Résumé

John Galen Howard was one of the most active and influential teacher-architects of his time on the Pacific Coast. He was particularly important at a time of rapid architectural and infrastructure expansion along the Pacific Coast.

Draftsman, Henry Hobson Richardson, Architect, Brookline, MA, c. 1885-1886.

Draftsman, Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, Architects, Brookline, MA, c. 1886.

Draftman, Caukin and Haas, Architects, Los Angeles, CA, c. 1887.

Draftsman, James M. Wood, Chicago, IL, c. 1887. James M. Wood (born 1841) was known for his wide practice in theatre design across the US. In 1903, Howard would work with James Wood on the design of the Majestic Theatre in Boston, MA. Howard designed the exterior building envelope, while Wood created the theatre's interior design. The Majestic opened on 02/16/1903 and seated 1,867 people. (See Andrew Craig Morrison, Theaters, [New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Incorporated, p. 153.)

Draftsman, McKim, Mead, and White, Architects, Boston, MA, and New York, NY, c. 1889.

Partner, Howard and [Samuel] Cauldwell, Architects, New York, NY, 1895-1898. Howard had an office at 10 East 23rd Street in 1898. (See New York, New York, City Directory, 1898, p. 613.)

Partner, Howard, Cauldwell and [Lewis Henry] Morgan, Architects, New York, NY, 1899-1901.

Supervising Architect, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), 1901-11/22/1924. For the University of California, Berkeley, Howard designed at least 15 significant buildings on campus.

Principal, John Galen Howard, Architect, Berkeley, CA, c. 1901-1904. In 1902 and 1903, Howard still operated a New York office, in the former year it was located at 10 East 23rd Street, in the latter at 156 5th Avenue. (See New York, New York, City Directory, 1902, p. 48 and New York, New York, City Directory, 1903, p. 53.)

Partner, Howard and [John Debo] Galloway, Architects and Engineers, San Francisco, CA, 06/1906-1909. At this time, Howard worked with John D. Galloway, William Charles Hays, A.H. Markwart.

Principal, John Galen Howard, Architect, San Francisco, CA, 1905-1906, 1910-1923. Howard opened his first San Francisco architectural office c. 1905 at 456 Montgomery Street, This was in the Adolph Sutro Building, designed by Howard. (See Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1905, p. 1996.)

Partner, John Galen Howard and Associates, San Francisco, CA, 09/1923-1931; between 1923-1927, this firm consisted of Howard, his son, Henry Temple Howard, E. Geoffrey Bangs (1889-1977), Henry C. Collins, and Charles F.B. Roeth. In 1924, the firm maintained its headquarters in Room #500 of the 1st National Bank Building, San Francisco, CA. According to architectural historian, Sally Woodbridge, his last business partner was Bangs. (See Sally Woodbridge, John Galen Howard and the University of California, [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002], p. 172.)

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) staged a selected tour of John Galen Howard houses on 04/17/1977. It produced a booklet for this tour, John Galen Howard House Tour, April 17, 1977.

Teaching

Professor, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), School of Architecture, Berkeley, CA, 1903-1929.

Director, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), School of Architecture, Berkeley, CA, 1913-1927. While Howard left the Director's post of the School of Architecture, he continued to serve on its faculty until 1929, when his health began to deteriorate. By 1930, he had suffered from shingles, kidney disease and heart problems.

Howard took a sabbatical to write a second book of epic poetry in Carmel, CA, during 1917-1918.

He joined the Red Cross in 06/1918 with the idea of helping in relief work in France. After arriving in Paris on 09/08/1918, he was transferred to Bordeaux for three months (09-11/1918) “…where he worked with French refugees, officials and private citizens in what he described as ‘one of the greatest opportunities and privileges of my life.’” (See Sally B. Woodbridge, John Galen Howard and the University of California, [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002], p. 153.) During 03-04/1919, the Red Cross loaned Howard out to the US Army Expeditionary Forces (AEF) for which he gave two series of architectural history lectures. Howard provided them at the AEF University at Beaune, Cote d'Or, in Burgundy, and at the AEF Art Training Center, Bellevue, outside of Paris. (See United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919, Reports of the Commander-in-Chief, A.E.F., Staff Sections and Services, [Washington, DC: Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1948], p. 433.) His teaching with the AEF ended on 05/01/1919, and Howard then spent 16 days in the south of France working on a third epic poem, "Cezaronet," dedicated to the work of Cézanne, Monet and Renoir. (See Woodbridge, Howard, p. 153.)

Professional Service

Member, Pan-American Exposition, Board of Architects, Buffalo, NY, 1898-1901. The Pan-American Exposition Board of Architects included three Buffalo architects Edward B. Green, (1855-1950), George Cary, (1859-1945), and August Eisenwein, (1856-1926, of the firm of Eisenwein and Johnson), John Merven Carrère (1858-1911), of the New York firm of Carrère and Hastings, and Howard of the New York of Howard and Cauldwell.

Member, Advisory Board of Architects for the Perpetuation of the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California, c.1901. This group consisted of Howard, Constant-Désiré Despradelle (1862-1912, winner of the competition who worked in Boston, MA), Charles Follen McKim(1847-1909), and John M.Carrère. Carrère had worked with Howard on the architectural board for the Pan-American Exposition at about the same time.

Supervising Architect, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 1903-1924.

Advisory Member, Reconstruction Committee of San Francisco, following the earthquake of 04/18/1906.

President, Beaux-Arts Society, San Francisco, CA, 1907-1908.

Supervising Architect, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), Seattle, WA, 1907-1909. Howard began his planning work in 04/1907, with a meeting with John C. Olmsted, landscape architect, and Frank P. Allen, an architect who was director of works for the fair. (See "Howard Here To Draw Plans," Seattle Daily Times, 04/02/1907, p. 16.)

Member, Board of Directors, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1910-1913, overlapping by two years with the Los Angeles architect, Alfred Faist Rosenheim (1859-1943), who served from 1911-1914.

Member, Architectural Advisory Committee, San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition, 1913-1915.

Member, San Francisco Civic Center Architectural Advisory Board, c. 1913.

Professional Awards

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1901.

Education

Howard attended secondary school at the Boston Latin School, Boston, MA.

B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, c. 1883-1885.

Coursework, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France, 1890-1893; he studied in the Atelier of Victor Laloux (1850-1937), whose studio was particularly popular with American students at the École. His 1918 US Passport application corroborated that he had been absent from the US between 1890 and 1893. At age 28, Howard returned to New York from Paris aboard the White Star liner, SS Britannic, (launched in 1874) on 04/22/1893.

Relocation

John Galen Howard was born in Chelmsford, MA, on 05/08/1864. He resided in Chelmsford with his family as per the US Census of 1870. The household consisted of his parents, Levi and Lydia Hapgood Howard, five of his six siblings, a maternal aunt, Adaline Hapgood, (born c. 1835 in ME), who worked as a teacher, and a domestic servant, Anne Gallagher, (born c. 1832 in Ireland).

He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, from c. 1883-1885. He worked for Henry Hobson Richardson's Brookline, MA, office in 1886, and, thereafter, spent a year in Los Angeles, CA, in 1887.

He returned to the East, landing a job in McKim, Mead and White's prestigious New York, NY, office. Howard traveled to Paris for coursework at the École des Beaux Arts from 1890-1893, coming back to the US in April of the latter year.

On his return from Europe, he resettled in New York, opening an architectural practice with Samuel Cauldwell. He resided at 183 West 73rd Street in 1898. (See New York, New York, City Directory, 1898, p. 613.) The architect moved his family residence to Upper Montclair, NJ, by c. 1899, and lived there until moving West in 1902. His two sons, Charles and John were both born in Montclair. According to the US Census of 1900, Howard and his family lived on Mountain Road in Upper Montclair. They retained a young Swiss servant, Martha Baumann, (born c. 12/1881). In 1900-1901, Howard served on the Board of Architects.for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, and produced the design for the dazzling Electric Tower at the exposition.

He relocated from the East Coast to Berkeley, CA, in 1902. In Berkeley, Howard lived in two residences of his own design: the first at 2421 Ridge Road (1903-1912) and the second, "Rose Le Roy," 1486 Greenwood Terrace, (built for the Warren and Sadie Gregory Family and rented to the Howards), where they remained between 1912 and 1923.

In 1910, the Howards and their five children lived at 2421 Ridge Road with a servant, Lena Johnson (born c. 1864 in Sweden). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Berkeley, Alameda, California; Roll: T624_72; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0046; FHL microfilm: 1374085, accessed 01/02/2019.)

A significant fire on 09/17/1923 burned many residences in the hills above Berkeley and Oakland, including 2421 Ridge Road at that time owned by Ralph Ellis. According to a 2019 article in the UCB alumni magazine, "At final tally, more than 500 homes were destroyed. Miraculously, no one was killed, but 4,000 people were left homeless, including more than 100 University employees and faculty and over 1,000 students. Much of Berkeley’s contribution to the history of American residential architecture had been reduced to ash. Maybeck alone saw 19 of his projects consumed by the flames." (See Coby McDonald, California.edu, "September 17, 1923: The Day That Berkeley Burned," published 03/26/2019, accessed 12/04/2024.) The fire created a temporary housing shortage in the city and forced many to relocate temporarily.

After the fire in the 1920s, the head of the UCB English Department, Walter Morris Hart(1872-1964), lived in Rose Le Roy.

After 1923, Howard and his wife lived in various Bay Area locations for brief periods. They first moved to Castle Court, a rowhouse on Russian Hill in San Francisco and then back to Berkeley in the latter half of 1925. In 1926, they found a rowhouse at 1017 Vallejo Street across from the former house of their friend, Reverend Joseph Worcester (d. 06/1913). They returned to an apartment at 2631 Durant Avenue in Berkeley in 1928.

After 1915, he left Berkeley during three main periods: 1917-1919, 1924-1925 and 1929. He spent much of his 1917 sabbatical at his Carmel residence writing his poetry works, "Brunelleschi" and "Pheidias." After America's entry into World War I, he spent 1918-1920 assisting the Red Cross in France. His wife, Mary, spent the year 1920 living abroad with him.

During 1924-1925, Howard took a second sabbatical in the Middle East and Europe. He and Mary lived in Cassis, France, during the first half of 1925. Mary reapplied for a US passport on 09/29/1924 to spend one year in France, Italy, Spain, England and other countries, sailing in 10/1924. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Volume #: Volume 22: Special Series-San Francisco. Source Information: U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007, accessed 01/02/2019.) John and Mary's son, John Langley Howard, applied for a US passport on 03/28/1923 to spend an extended period studying painting in France and Italy, leaving in 04/1924. His presence abroad may have served as an added incentive (aside from the fire) for them to travel during the 1924-1925 period. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Roll #: 2208; Volume #: Roll 2208 - Certificates: 261350-261849, 29 Mar 1923-30 Mar 1923, accessed 01/02/2019.)

He journeyed back to France and Spain with his wife and daughter in 1929; returning to the US that year, he and his wife stopped in Bridgewater, MA, to do genealogical research on John Howard, an ancestor who worked as a carpenter in that city. He died of a heart attack in San Francisco in 1931.

Howard and his wife, Mary, were buried at Sunset View Cemetery, El Camino, CA.

Parents

His parents were Dr. Levi Howard, Jr., (born 05/26/1820 in Bolton, MA-d. 01/23/1885 in Chelmsford, MA), a physician, and Lydia Jane Hapgood (born 05/16/1827 in Waterford, ME-d. 04/11/1893 in Chelmsford, MA), a homemaker. They married on 04/19/1846. Levi had four brothers, two of whom became physicians, one an actor. Lydia was the daughter of Sprout Hapgood (born c. 1794-d. 09/23/1849 in ME) of Waterford, ME and Elizabeth "Betsey" Sawin Hapgood (b. 1797). (See Henry P. Warren, William Warren, and Samuel Warren, The History of Waterford, Oxford County, Maine, [Portland, ME: Hoyt, Fogg and Donham, 1879, p. 290.) Sprout Hapgood served as the Postmaster of Waterford, ME, appointed in 1834.

John Galen's six siblings included Sarah Elizabeth Howard (born 1848 in Chelmsford, MA-d. 09/17/1849 in Chelmsford, MA) Jennie Lind Howard Willoughby (born 07/08/1850 in MA), George Levi Howard (born 1852 in MA-d. c. 1874), Mary Howard Fowler (born 02/03/1855 in MA), Amasa Howard, known as "Lucy," (born 04/20/1857 in MA), Edwin Howard (born 05/18/1861 in MA). In 1870, the US Census listed Jenny as being a music teacher. She married James H. Willoughby, resided in Nashua, NH, and had seven children.

Spouse

On 08/01/1893, Howard married Mary Robertson Bradbury (born 12/22/1864 in Cambridge, MA-d. 1963 in Sunnyvale, CA), on 08/01/1893 in the Transfiguration Episcopal Chapel in New York, NY. She was the daughter of J.H. Bradbury and Emily Olcott Robertson, who resided in New York, NY, in 1893. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: New York, Episcopal Diocese of New York Church Records, 1767-1970 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017, accessed 01/02/2019.)

Varying dates have been given for Mary Howard's birth; the California Death Index noted it as 12/22/1864, and her death date as 06/24/1963. Massachusetts Birth Records indicated that she was born on 12/11/1864. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information: Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed 01/02/2019.) A US passport application of 09/29/1924 confirmed the date to have been 12/22/1864.

Children

John Galen and Mary Bradbury had five highly creative offspring: Henry Temple Howard (1894-1967) was an architect who worked with his father; Robert Boardman Howard (born 1896 in New York, NY-d. 1983 in Santa Cruz, CA), became a well-known sculptor and married another noted Bay Area sculptor, Adaline Dutton Kent (1900-1957); other children included painter Charles Houghton Howard (born 01/02/1899 in Montclair, NJ-d. 1978 in Italy), artist John Langley Howard (born 02/05/1902 in Montclair, NJ-d. 11/15/1999 in San Francisco, CA), and Janette Howard Wallace (born 02/23/1906 in Berkeley, CA-d. 06/22/1998 in Santa Cruz, CA).

Jannette married Ralph Whitmore Wallace (born 10/30/1904 in Brooklyn, NY-d. 12/17/1952 in Santa Clara County, CA). In 1930, Wallace worked as a bank clerk in New York City, but later US Censuses of 1940 and 1950 did not indicate a profession. This was likely because he inherited enough money from his wealthy mother Charlotte Brown Chichester Wallace (born 02/10/1888-d. 02/1976), on which to live independently. He and Janette lived at 340 Lowell Street in Palo Alto between at least 1940 and 1950. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Orangetown, Rockland, New York; Roll: T625_1258; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 218, accessed 12/04/2024; Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California; Roll: m-t0627-00336; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 43-39, accessed 12/04/2024 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California; Roll: 1689; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 43-83, accessed 12/04/2024.)

Biographical Notes

Following H.H. Richardson's death in 04/1886, Howard left Brookline, MA, to work in the booming new city of Los Angeles in 1886-1887. Howard toured Europe in 1888. On 11/01/1888, Howard applied for a US passport in Boston. Granted on 11/03/1888, this document listed Howard as standing 6-feet, 1/2-inches tall, with blue eyes, a straight nose, light hair, high forehead, light complexion, small mouth, medium chin, and oval face. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Roll #: 316; Volume #: Roll 316 - 01 Nov 1888-30 Nov 1888, accessed 01/02/2019.)

UCB benefactor Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1842-1919) paid for Howard to tour Europe in 1900 to gather information on new mining buildings erected there; inspired by buildings by Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) and others, Howard designed the Hearst Mining Building at UCB completed in 1905.

In 05/1907, Howard assisted the City of Berkeley in overseeing the design of its new city hall, designed by Bakewell and Brown (1908-1909).

Voter records from Berkeley, CA, in 1908, indicated that Howard was a registered Republican. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, accessed 11/02/2021.)

Howard and Galloway operated an office in Seattle, WA, on the grounds of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) in 1909.

He visited the writer John Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973) in Bancroft, NB, in 1914, probably on the way to or from the East Coast. (The AIA's annual convention occurred between 12/02/1914-12/04/1914 in Washington, DC.) Neihardt was a poet and student of American Indian history, and was the author of Black Elk Speaks (1932), a narrative based on translated interviews with an Oglala Lakota medicine man, Black Elk (1863-1950).

Howard had a sabbatical in Europe in 1917, a spent 1918-1919 in Europe, working as a Captain with the Red Cross. Later, he assisted in the development of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) University in Europe. Howard applied for a US Passport on 08/02/1918, indicating that he intended to spend 6 years abroad doing Red Cross work in France, England and Italy. (The US passport form indicated that he would stay abroad for 6 years, but this could have been an error, and the duration may have been 6 months.) (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration [NARA]; Washington D.C.; Roll #: 567; Volume #: Roll 0567- Certificates: 30000-30249, 08 Aug 1918-10 Aug 1918, accessed 12/19/2018.)

He had a sabbatical (at two-thirds pay) from 07/01/1924-12/31/1924 and leave with no pay from 01/01/1925-06/30/1925 to continue travel in Europe. In 07/1927, Howard attended the Pan-American Congress of Architects in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

Howard wrote three epic poems dedicated to architects and artists he admired: Brunelleschi(San Francisco : J. Howell, 1913), Pheidias (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929) and the unfinished work, Cezaronet.

• Berkeley, CA (Architect's Death)
  Berkeley, CA

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  Howard and his wife lived in the Bertha Newell House, 2726 Haste Street, Berkeley, CA, at the end of his life.

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• Chelmsford, MA (Architect's Birth)
  Chelmsford, MA

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