Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Beverly Willis BEVERLY WILLIS: A LIFE IN ARCHITECTURE Interviews conducted by Victor Geraci, PhD in 2008 Copyright © 2008 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Beverly Willis dated October 15, 2008. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Beverly Willis, “BEVERLY WILLIS: A LIFE IN ARCHITECTURE”, conducted by Victor Geraci, 2008, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2008. Beverly Willis Photo by Holly Hinman courtesy of Higher Pictures v Discursive Table of Contents—Beverly Willis Interview #1, October 15, 2008 …………………………………………………... 1 Tape 1 Growing up in Oklahoma during the Depression, living in an orphanage, adapting institutions, developing curiosity, self-discipline, competitive spirit--Oregon State, engineering classes, WWII and aftermath, interest in art--Relocation to San Francisco and then Hawaii--Apprenticeship with Jean Charlot--Developing contacts and skills, professional relationships with Henry Kaiser and Admiral Stump. Tape 2 Becoming an architect and industrial designer through hands-on experience--partnerships with Sid Wallace and United Vintners--Adaptive architectural reuse of San Francisco buildings--Developing a reputation as an award-winning architect--Getting an architecture license in California--Working with Bill Oakes and Small Business Association to develop retail business, Capricorn. Tape 3 Beverly Willis and Associates, 1966, the only woman-owned architecture firm in San Francisco--Hiring David Coldoff, Charles Rueger, Gary Johnson and others to expand the firm--Willis's innovation with early computers, development of CARLA land-use planning program--Willis's real-estate investments, partnership with Bruce Brown on Little Rock development--Friendships and Networking in San Francisco, before the term "networking" was coined--Lorraine Legg, Boise Cascade--Challenges and opportunities for women in architecture--Willis's development of financial acumen. Interview #2, October 16, 2008 ………………………………………………….... 45 Tape 4 Willis's intellectual curiosity, basis in early convent education--CARLA--Glide Memorial Church, Don Pollard, Cecil Williams--"Design influences behavior"--Working with Pollard on Pasadena City Hall--Koret hotel renovation--Willis's humanist approach to industrial design--Growth of Willis firm in the 1970s, Coldoff's contribution--Willis is appointed first woman chair of the Federal Construction Council for the National Academy of Science--Gary Johnson's role in Willis firm--Aliamanu Housing Development, competition with John Warnecke--The Pacific Point Apartments and Justin Herman. Tape 5 Cost-cutting innovation and planning, Aliamanu--Commission to design IRS buildings-- Willis's role in founding of SF chapter of the International Women's Forum--Working with Redevelopment Agency, Willie Brown, Olympia & York, Wilbur Hamilton, and Judy Hopkinson on Yerba Buena Center planning--The Ballet Building commission, the creative genius of Michael Smuin--Working with dancers and their special concerns, "Beverly Listens"--Budget limitations, politics, Richard LeBlond. Tape 6 Richard LeBlond--Allan Temko's review of the Ballet Building--Willis family background as pioneers, homesteaders, farmers, and Willis's vineyard and home in Napa --Following Frank Lloyd Wright's example, Willis plans a sabbatical--Life back east, meeting Wolf Von Eckardt, co-founder with Willis of the National Building Museum that inhabits the old Pension building in Washington, DC--Ray Cortines and Willis's work on designs for New York City charter schools--Creation of the Beverly Willis Foundation, development of its mission and programs--Reflections of the sometimes tough realities of working with the construction trades. Appendix—C.V. 1 Interview #1: October 15, 2008 Begin Audio File 1 10-15-2008.mp3 Geraci: Today is Wednesday, October 15, 2008, and we are in the New York City office of Beverly Willis. This interview with Ms. Willis is being conducted by Victor Geraci, Associate Director of the University of California Berkeley’s Regional Oral History Office. And the interview is part of the Beverly Willis oral history series of interviews to document the life and work of artist, architect, urbanist, lecturer, and writer Beverly Willis. Funding for these interviews comes from the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation. Beverly Willis is a FAIA [Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture] whose design achievements, development of new technology, and philanthropic efforts have left a lasting legacy for architects, urban planners, and students of public policy. Ms. Willis has played a major role in the development of many creative and professional concepts important to American cities and American architecture. Now we get to start. And Bev, first of all, thank you very much for the opportunity to interview you and to get to be able to do this. What I like to do in recording anyone’s story of their life is to start at the beginning. I think we are all the sum accumulation of our entire lives and how we get to where we get to certain points and junctures. And so let’s start off with Beverly Willis, the young girl, maybe a little bit about your mom and dad, your family, where you’re from. 01-00:01:39 Willis: Good morning, Vic, it’s really great to meet you and welcome you to New York and— Geraci: Well, thank you. 01-00:01:47:00 Willis: —this lovely Indian summer day. Geraci: I’d say it’s a beautiful day. 01-00:01:50 Willis: It is gorgeous. I was born in Oklahoma, in 1928. My memory of some of my very early childhood is fairly vague. My parents were divorced when I was six, and my mother, who was a nurse, was left responsible for the care of the children. And inasmuch as it was the Depression, she felt that she couldn’t really take care of us. And in the meantime, my father had disappeared [laughs] somewhere and was not paying child support. So she placed us in an orphanage. So I spent the next seven years of my life, pretty much, in various institutions and foster homes. Geraci: Now, you had a brother, also. 2 01-00:02:50 Willis: Yes, I had a brother, right. And he was two-and-a-half years younger. He was about three and a half at that particular point. I was old enough to be able to deal with this probably fairly successfully, in retrospect. But it really was damaging to my brother. He was just really too young. Geraci: To understand. 01-00:03:14 Willis: So we lived different lives. So where to go from here? Geraci: It’s somewhat impressive to me, in that many great people that, personally, I have interviewed have had a very similar story. Either single-parent families or families that really went through crisis. And did this make you a stronger person? 01-00:03:44 Willis: Oh, absolutely. I learned at a very early age to take care of myself. And I think, also dealing with institutions was something that I had to learn, starting at the age of six. So I think in more of a normal family life, children are protected from the vicissitudes of institutions. Because, in an institution, you have multiple authorities controlling multiple aspects of your life. And you have a set of very rigid rules. You have to navigate those rules, you have to try to have some sort of individuality, within a strict environment. But on the other hand, it teaches you discipline, it teaches you [laughs] to meet schedules. When I was at St. Joseph’s Academy, one of my jobs, because we were working students at that time, was that I had to ring the angelus at the church. So I had to ring the angelus at six AM. in the morning, at twelve noon, at six PM. at night. And I had to be exactly on time, which really instilled in me a passion for punctuality, which I’ve carried with me my entire life. Geraci: So this starts you off on this whole approach to life, you need to be disciplined; you need to be regimented.