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Male, US, born 1867-10-03, died 1924-09-10
Associated with the firms network
Brown, A. Page, Architect; Burnham, Daniel H., and Company, Architects; Percy and Polk, Architects; Polk and Polk, Architects; Polk, W.W. and Sons, Architects; Polk, Willis, Architect; Polk, Willis, and Company; Van Brunt and Howe, Architects; Wright and Polk, Architects
Résumé
Polk undertook many types of jobs during his youth, but gained knowledge of the building industry working with his father, a building contractor and self-styled architect. The College of Environmental Design Documents Collection has said of Polk's early years: "Receiving no formal education, Polk grew up learning the building trades from his father Willis Webb Polk (1833-1906) an itinerant carpenter. In a 1921 interview for The [San Francisco] Chronicle, Polk recalled having worked as a hat boy, a water boy for a St. Louis contractor; a lemonade stand seller; a handy boy, sticker and bench boy at a planing mill; and as an office boy for St. Louis architect J.B. Legg by the age of thirteen. Proudly he related the story of how, at the age of fifteen, he had shocked the town of Hope, Arkansas by having his drawings for the design of their new schoolhouse accepted as the winning entry out of a field of practicing professionals." (See Online Archive of California.org, "Finding Aid to the Willis Polk Scrapbooks, 1908-1924 MS Vault 89," collection owned by the California Historical Society, accessed 10/04/2018.)
Polk was a gregarious, ambitious, strong-willed, sharp-tongued and litigious person, who befriended a cross-section of San Francisco society figures and other notable architects, including A. Page Brown, Ernest Coxhead, John Galen Howard and Bernard Maybeck. He tended to live beyond his means, and sought the company of the wealthy and talented.
Assistant, Contractor, Saint Louis, MO, c. 1875-1880. His earliest professional experience in the building trades would probably have come in his father's construction and design business in Saint Louis, MO. He may have worked for another contractor, in addition to this there.
Office Boy, Jerome B. Legg, Architect, Saint Louis, MO, c. 1880.
Apprentice, W.W. Polk, Architect, Hope, AR, 1881.
Partner/Designer, W.W. Polk and Sons, Kansas City, MO, 1885-1887. Polk left the partnership with his father to join the nationally-known architectural office of Van Brunt and Howe.
Draftsman, Van Brunt and Howe, Kansas City, MO, early-1887-mid-1887 (six months).
Polk traveled around the U.S. working in various locations between 1887-1890. One source stated: "After working for Van Brunt, Polk spent two years traversing the continent two and a half times while working for five different architects." (See San Francisco Bay Area Arts and Crafts Movement.com, "Willis Jefferson Polk," published 11/07/2004, accessed 05/22/2021.) He was thought to be in Los Angeles, CA, in late-1887-mid-1888, working for Ernest Coxhead, Architect. Polk was known to have worked in Kansas City, MO, c. 1888.
Polk exhibited a design for a library at the Architectural Exhibit at the National Exposition, Kansas City, MO, in 1888, that also featured work by Bruce Price, Van Brunt and Howe, Wilson Eyre and many others. The journal, Building, said this of Polk's library exhbited here: “Willis J. Polk has a large and ambitious study for a library. Many of the features are recognizable, but much ingenuity has been shown in their combination, and there is an evident Richardsonian inspiration about the whole design, which it may be well for the author to cultivate. A number of smaller studies by the same hand indicate considerable latent talent, but the haste and carelessness evident are much to be regretted.” (See “Architectural Exhibit at the National Exposition, Kansas City, MO,” Building, vol. IX, no 12 [new series #143], 09/22/1888, p. 92.)
Willis J. Polk also worked on a W.W. Polk and Sons commission in New York, NY, c. 1888-1889.
Draftsman, Charles Atwood, Architect, New York, NY, c. 1888. Charles Bowler Atwood (1849-1895) would later work with D.H. Burnham in Chicago, replacing John Root as designer, and died relatively young in 1895.
Draftsman, A. Page Brown, Architect, New York, NY and San Francisco, CA, 07/1889 or 08/1890. According to Longstreth, it is believed he worked in Washington, DC, c. 1890. (For more on Polk's hectic work life from 1887-1889, see Richard W. Longstreth, On the Edge of the World, [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998], p. 364). Of this period, one author has written: "He was in New York when he went to work for Charles Atwood, who would eventually be chief designer for D.H. Burnham & Co. Several months later, Polk found employment as a draftsman for the firm of A. Page Brown, who had trained in the office of McKim, Mead & White. Brown's practice took place in the same building as McKim, Mead & White. Polk got to know these partners well, as their office was also an unofficial center of the academic movement, as White's biographer called it, "a council chamber where men could meet and discuss the renaissance of American art". Polk studied the work of McKim, Mead & White and realized a crucial synthesis between theory and practice. Brown recognized the impact of this learning on Polk and asked him to join him when he moved his practice to San Francisco. Polk worked as a draftsman along with A.C. Schweinfurth and later Bernard Maybeck." (See San Francisco Bay Area Arts and Crafts Movement.com, "Willis Jefferson Polk," published 11/07/2004, accessed 05/22/2021.)
Partner, Polk and [Fritz Maurice] Gamble, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1890-1891. The 2004 account of Polk's life said of this partnership: "Gamble lacked both professional experience and training. He did have good social connections and his father had been a partner in one of Oakland's largest real estate firms. These connections were instrumental in landing commissions. However the partnership was dissolved in little over a year." (See San Francisco Bay Area Arts and Crafts Movement.com, "Willis Jefferson Polk," published 11/07/2004, accessed 05/22/2021.)
Partner, Polk and Polk, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1892-c. 1898. The Polk Family reunited to form a design firm in San Francisco during the economically troubled 1892-1898 period. Willis Jefferson served as chief designer, Daniel oversaw draftsmen, and Willis Webb supervised construction for this firm. Daniel left the firm in 1897 to move to Los Angeles to start an art school. Polk and Polk ran into financial trouble during the end of its tenure, forcing Willis Jefferson to seek new employment.
Partner, [George Washington] Percy and Polk, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1899-1900. George Washington Percy's previous design partner Frederick Foss Hamilton died in 12/1899, forcing him to find a replacement in Polk. Percy and Hamilton operated for about 19 years in San Francisco, becoming a leading architectural office. The partnership between Percy and Polk was short-lived due to the former's death on 12/14/1900 in Oakland, CA.
Designer, D.H. Burnham and Company, Chicago, IL, 1901-1903. After Percy's sudden death, Polk prevailed on his friend, the Reverend Joseph Worcester (1836-1913), who knew many local architects in the Bay Area, to put in a good word with Daniel Hudson Burnham, one of America's most prominent architects in the wake of the World's Columbian Exposition that he helped to direct. Worcester was a relative by marriage to Burnham. Polk had another connection to Burnham through his former boss Charles Atwood, who had died at age 46. Polk originally proposed to create a partnership with Burnham in San Francisco, with Polk in charge of the office, but the latter demurred for the time being. Instead, Polk landed a job in Burnham's Chicago office for two years. In 09/1903, Polk and his wife Christine toured Europe for three months.
Partner, [George Alexander] Wright and Polk, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1903-1906. In 1904-1905, Wright and Polk maintained an office at 124 Sansome Street in San Francisco. (See Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1904, p. 2023 and Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1905, p. 1997.) This firm existed between autumn 1903 until early 1906 (before the April 18th earthquake). George Alexander Wright (1858-1918) had had a long architectural career in San Francisco before partnering with Polk.
Head, D.H. Burnham and Company, San Francisco Office, c. 05/1906-07/1910. Burnham finally agreed to open a San Francisco office in the wake of San Francisco's devastation in 1906, with Polk in charge. D.H. Burnham and Company's San Francisco office attracted a number of prominent commissions, although it failed to convince the city to rebuild along the lines of Burnham's lavish city plan of 1905. The firm did not succeed to the extent that Burnham thought possible, and his association with Polk was severed by 1910.
Principal, Willis Polk and Company, Architects, San Francisco, CA, 1910-1924. In 1910, the architect's classified section of the Crocker-Langley San Francisco, California, City Directory, 1910, (p. 1847), simply listed the archtiect as "Polk, Willis D., [sic] Merchants Exchange Building." Polk's firm remained in the Merchants' Exchange Building the following year. By the early 1920s, Polk's practice had begun to stall, its decline perhaps exacerbated by his tendencies to antagonize people, self-promote, and live beyond his means.
Professional Activities
Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club, Kansas City, MO. “Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club,” “The club has been permanently organized, with sixteen charter members. John Van Brunt is president; A.H. Ramsden, vice-president; Willis J. Polk, secretary; W.M. Kenyon, treasurer. These officers and L.S. Curtis form the Executive Committee. (See"Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club," Inland Architect and News Record, vol. IX, no. 6, 05/1887, p. 63.) A retrospective notice originally printed in the Kansas City Star on 02/22/1887 and reprinted in the Kansas City Timeson 02/22/1927 indicated that Polk had an active role in organizing the Kansas City Sketch Club: "At a meeting last night in the rooms of Willis J. Polk, Hotel Willard, the Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club was organized." (See "In Kansas City Forty Years Ago," Kansas City Times, 02/22/1927, p. E.)
Polk became Registered Architect #339 in the State of California.
Professional Awards
Recipient, Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club Award, Clock Tower design, 1887. The Inland Architect and News Record said in 1887 of this competition: "About fifteen architects were present at the inaugural meeting, and the club is heavily indorsed by the Kansas City Society of Architect. The club has already had one competition for a ‘Clock Tower’ in which ten designs were submitted. Awards were made to Willis J. Polk, John H. Roberts and L.S. Curtis, a first, second and third choice. Architect Henry Van Brunt made the awards.” (See"Kansas City Architectural Sketch Club," Inland Architect and News Record, vol. IX, no. 6, 05/1887, p. 63.)
Second School/College
Polk likely attended public primary and secondary schools in Lexington, KY, and Saint Louis, MO.
Polk was known to have audited a few architectural classes at Columbia College in New York, NY c. 1888, taught by the noted academician, William Robert Ware, a former partner of Henry Van Brunt, for whom Polk had worked in Kansas City, MO.
Relocation
Born in Jacksonville, IL, a town 36 miles west of Springfield in the west-central part of the state, Polk lived here for the earliest years of his life before the family relocated to neighboring Kentucky. His father, Willis Webb Polk, moved the family frequently for work during his childhood, residing in Lexington, KY, (c. 1869-1870), Saint Louis, MO, (c. 1874-1881), Hot Springs, AR, and Kansas City, MO. Willis J. Polk's sister, Endie, was born in Kansas c. 1872, suggesting that the family resided there c. 1872-1873.
The US Census of 1870 listed his parents Willis and Endemial "Enda" Polk living in Lexington, KY. W.W. Polk worked as an architect at this time, and indicated that he owned real estate worth $1,800. His wife managed the house, but controlled greater real estate wealth, valued at $3,000. They lived in a dwelling with their two sons Willis and Daniel, and three other children Enda had had during a previous marriage, Eugene, Benjamin and Susan Burch. Each of the Burch children owned $2,000 worth of real estate according to this 1870 document. In addition, three servants lived with the Polk-Birch clan: Mary Sheehan, (born c. 1854 in OH), Nora McQuinn (born c. 1849 in Ireland) and Joanna Welsh (born c. 1850 in Ireland). (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1870; Census Place: Lexington Ward 2, Fayette, Kentucky; Roll: M593_460; Page: 205B; Family History Library Film: 545959, accessed 03/30/2021.)
Polk's family also resided in Saint Louis, MO, between 1874 and 1881, at least. The 1880 US Census identified the Polks as living on the northeast corner of Chestnut and 9th Streets. the site of the Hotel Hunt, an establishment managed by his mother. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 726; Page: 145A; Enumeration District: 020, accessed 03/30/2021.) Willis W. Polk was listed in the Saint Louis, Missouri, City Directory, 1881, (p. 889), as an architect living in the Hunt Hotel. The 1880 US Census listed his occupation as "architect and builder."
His family lived in Hope, AR, c. 1882, where, as a youngster of 14, he did a design for a six-room schoolhouse.
He moved with his family to Kansas City, MO, in 1885, where he worked for his father and the architects, Van Brunt and Howe (formerly of Boston, MA, but recently transplanted).
Polk lived for a short time in Southern California (c. 1888), working for architect, Ernest Coxhead.
In 1888, Willis Webb Polk resided in Yates Center, KS, a town about 120 miles southwest of Kansas City, MO.
Willis J. Polk resided at 1015 Vallejo Street, next door to his parents at 1005 Vallejo. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 90; FHL Roll Number: 977609, accessed 04/01/2021.)
During the 1890s, Willis J. Polk's name was included in many society column stories, hobnobbing with the wealthy of San Francisco. Polk liked to entertain, likely contributing to a well-publicized bankruptcy that lasted through the years 1896-1898. (See Richard Longstreth, On the Edge of the World, [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998}, footnote #14, p. 372.) This bankruptcy was exacerbated by the Depression of 1893, the effects of which lingered in 1897 and 1898.
Polk died in San Francisco at the age of 57.
Parents
Willis's Polk's family had roots in Kentucky. His father Willis Webb Polk (1836-1906) also operated an architectural practice, called various names in various cities. (In times where no work was in the office, the elder Polk worked in carpentry.) (For more on the family life of Willis J. Polk, see Richard Longstreth, On the Edge of the World, [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998], p. 51-56.) A 1906 article, entitled, "Son of Lexington," in the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper mentioned the Polk Family in that state: "His father, Willis Polk Sr., [sic] a son of Daniel Polk of Frankfort, served in the Civil War as a member of a Missouri Confederate regiment, under General Sterling Price. Broken in fortune at the close of the war, he settled in Lexington and carried on the business of an architect for several years, going hence to the Pacific Coast. He is the first cousin of W.H. Polk, the well known Lexington journalist.” (See “Son of Lexington,” Lexington Herald-Leader, 12/13/1911, p. 14.)
W.W. Polk married for a second time to Willis J. Polk's mother Endemial Josephine Drane (born 1833 in KY-d. 07/02/1906 in Berkeley, CA) on 01/01/1867 in Knox County, IN. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Knox County, Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1854 - 1920 Inclusive Vol, W. P. A. Original Record Located: County Clerk's O; Book: G-; Page: 50, accessed 03/30/2021.)
Willis Webb Polk and Endemial J. Drane had five children: Willis Jefferson Polk, Daniel W. Polk (born c. 1869 in KY), Endie J. Polk (born c. 1872 in KS), Daisy Polk De Buyer-Mimeure (born 04/23/1874 in Saint Louis, MO-d. 01/20/1963 in Paris, France) and Trusten Polk (born 1876 in Saint Louis, MO-d. 1877).
Endemial was a hotel operator and prominent suffrage activist. Her obituary in the Daily Arkansas Gazette, a newspaper in Little Rock, AR, stated: "Mrs. Polk will be well remembered by the older residents of this city [Hot Springs, AR], where about twenty years ago she conducted the Josephine hotel, which her husband built. She was quite prominent in the woman's suffrage movement and was a delegate to the national convention of the association at Cincinnati in 1879." (See "Mrs. Endemial Polk Dead," Daily Arkansas Gazette, 07/04/1906, p. 2.)
Endemial Drane first wed a Prussian barber named Ferdinand L. Burch (1836-1919) on 08/20/1854 in Meade County, KY, and had three children with him, Eugene B. Burch (born c. 1856 in IN), Benjamin F. Burch (born 11/04/1857 in KY-d. 05/11/1946 in Orange County, CA), and Susan Burch Merrell (born in IN-d.12/24/1884 in El Paso, TX). (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Dodd, Jordan, comp. Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001, accessed 03/30/2021.) Their marriage did not last, and Ferdinand Burch married again to Susan Burnette before 1879.
Susan Burch Merrell wed Thomas A. Merrell on 09/16/1883 in Garland County, AR, and died at age 22 in El Paso, TX, on Christmas Eve, 1884, when she and her husband were murdered. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, accessed 03/30/2021.)
In 1888, Willis W. Polk made a probate filing for Endemial, although it is not clear if it was made with or without her consent. It read: "To all whom it may concern—but most especially to Willis J. Polk, Dan W. Polk, Endie J. Polk and Daisy Polk, minor children, and heirs at law of Endennial [sic] J. Polk by Willis W. Polk, her husband, you are hereby notified that I, Willis W. Polk, guardian of the estate and persons of said minor heirs of Endennial J. Polk aforesaid did on the 17th day of March A.D. 1888, file a petition in the Probate court of Woodson County, Kansas, praying that I might be authorized and empowered to sell the following described land for the purpose of educating and supporting said minor children and for the reason that the same was unproducing and liable to waste, to-wit: The northeast quarter of Section 35 in township 25 south of Range 14 east of 6th P.M. except 20 acres off the north end of the northeast quarter of said northeast quarter, and said petition will be heard at the office of the Probate Judge of said county on the 7th day of April A.D. 1888 at 10 o’clock a.m. of said day, at which time and place each of you, and all others interested are notified to be present and show cause, if any you have, why an order of sale as prayed for, should not be granted. Dated this 19th day of March A.D. 1888. Willis W. Polk, Guardian.” (See "Notice to Miners" [sic], Woodson Democrat, 03/23/1888, p. 1)
In 1885, Willis Webb Polk opened W.W. Polk and Sons, in Kansas City, MO, with his sons Willis J. and Daniel. In San Francisco, CA, the firm was known as "Polk and Polk," with Willis Jefferson specializing in design, Daniel in drafting, and Willis Webb supervising construction.
Both Endemial and Willis Webb both died in 1906, and were buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA. Reverend Joseph Worcester presided over the funeral of Endemial. (See "Funeral of Mrs. Polk," Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, 07/04/1906, p. 4.)
Spouse
Willis J. Polk married Christine Barreda in 1900.
Children
Polk had no children of his own. His stepson, Austin P. Moore, operated Willis Polk and Company after his death.
Biographical Notes
In 1887, Willis Polk, John Galen Howard, and Ernest Coxhead all had become acquainted with one another in Los Angeles, CA. Polk was known to be travelling in Northern California for the first time sometime in 1888.
San Francisco voter records indicated that Willis J. Polk was Caucasian with a fair complexion, stood 5-feet, 6-inches tall, and had blue eyes and brown hair. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 90; FHL Roll Number: 977609, accessed 03/30/2021.)
Polk took a grand tour through Europe in 1903 with his wife lasting three months. A passenger manifest has them returning aboard the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique steamship, S.S. La Savoie, leaving from Le Havre, France, and returning to New York, NY, leaving on 09/05/1903. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1903; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 11; Page Number: 69 Source Information: New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010, accessed 03/29/2021.)
Ten years later, Christine and Willis again traveled to Europe. They sailed from Cherbourg, France, to New York, NY, between 09/03/1913-09/09/1913 aboard the North German Lloyd liner S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. (See Source Citation: Year: 1913; Microfilm serial: T715; Microfilm roll: T715_2173; Line: 14; Source: Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.)
PCAD id: 490
