Résumé

On a biography card held at the California State Library filled out in 06/1956, Eichler filled out a variety of details about his work history and professional interests.

Draftsman, F.D. and H.A. Boese, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1911-1916.

Draftsman, John Reid, Jr., Architect, San Francisco, CA, c. 1916.

Draftsman, US Government, War Department, Public Works Section, c. 1920. He worked under the architect Alfred Hoyt Granger (1867-1939) at the War Department.

Partner, Harman and Eichler, Architects, Los Angeles, CA, 1924.

Architect, State of CA, Department of Public Works, Division of Architecture, Sacramento, CA, 04/1926-1963. In 1942, the Department of Public Works operated in the Public Works Building at 12th Street and N Street in Sacramento. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Supervising Architect, State of CA, Department of Public Works, Division of Architecture, Design Group, 1949-1963. Eichler indicated in 1956 that he had been the supervising architect for the restoration of the Well Fargo Express Building, Columbia, CA, (1954) and the original State Capitol, Benicia, CA, (1956). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Biographical Files Source Information: California, U.S., Biographical Index Cards, 1781-1990 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Eichler became the Supervising Architect in 1949, and retired in 1963; the day after his retirement, his wife, Virginia, to whom he had been married for 37 years, died.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Member, Northern California Artists, Incorporated, Sacramento, CA. He enjoyed painting Californian scenes. He stated his interest in "Architectural subjects of early California Architecture, Mother Lode subjects, Calif. Missions, etc., mostly watercolors, also casein tempera & oil." Eichler continued on this 1956 biographical card, "Early Architecture of California, much of it painted by me is no longer in existence, either destroyed or remodeled in path of progress." He stated that his artwork "Nevada City Hose Co. #1 is at 357 Vicente Street, S.F. in ownership of Mr. + Mrs. H.J. Leasen. Others in state, L.A., S.F., Springfield, NJ, Laguna Beach." (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Biographical Files Source Information: California, U.S., Biographical Index Cards, 1781-1990 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Professional Awards

Recipient, Kingsley Art Club, Kingsley Prize, Sacramento, CA, 1951.

He also wrote that he won "other prizes at Crocker Gallery" in Sacramento.

Archives

Various items of Alfred Eichler have been preserved in the Alfred Eichler Papers, held at the UC Santa Barbara: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design and Architecture Museum. The collection comprised 19.5 Linear feet (7 record storage boxes and 4 flat file folders). The Online Archive of California said of it: "The Alfred Eichler papers span 19 linear feet and date from circa 1914 to circa 1963. The collection primarily consists of scrapbooks filled with black-and-white photographs and newspapers clippings regarding Eichler’s public works projects, but also includes negatives, correspondence, architectural journals such as The Architectural Review and Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, spiral bound notebooks and three-ring binders containing planning data and architectural standards, and small sketch books filled with watercolor paintings and pencil sketches. This collection also is composed of architectural drawings and reprographic copies for the Whittier State School, the Glacier National Park Fish Hatchery, the Bureau of Fisheries House and Water Tanks, and unidentified projects that resemble University buildings." (See Online Archive of California.org, "Finding Aid for the Alfred Eichler papers, circa 1914-circa 1963 0000130," accessed 03/01/2024.)

College

According to his biographical card on file in the California State Library, Eichler attended the schools below:

Coursework in painting, Corcoran School of Fine Arts, Washington, DC, c. 1918.

Courswork, Art Students League, New York, NY, c. 1920.

Eichler also did studio instruction with Eric Spencer Macky, San Francisco, CA. Macky (1880-1958) was a New Zealand-born painter who worked primarily in the US and taught at the California School of Arts and Crafts, California School of Fine Arts, California College of Arts and Crafts and his own school, The Spencer Macky Art School, opened in 1916. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Biographical Files Source Information: California, U.S., Biographical Index Cards, 1781-1990 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors, accessed 03/01/2024.)

According to an entry in the Online Archive of California.org, (written by the staff of the UC Santa Barbara: Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design and Architecture Museum): "[Eichler] studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts Institute of Design in Paris, France." (See Online Archive of California.org, "Finding Aid for the Alfred Eichler papers, circa 1914-circa 1963 0000130," accessed 03/01/2024.) When this schooling at the École des Beaux-Arts occurred is not clear. To this point, no US passport application has been found for the architect.

Relocation

The architect Alfred W. Eichler was born in Shadyside, Saint Louis County, MO, on 08/07/1895, but he spent his childhood in San Francisco, CA. (At least one US Census, that of 1910, listed Alfred Eichler as having been born in CA. A MO birth record can be found for him. See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Missouri State Archives; Jefferson City, MO, USA; Missouri Birth Records [Microfilm], accessed 03/01/2024.) Shady Side, MO, may have been located near Rescue, MO, in the southwestern part of the state. His mother Laura was born in MO, and it may have been the case that Alfred was born while she was visiting family there, because the Eichlers had been established in San Francisco since the early 1890s.

In 1900, Alfred Eichler lived with his parents and three siblings in rented accommodations at 1242 Mission Street in San Francisco, about a block southeast of what would become the Civic Center. At the time, the family employed a servant, Hilda Hansen (born c. 02/1872 in Sweden). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Roll: 101; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0047, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Alfred, at age 14 in 1910, lived with family at 4400 19th Street in San Francisco. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 34, San Francisco, California; Roll: T624_97; Page: 9a; Enumeration District: 0097; FHL microfilm: 1374110, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Eichler lived in CA until 1917, at which time, he spent time studying art in both Washington, DC, and New York, NY. In 1920, the US Census found him living in a boarding house at 526 3rd Street, operated by William and Ida Cobb. He worked for the US Government as an architect, according to the census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T625_209; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 137, accessed 03/01/2024.)

He returned to CA in 1921 and lived during his adult life in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

His parents remained at 4400 19th Street in 1919. (See San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1919, p. 536.) As per the 1920 US Census, they owned the dwelling at 4400 Mission Street free and clear. At that time, only their youngest son Erwin remained living at home. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 26, San Francisco, California; Roll: T625_135; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 115, accessed 03/01/2024.)

On 04/25/1942, Eichler resided at 2717 Harkness Avenue in Sacramento, CA, where he worked for the State of California, Department of Public Works. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 03/01/2024.) He remained at 2717 Harkness in 06/1956.

He died in Sacramento County, CA, on 11/27/1977. He was buried in Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Sacramento.

Parents

His father Alfred Eichler (born 1865 in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, Germany -d. 08/16/1924 in San Francisco, CA) immigrated to the US from Antwerp, Belgium aboard the the iron-hulled, sail-steamer S.S. Belgenland. He left Europe on 06/06/1882 and likely spent about five years in the State of MO, before moving with his wife to San Francisco, CA, in 1887. He was naturalized in the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco on 07/12/1888. Alfred Eichler worked as physician in general practice in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Eichler applied for a US passport on 01/29/1908, reporting that he and his wife would be absent from the country for less than two years. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 53; Volume #: Roll 0053 - Certificates: 45552-46256, 30 Jan 1908-20 Feb 1908, accessed 03/01/2024.)

He had returned by 1910, and according to the US Census of that year, continued to work in general practice. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 34, San Francisco, California; Roll: T624_97; Page: 9a; Enumeration District: 0097; FHL microfilm: 1374110, accessed 03/01/2024.)

The elder Alfred Eichler wed Laura Anna "Annie" Stine (on at least one document, Alfred's 1908 US passport application, it was written "Steine," born 01/25/1864 in MO-d. 06/10/1956 in Los Angeles County, CA), c. 1892. Laura's mother had been born in England, while her father originated in MO.

Annie and Alfred had four children: Lucile Elizabeth Eichler Vaughan (born 06/1892 in CA-d. 04/19/1938 in Los Angeles, CA), Alfred William Eichler, Francis H. Eichler (born 11/11/1897 in San Francisco, CA-d/ 11/29/2001 in Los Angeles, CA) and Erwin Joseph Eichler (born c. 1899 in CA).

His younger brother Francis fought in France during World War I, and lived to be 104 years old.

Spouse

He married his wife Virginia Parks on 01/31/1925 in Beverly Hills, CA.

Biographical Notes

Eichler contracted spiral meningitis at age 13, leaving him deaf.

EIchler's World War II draft registration card of 04/25/1942 described him as Caucasian, with a light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He stood 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighed 140 pounds. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147, accessed 03/01/2024.)

Eichler registered to vote in Sacramento in 1944, and was a listed on voter rolls as a declared Democrat. His wife was a Republican. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1944, accessed 03/01/2024.)

In his later years, Eichler became known for his watercolor sketches of sites near Sacramento, CA.

SSN: 550-64-0185.