Alice Ross Carey (November 10, 1948 – July 27, 2013) was an American preservation architect, advocate, and early practitioner of

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

, restoration, and reuse.

Early life

Alice Ross Carey was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and raised in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. Carey worked as a carpenter and had her own small construction firm before completing a master's degree in architecture at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1976.Alice Carey dies: architect, avid preservationist
by John King, in the San Francisco Chronicle; published 1 Aug. 2013; accessed 3 Mar. 2015.

Career

Following graduation, Carey worked for the firms Esherick, Homsey Dodge & Davis (EHDD) and Whisler/Patri. While at EHDD, she became interested in the Bay Region Style of architecture and its architects Joseph Esherick,

William Wurster William Wilson Wurster (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1973) was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, best known for his residential desig ...

, Charles Moore and William Turnbull Jr. Inspired, in 1983 she founded one of the first woman-owned architectural practices specializing in historic preservation in the United States: Carey & Co. As a result of her expertise, she was named to San Francisco’s Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board by 1988. After the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

, her firm managed the preservation of several San Francisco historically significant civic buildings, including

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and the

War Memorial Opera House The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall. It is part of the San Francisco War Memorial and ...

. Her work on these projects earned Carey & Co. nearly three dozen state and national awards. During her career, Carey worked on restoring countless buildings, including Jordan Hall at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel,

Oakland City Hall Oakland City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Oakland, California. The current building was completed in 1914, and replaced a prior building that stood on what is now Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Standing at the height of , it was the first ...

, Berkeley City Hall,

Sunol Water Temple The Sunol Water Temple is located at 505 Paloma Way in Sunol, California. Designed by Willis Polk, the 59 foot high classical pavilion is made up of twelve concrete Corinthian order, Corinthian columns and a concrete ring girder that supports the ...

, San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, and the

Marin County Civic Center The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wrigh ...

. She was a founding member of the Friends of Terra Cotta and on the Boards of several organizations including the Association of Advocates for Preservation, San Francisco Heritage, and the Environmental Design Archives at U.C. Berkeley.

Legacy

Carey was a champion in the preservation community and advocated for the use of historic resources. Throughout her career, she fought to preserve countless buildings, including the New Mission Theater, the Fairmont Hotel Tonga Room, and the Metropolitan Club at 640 Sutter Street, all in San Francisco. She received a California Governor's Historic Preservation Awards posthumously in 2013 for her dedication to and work in the field of historic preservation.

References

External links

Environmental Design Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Alice Ross Preservationist architects 1948 births 2013 deaths People from Brooklyn Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area Architects from San Francisco