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Davis & Davis

{{Short description|American architectural partnership}}

File:Davis and davis family photo.webp

Davis & Davis was an architecture firm in Los Angeles, California made up of brothers F. Pierpont and Walter S. Davis.

Partners

=Francis Pierpont Davis=

{{Infobox architect

|name = Francis Pierpont Davis

|image =

|image_size =

|caption =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1884|12|27}}

|birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland

|death_date = {{death date and age|1953|7|5|1884|12|27}}

|death_place = Los Angeles, California

|practice = Davis & Davis (1916-1942+)

|education = Baltimore City College
Maryland Institute of Design, Engineering, and Mathematics

}}

{{MedalBox}}

{{MedalSport|Men's sailing}}

{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}

{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }}

{{MedalGold | 1932 Los Angeles | 8 metre class }}

{{MedalBottom}}

Francis Pierpont Davis, who went by Pierpont Davis, was born in 1884 in Baltimore, Maryland to Frank Earlougher Davis, an architect, and Annie Legate Swindell. He was elder to three brothers, William, Walter, and Henry, and one sister, Dorothy. The family also had one servant.{{Cite web |title=Francis Pierpont Davis (Architect) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/643/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=December 3, 2024 |first=Alan |last=Michelson |language=en-US}}

Pierpont attended Baltimore City College for one year and the Maryland Institute of Design, Engineering, and Mathematics for three.{{Cite web |title=Person or Group - F. Pierpont Davis & Walter S. Davis

|url=https://hpla.lacity.org/report/6af689ce-5187-4931-864a-36c88c89fff5 |publisher=City of Los Angeles |accessdate=December 3, 2024 |language=en-US}} In 1907, he moved to Los Angeles and in 1909, he married Gertrude Alberta Churchill in Santa Monica, California. They had two kids together, and also lived with a nurse and a cook. Pierpont also served in World War I.{{Cite web |title=St. John's Episcopal Church |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/37800229-0788-48ff-b3fd-37bd817ea9c4 |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=April 6, 2000|language=en-US}}

From 1924 to 1925, Pierpont and Gertrude traveled across Europe and North Africa, with destinations that included the British Isles, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria. Pierpont also served on the 1932 Olympics international jury and competed in eight-meter class sailing, where he won gold as the oldest member of brother-in-law Owen Churchill's boat, the Angelita. Pierpont sailed his own ship, the Santa Maria, in tryouts and placed second to Churchill's first.{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Pierpont Davis |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/da/pierpont-davis-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218152109/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/da/pierpont-davis-1.html |archive-date=December 18, 2012}}

Pierpont was a member of the Allied Architects of Los Angeles{{Cite web |title=El Greco Apartments |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/b5575929-89fe-4f7d-b0d6-49c2d4211fa9 |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=September 19, 1988|language=en-US}} and he also worked as Assistant to the Chief Architect on the Pentagon Project in Washington, D.C. in 1941. He also served as president of the Los Angeles City Art Commission.

Pierpont stool 5 foot 11.5 inches tall, had brown eyes and black hair, and had a scar over his left eye. He died in Los Angeles in 1953.

=Walter Swindell Davis =

{{Infobox architect

|name = Walter Swindell Davis

|image =

|image_size =

|caption =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1887|11|7}}

|birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland

|death_date = {{death date and age|1973|9|19|1887|11|7}}

|death_place = Los Angeles County California

|practice = Davis & Davis (1916-1942+)

|education = Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BS 1910, MS 1911

}}

Walter Swindell Davis was born in 1887 in Baltimore, Maryland to Frank Earlougher Davis, an architect, and Annie Legate Swindell. He was the middle child of four brothers, Emmitt, Pierpont, Henry, and himself, and one sister, Dorothy. The family also had one servant.{{Cite web |title=Walter Swindell Davis (Architect) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/644/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=December 3, 2024 |first=Alan |last=Michelson |language=en-US}}

Walter attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for both his bachelor's and master's degrees, the formor of which he obtained in 1910 and the latter in 1911. By 1916, he had moved to Los Angeles, and he also served in World War I.

Walter died in 1973. His last known residence was in Long Beach, California.

=Partnership=

Pierpont and Walter partnered in Los Angeles in 1916. They had an office in the Exchange Building in 1918 and one on 6th Street from at least 1937 to 1942.

Employees/associates of theirs include Olive Chadeayne, George Julius Lind, and Henry Franklin Withey.{{Cite web |title=Davis and Davis, Architects (Partnership) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/331/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=December 3, 2024 |first=Alan |last=Michelson |language=en-US}}

==Henry Franklin Withey==

{{Infobox architect

|name = Henry Franklin Withey

|image =

|image_size = (if image is smaller than 250px)

|caption =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1880|2|4}}

|birth_place = Lynn, Massachusetts

|death_date = {{death date and age|1969|10|17|1880|2|4}}

|death_place =

|practice =

|education =

}}

Henry Franklin Withey was born in 1880 in Lynn, Massachusetts to John F. Withey, a printer, farmer, and laborer, and Martha Peckham Withey. Henry was the eldest of one brother and two sisters.{{Cite web |title=Henry Franklin Withey (Architect) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/2023/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=December 3, 2024 |first=Alan |last=Michelson |language=en-US}}

Henry and his family moved to Los Angeles sometime between 1900 and 1910. By 1920, Henry was married to Elsie Rathburn, an immigrant who came to the United States in 1884 and was naturalized in 1900. Elsie worked as an assistant in Henry's office and the two wrote the Biographical Dictionary of American Architects together.

Professionally, Henry's association with Davises began around 1911, when he and Pierpont won first place in a competition to build Santa Ana High School. Henry and the Davises shared offices from around 1918 to 1922, and while they worked on many projects together during their association, Henry was never officially a partner. Henry was also the vice president of the Los Angeles Architectural Club in 1915.

Henry was 5 feet 10.5 inches tall and had blue eyes and brown hair. He died in 1969.

Selected works

File:La Venta Ceremony Lawn.jpg]]

=Davis and Davis=

  • 2027 N Serrano Avenue (1921), contributor to the Oxford-Serrano-Hobart Residential Historic District{{cite web|title=Historic Resource - 2027 N Serrano Ave |publisher=City of Los Angeles|url=https://hpla.lacity.org/report/673eca89-58ed-4b9f-a42d-3d707d6324cc|date=November 1, 2015}}
  • H. M. Easton & Morris Mumper Residence (1921), contributor to the Oxford-Serrano-Hobart Residential Historic District{{cite web|title=Historic Resource - H. M. Easton & Morris Mumper Residence 2021 N Serrano Ave |publisher=City of Los Angeles|url=https://hpla.lacity.org/report/2f7247f1-e2ff-4232-b9cb-7926543b5e8e|date=November 1, 2015}}
  • Castelar Street School (1922)
  • La Venta Inn (1923){{cite web|url=https://usmodernist.org/AECA/AECA-1930-01-03.pdf |title=Community Association Control in Unincorporated Territory |publisher=The Architect and Engineer |via=usmodernist.org |first=JC |last=Low |date=January 1930}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-23-me-171-story.html |title=La Venta Inn Nominated as Historic Site by County |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |first=Daryl |last=Kelley |date=February 23, 1989}}
  • St. John's Episcopal Church (1923), LAHCM #47{{Cite web |title=Historical Cultural Monuments List |url=https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/24f6fce7-f73d-4bca-87bc-c77ed3fc5d4f/Historical_Cultural_Monuments_List.pdf |publisher=City of Los Angeles |access-date=October 24, 2024 |language=en-US}}
  • Conant House (1924){{cite web|title=Historic Resource - Conant House - 2810 N Beachwood Dr |publisher=City of Los Angeles|url=https://hpla.lacity.org/report/d2ebd6b1-f801-4793-85fe-96c379422b26|date=September 7, 2011}}
  • Anna Desmond Residence (1925)

File:St. John's Episcopal Church, Los Angeles.JPG]]

File:El Greco Apartments, Los Angeles.JPG]]

|publisher=City of Los Angeles|url=https://hpla.lacity.org/report/4f6a605e-3551-4503-b842-b62a3490a4a0|date=December 8, 2014}}

==With Withey==

File:Sun Drug Company Building-1.jpg]]

=Pierpont Davis=

==With Withey==

==As part of the Allied Architects of Los Angeles==

=Walter S. Davis=

  • Ramona Gardens (with others) (1940)
  • Aliso Village (with others) (1942), demolished in 1999
  • 6252 Via Canada (1960){{cite web|title=Walter Davis-Designed "Hearst Castle" of Rancho Palos Verdes|publisher=Curbed Los Angeles|url=https://la.curbed.com/2013/4/11/10254246/walter-davisdesigned-hearst-castle-of-rancho-palos-verdes-1 |date=April 11, 2013|first=Pauline|last=O'Connor}}

See also

{{Portal|Architecture|Biography|California}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Category:Defunct architecture firms based in California

Category:Companies established in 1916

Category:Architects from Los Angeles