John Henry Paul Atkins (July 13, 1867 – November 25, 1923) was an Irish-American designer who cofounded the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California art gallery

Vickery, Atkins & Torrey Vickery, Atkins & Torrey was an interior design firm and art gallery in San Francisco, California, that helped introduce California to Impressionism. It opened in 1888 on Grant Avenue at Morton Street (now called Maiden Lane), where it was destro ...

Early life

Henry Atkins was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland, one of nine children born to a corn trader from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and his

Corkonian County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

wife.''Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911'' The family left Cork in 1869 to move to Egremont in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. The family moved again in 1878 to nearby Liverpool with its greater Irish population. Henry himself left home just a few years later. He arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1888, shortly before his 21st birthday. His brother, Arthur, joined him briefly in 1892 before going to study painting in Paris. Arthur returned with David, another brother, in 1898 but died in January 1899 having established his name as a noted California painter. David became an assayer in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

before starting an import-export firm. Henry married Daisy Howard, and took her to England in 1900. They returned with two more family members, Elsie and Ernest. Ernest stayed for only eighteen months, returning to England in 1901 for Christmas with the family. He then took a position in Port Said, Egypt for three years, and returned to California in February, 1905. Another brother and sister, Herbert and Avesia, arrived in California in July, 1906. The remainder of the family, including the parents, Georgina and Henry, and the eldest girl, Marion, arrived in 1908.

Work

He co-founded the art gallery at 236 Post Street, San Francisco with his uncle

William Kingston Vickery William Kingston Vickery (16 March 1851 – 25 March 1925) was an Irish-American picture dealer who founded the San Francisco interior design firm and art gallery of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey. His art exhibitions are credited with bringing Frenc ...

as soon as he arrived in the Bay area in 1888. Frederic Cheever Torrey joined them a few years later. The business suffered little damage in the 1906 earthquake and they later opened a branch at 550 Sutter Street. From its initial focus on art dealing the business expanded to include art supplies, picture framing, interior design, and decorating. Atkins designed furniture, fireplace equipment, candlesticks, urns and screens, shop windows, jewelry, garden gates, clocks, crosses, dishes, trays, chests, screens, frames and chandeliers.California Historical Society Photography Collections (2001)
. Retrieved 26 July 2006. He also designed complete interiors, including the main reading room of the

Doe Memorial Library The Doe Memorial Library is the main library of the University of California, Berkeley Library System. The library is named after its benefactor, Charles Franklin Doe, who in 1904 bequeathed funds for its construction. It is located near the cent ...

at the University of California, Berkeley. He also designed the concrete staircases at Bancroft Steps and Orchard Lane (1910) at the foot of

Panoramic Hill Panoramic Hill is a residential neighborhood of the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, California defined by the homes along and within the access corridor defined by Panoramic Way. Geography The Panoramic Hill Neighborhood is located at the easter ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

References

Henry Atkins, Letter to Frederic Torrey, 26 April 2006, Online Archive of California
Retrieved 26 July 2006.
Catalogue entry for the Bancroft Library
Retrieved 2008-04-06. *Harvey Helfand, ''The Campus Guide: University of California, Berkeley'', pp. 59, 74, 138. *http://berkeleyheritage.com/eastbay_then-now/torrey.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Henry 1867 births 1923 deaths 20th-century American artisans 19th-century American artisans American furniture designers American interior designers Artists from California Artists from County Cork Immigrants to the United States Irish emigrants to the United States People from Skibbereen