as a carpenter and draftsman, joined
him in 1879 and J. C. Mathews & Son was established. Walter
later became a very prominent architect in his own right and
was Oakland City architect for many years. The second son
Arthur also trained as a draftsman with his father, but quickly
developed his artistic talents, studied and exhibited in Paris,
and ultimately achieved international prominence as a muralist,
furniture maker, interior designer and teacher. Arthur's work
embellished the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
and can be seen today in the Oakland Museum and the lobby
of the Mechanics Institute at 57 Post Street in San Francisco.
Edgar, the subject of this month's article, also trained
in his father's office, then attended the Van Der Naillen
School of Engineering, graduating in 1888. He also worked
for his father, and other architects, before opening his own
office in 1895. Soon after, he and his wife Katherine Dart
moved into San Francisco and by the early 1900's he was well
established as an important designer of town residences.
His earliest influences were the rustic houses of Ernest
Coxhead and Willis Polk,
but he quickly developed his own styles. His two early favorites
were a half-timbered, half-stucco look (termed "Elizabethan"
by a reviewer at the time) and a more steeply-roofed brown-shingle
covered "box" (the same reviewer). He would define
his building sites with low brick walls and create inviting
clinker-brick entry porches. Characteristic Mathews' homes
in Pacific Heights include the adjacent houses at 2508 and
2510 Green (1895), the matching pair at 2415 and 2421 Pierce
(1897), 2360 Washington (1898), 2350 Broadway (1901), 2523
Pacific (1903), and 2190 Vallejo (1904).
Mathews also designed many pairs of flats and small apartment
buildings, usually in the shingled style with entry porches
and multi-gabled roofs, including these corner buildings in
Pacific Heights - 2249-53 Broderick/2907-11 Jackson/2915-19
Jackson (1904) three connected 3-unit buildings (he lived
in 2919 Jackson after it was completed, until he finished
his own house in 1908), 2870-78 Washington/2300-04 Divisadero,
and 3196 Washington/2100 Lyon (the latter buildings completed
in 1905, each having 8 apartments), and many other buildings
in Presidio Heights and Cow Hollow.
The house Edgar Mathews designed for himself
at 2980 Valleho
His own home at 2980 Vallejo has the appearance from the
street of a small English cottage with all of the Mathews'
characteristics - the steep roof line, overhanging entry porch,
curved window sashes, low brick wall defining the site - all
enhanced by a landscaped front garden which is beautifully
maintained by the present owners. Completed in early 1908,
it was the first home on the block, and the only one for five
years. When built it had a shingled roof, which has since
been replaced with tile. Edgar and Katherine lived in the
house until August 1935 when they sold it, moving to a new
house Mathews had designed at 1956 Great Highway. The new
owner of 2980 Vallejo, Martin Stelling, immediately commissioned
experienced architect Earle Bertz, who is known for the many
houses he designed in Sea Cliff, to enlarge the home significantly
with a rear addition and a side garage. This expansion was
tastefully done, retaining the original charm of the home.
The lot has a challenging downslope towards Green Street,
and the house now is five stories tall at the rear with each
level having views of the Bay.
During his career, Mathews was involved in two well-publicized
disputes. The first, in 1908, was an attempt by an attorney
client for whom Mathews had designed a house in San Rafael
("a plastered cottage of an unusual English design")
to stop him designing a similar house for someone close by.
The plaintiff submitted an affidavit signed by four respected
San Francisco architects stating that Mathews was guilty of
a breach of professional ethics by supplying the same plans
to two residents of the same city! The judge ruled otherwise,
"If this injunction were granted it would have the practical
effect of putting architect Mathews out of business, because
his personality expresses itself in a certain type of house,
and this injunction seeks to restrain him from constructing
that type. The application for a restraining order is therefore
denied." The second issue, in 1916, found Mathews as
the plaintiff seeking to recover $11,900 for his time and
expenses from the Board of Library Trustees after they had
awarded the competition for the San Francisco Public Library
(currently being converted into the Asian Arts Museum) to
George Kelham, for a plan which Mathews thought was suspiciously
similar to the Detroit Public Library design which had been
won by New York architect Cass Gilbert. Gilbert was one of
the judges for the San Francisco Library competition, as was
Paul Cret, Professor of Architecture at the University of
Pennsylvania, who had also been a judge in the Detroit competition
and had voted for Gilbert's design. Furthermore, Kelham had
employed a draftsman who had assisted Gilbert in evolving
the Detroit Public Library plans! Despite the evidence, Mathews
did not find much legal or architectural community support
for his position in that dispute, but his point was made.
Mathews served as Vice-President of the San Francisco Chapter
of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for four years
from 1913 to 1916 and as its President in 1917. At the State
level, he was President of the Board of Architectural Examiners
(the licensing agency) for four years from 1915 through 1918.
He also designed churches, a fine Pacific Heights example
of which is the First Church of Christ Scientist, 1710 Franklin
at California (1912), and many commercial buildings, including
one for P. G. & E. at 447 Sutter (1916) in the Italian
Renaissance style of which he was a noted proponent later
in his career. He became known statewide, designing several
public buildings in Sacramento and won a prize for his grouping
of the Santa Barbara Civic Center.
Edgar Mathews died at the age of 80 on December 31, 1946,
a year after his 6-years-older artist brother Arthur, but
a year before his 16-years-older architect brother Walter,
who died November 20, 1947 at the age of 97. Walter and Edgar
were guests of honor at an AIA chapter meeting in September
1945 at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, with Walter, then
95, celebrated as the oldest living architect in the U.S.
Both reportedly gave interesting accounts of the development
of the practice of architecture in the Bay Area and it was
noted that at times the older men were more progressive in
their ideas than were the newer practitioners!
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: Oakland, California, September 8, 1866 