Perry, Warren Charles
Entry Author: David
Parry
Architect
 Warren
Charles Perry was born May 12, 1884 in Santa Barbara, California,
but grew up in Berkeley where his family had moved when he
three years old. He graduated from Berkeley High in 1903 and
began undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at U. C.
Berkeley. That same year a Department of Architecture had
been established, under the direction of John Galen Howard,
University Architect and a friend of Warren's father. Perry
took a number of classes from Howard and during the summers
of 1906 and 1907 worked in Howard's San Francisco office.
With Howard's encouragement Perry traveled to Paris in the
fall of 1907, with his mother in support, to take the entrance
exam to study at the renowned École des Beaux-Arts.
Passing the exam, he was accepted into the atelier
of Gaston Redon, a former Grand Prix de Rome winner
who held the position of Architect du Louvre. Perry
accumulated enough credits in three years to reach the Première
Classe and returned to the Bay Area in 1911. He accepted
an appointment as a member of the faculty of the Department
of Architecture at Berkeley in the fall semester and also
joined Howard's architectural business practice at 604 Mission
to work on residential and commercial projects. In 1913 Perry
passed his State architectural license exam, being awarded
license number B783, and established his own practice, first
sharing Howard's office at 604 Mission and later moving to
260 California where his office remained until he retired.
When Howard's contract with the University was not renewed
in 1927, Perry succeeded him as Chairman of the School of
Architecture and two years later was appointed Dean of the
School, a position he held until 1950, when he in turn was
succeeded by William Wurster. In 1927 Howard's original function
as Supervising Architect for campus buildings, which had become
a full-time job in itself, was taken over by George Kelham,
designer of the old Main Library in San Francisco, which is
now being transformed into the Asian Art Museum. Together
Perry and Kelham designed the George C. Edwards Track Stadium,
which opened in 1932 as the only stadium in the world designed
exclusively for track and field events. Substantially renovated
in 1998-2000, it now named Goldman Field in honor of the father
of the lead donor for this privately funded project.
Perry's teaching responsibilities did not allow a great deal
of time for private practice, but in 1922 he designed 2458-60
Green, a house with a minor second unit, and in November of
that year bought the lot on which he was to build 2530 Vallejo
for himself, his wife Joy, and their daughter Carolyn Joy
Perry (born in June 1923). 2530 Vallejo was completed in 1925
and a second child Warren Wilson (Buzz) Perry was born in
April 1927.
2530 Vallejo is a blend of the classical and shingle styles.
The classical ornament is limited to the pediment over the
entry, the keystones in two windows, and the abbreviated cornice.
The shingles wrap around the corners of the house and create
a uniform skin that is virtually uninterrupted by moldings
or ornament, which is the hallmark of the shingle style. The
overall effect is fairly austere, but the shingles give the
house a warm tone that makes the austerity acceptable. Perry's
creative interior touches included a hydraulic elevator from
the basement to the first floor, capable of carrying a lot
of groceries or one small person, which used seven gallons
of water to raise the elevator. The outflow was siphoned off
to water Perry's rose garden!
Perry's modern exposition of the shingle style can also be
seen in two later adjacent houses at 3140 Pacific (1926) and
3150 Pacific (1932), and a remodeled Victorian at 3028 Clay.
Some other prominent houses in the City designed by Perry
are the Italian Renaissance-style corner house at 2585 Pacific
(1924), 570 El Camino del Mar in Sea Cliff, designed in 1930
and pictured in the June 1932 California Arts & Architecture
magazine, and 165 Terrace Drive in St. Francis Wood, designed
in 1936.
Serving alongside the previous subject in this series, Frederick
H. Meyer, Perry was a member of the State Board of Architectural
Examiners, the licensing authority, for 13 years from 1931
to 1943 and its President for two of them, 1934-35. He also
served as Vice-President of the San Francisco Chapter of the
American Institute of Architects (AIA) for two years, 1936-37,
and then as its President in 1938. Perry was recognized for
his contributions to architectural education and the profession
by being made a Fellow of the AIA, the highest honor that
institution bestows, in 1947.
Perry retired in 1954 at the age of 70, but kept active and
continued to live at 2530 Vallejo until his death in 1980
at the age of 95. Two of his last projects prior to retiring
were the remodeling of St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church
at 2325 Union and the relocation, rotation, and redesign of
the Octagon House at 2645 Gough as a museum for the Colonial
Dames of America.
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: Santa Barbara, California, May 12, 1884