Ernest Born (1898−1992) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, and artist based in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He and his wife Esther Baum Born (1902−1987) collaborated on diverse projects in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

from 1936 on. She was also a notable architectural photographer.''Architects and Artists, The work of Ernest and Esther Born'', by Nicholas Olsberg, published by The Book Club of California (#234), 2015. Ernest was born in San Francisco, Esther in Palo Alto, and they married in 1926 after meeting at UC Berkeley’s architecture school.

Careers

Born studied 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 ...

, graduating from the school of Architecture in 1922. After graduation he traveled to Europe on a Guggenheim Fellowship, then returned to UC Berkeley earning a master's degree in 1923, with a thesis on the relation of painting to architecture. He worked for prominent San Francisco architects such as John W. Reid, Jr.,

John Galen Howard John Galen Howard (May 8, 1864 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts – July 18, 1931 in San Francisco, California) was an American architect and educator who began his career in New York before moving to California. He was the principal architect at in ...

, and George W. Kelham between 1923 and 1928. The couple relocated to New York’s Greenwich Village in 1929. Esther took a job with

Wallace Harrison Wallace Kirkman Harrison (September 28, 1895 – December 2, 1981) was an American architect. Harrison started his professional career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, participating in the construction of Rockefeller Center. He i ...

, the architect overseeing the creation of Rockefeller Center. Ernest spent time as a draftsman at

Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, founded as Shreve & Lamb, was an architectural firm, best known for designing the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1931. History The firm was founded in 1920 as Sh ...

, designers of the Empire State Building. In 1931 he opened his own architectural practice, working on a wide variety of projects ranging from designing commercial spaces and exhibitions to architectural advertising. He served on the editorial staff of

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...

from 1933–34 and

Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...

from 1935-36. He received his license to practice architecture in New York in 1931, and in California in 1937. He was later a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). They returned to San Francisco in 1937 and went into business together, working residential, commercial and industrial projects, exhibitions, and photography. The Borns exhibited and promoted the then new

Second Bay Tradition The Second Bay Tradition (or Second Bay Area Tradition) is an architectural style from the period of 1928 through 1942 that was rooted in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. Also referred to as "redwood post and beam", the style is characterize ...

(1928−1942), and were part of the

Third Bay Tradition The Third Bay Tradition (Third Bay Area Tradition) is an architectural style from the period of 1945 through the 1980s that was rooted in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, with its best known example being Sea Ranch. Considered a hybrid of modern ...

(1945−1980s) of

Modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

and design. His mural paintings for the

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

established his reputation as an artist. His drawings for a proposed United Nations Center, with

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 ...

and Theodore Bernardi, were exhibited in San Francisco and New York museums. During the war years, Born worked with architect Gardner Dailey on special military projects in Brazil and in the U.S. In 1949 they designed the 'Ernest and Esther Born House' for themselves, a Modernist residence located at 2020 Great Highway in the far west of the Sunset District. The house has since been modified with the addition of a tower. In 1951, in collaboration with architect Henry H. Gutterson, Born designed North Beach Place, a public housing project at the cable car turntable on Taylor Street. It was demolished in 2001. The Borns’ 1958 vision for "Embarcadero City" for the San Francisco Port Authority, a master plan for the waterfront from the Ferry Building to Aquatic Park that would have replaced most existing structures with new buildings and piers with landfill, was never built. In the 1970s Born designed signage for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. Born collaborated in the design of the Balboa Park Station and

Glen Park Station Glen Park station is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California adjacent to San Jose Avenue and Interstate 280. The station has a single island platform. San Jose/G ...

, with Corlett & Spackman. The Glen Park Station was Born's last architectural design project. The Borns closed their design studio in 1973, later moved to San Diego where they lived in their retirement. Born was an accomplished artist, type designer, and illustrator as well, and focused on these in his later years. He spent a decade collaborating with author

Walter Horn Walter William Horn (18 January 1908 - 26 December 1995) was a German-American medievalist scholar noted for his work on the timber vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages. Horn was born in Germany, but fled Nazism and spent most of his ...

to produce the 1979 '' Plan of St. Gall''. Its illustrations are by Born. Ernest Born died in 1992, at the age of 94.“In Memory” of Ernest Born, Newsletter of American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter. October 1992

References

External links

Youtube: video about ''Architects and Artists: The Work of Ernest and Esther Born''

* ttp://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt358033r7 Online Archive of California: Inventory of the Ernest and Esther Born Collection, 1924-1985* Finding Aid for Ernest Born architectural drawings ca. 1944- ca. 1981, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession No. 920089
Ernest Born lithographs, 1930-1931
{{DEFAULTSORT:Born, Ernest American designers American illustrators Modernist architects 1898 births 1992 deaths Architects from San Francisco Fellows of the American Institute of Architects UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design alumni Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American architects

Careers

See also

References

External links