Levi Goodrich (1822–1887) was an American

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 ...

based in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. His most notable projects include

San Jose City Hall San José City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of San Jose, California. Located in Downtown San Jose, it was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier in a Postmodern style. It consists of an 18-story tower, an ic ...

, Santa Clara County Courthouse,

, and

California State Normal School The California State Normal School was a teaching college system founded on May 2, 1862, eventually evolving into San José State University in San Jose and the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles. History The school was creat ...

. Goodrich's wife,

Sarah Knox-Goodrich Sarah L. Knox-Goodrich (1825–1903) was a women's rights activist who worked for women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change vo ...

, was a well known activist who worked for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

in California.

Biography

Levi Goodrich was born January 1, 1822, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York. His parents died when he was young, and he lived with relatives in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Goodrich became a carpenter, then studied architecture in the office of R. G Hatfield in New York City. On March 8, 1849, Goodrich sailed for

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

on the ship ''Loochoo'' arriving on September 16, 1849. He traveled with a large quantity of building materials and sold them upon arriving in

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 ...

. Soon after arriving, he designed the Parker house, a wood-framed building on

Portsmouth Square Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most densel ...

. The building, at the corner of Washington and

Kearny Street Kearny Street () in San Francisco, California runs north from Market Street to The Embarcadero. Toward its south end, it separates the Financial District from the Union Square and Chinatown districts. Further north, it passes over Telegraph ...

s, was built to replace tents used by

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

miners. It was reportedly the first work in San Francisco by a professional architect. Goodrich moved to

in November 1849. His architectural offices were in the Knox Block. On April 13, 1854, Goodrich married Juliet Peck. They had a son, E. B. Goodrich, who joined his father's office and, eventually, succeeded him. Goodrich married Sarah Knox on January 15, 1879. She was prominent in the cause of

equal rights for women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, fully supported by her husband. Goodrich retired in 1886. On April 2, 1887, he suffered an attack of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

while visiting

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

with his wife, and quickly died. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose.

Buildings

San Jose

* 1851, an

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

house at Santa Clara and Lightstone Streets, with J. D. Hoppe * 1851, two one-story adobe buildings on Santa Clara Street, for Frank Lightson * 1853, part of the Women's College of Notre Dame and convent * c. 1854,

Thomas Fallon Thomas Fallon (1825–1885) an Irish-born Californian politician, best known for serving as 10th Mayor of San Jose. Fallon remains a controversial figure in San Jose's history, owing to his role in the American Conquest of California. Biograp ...

House, 175 West St. John Street, a two-story

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

villa, now a museum * 1855,

, 35 North Market Street, designed to resemble a medieval castle with parapets and towers; destroyed in the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

* 1863,

First Presbyterian Church of San Jose The First Presbyterian Church of San Jose was a Presbyterian church in San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1849, it was one of the oldest Protestant churches in California. The First Presbyterian building is located on 49 N. 4th Street ...

; destroyed in the

* 1866–1868, Santa Clara County Courthouse, 161 North 1st Street, a two-story Neoclassical building with a dome, overlooking St. James Square; destroyed by fire in 1931 * 1869–1871, county jailhouse * 1880,

* University of the Pacific * Also, Knox Block (Goodrich's office was in room 20 of this building), three public school buildings, Bank of San Jose, and Martin Block

San Diego

* 1872, San Diego County Courthouse, a Classical-style building on land donated by Alonzo E. Horton * 1882, Independent Order of Odd Fellows building, at 526 Market Street, listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Other places

* Monterey County Courthouse * 1949, Parker House Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Goodrich Quarry

In 1874, Goodrich purchased a 500-acre sandstone

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

that came to be known as Goodrich's Free-Stone Quarry. The quarry is about eight miles south of San Jose in the

Santa Teresa Hills The Santa Teresa Hills are a range of mountains in Santa Clara County, California, located primarily in the city of San Jose. They separate the San Jose neighborhoods of Almaden Valley to the west and Santa Teresa to the east. Geography The ra ...

on the eastern slope of the

Almaden Valley , other_name= , native_name= es, Almadén , nickname= , settlement_type= Neighborhood of San Jose , total_type= , motto= , image_skyline = , flag_size= , image_sea= , seal_size= , image_shield= , shield_size= , image_blank_emblem= , ...

. After Goodrich's death, the quarry was leased, and then sold, to the quarry's stone master Jacob Pfeiffer. It was renamed Graystone Quarry. The stone from the Goodrich/Graystone quarry has been used in many California buildings including the front walls and cornices of the

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 ...

quadrangle the Santa Clara County Courthouse, U.S. Post Office in San Jose (now the

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast of the United Sta ...

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

, University of the Pacific, the Knox-Goodrich Building, San Carlos Railroad Depot, and

Agnews State Hospital Agnews Developmental Center was a psychiatric and medical care facility, located in Santa Clara, California. In 1885, the center, originally known as "The Great Asylum for the Insane", was established as a facility for the care of the mentally ill ...

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goodrich, Levi 1822 births 1887 deaths Architects from California 19th-century American architects People from San Jose, California