Pacific Heights Architects #20 - Charles  Peter  Weeks

The focus of this series is architects who had an influence over the way Pacific Heights looks today. C. P. Weeks is not very well known, but he was a principal in two significant San Francisco partnerships and also designed several properties on his own.

Charles Peter Weeks was born in Copley, Ohio on September 1, 1870, the son of Peter Weeks and Catharine Francisco.  He was educated at the University of Akron and obtained some preliminary experience working in the Akron office of architect Charles Snyder.  From 1892-95 he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, having been accepted into the atelier of Victor Laloux.  Returning from Paris, he worked in Cleveland for a while and then moved to New York, initially working as an interior decorator, until in 1899 he joined John Galen Howard at the firm of Howard & Cauldwell.  He had first worked alongside Howard in Paris in the atelier of Laloux and then renewed the acquaintance in New York through the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, of which Howard was President.

In 1901 Howard moved out to Berkeley, to become supervising architect for the University of California, and he invited Weeks to join him as head designer.  That association did not continue for long, however.  In 1903 Weeks joined established San Francisco architect Albert Sutton (1867-1923) as junior partner in the firm of Sutton & Weeks.  Their commercial work includes the Baker & Hamilton building (700 Seventh St., 1904-05, now S. F. Landmark #193).  Examples of their residential work in Pacific Heights include  2663 Divisadero (1904, Sutton’s own home), 2221 Baker, 2562 Green, 2670 Green and 2750 Vallejo (all in 1905); and in Presidio Heights 233 Maple (1904), 3800 and 3838 Clay (both in 1905), and 3901 Clay (1907).

Weeks wrote a plaintive article for the June 1906 Architect and Engineer magazine titled ‘Who is to blame for San Francisco’s plight?’, referring to the devastating earthquake and fire damage.  The article hit owners first for a lack of concern for quality, the City for performing inadequate inspections, architects for acquiescing on cheapness, and contractors for not giving value for money.  In April 1907 he wrote another article on the renaissance of apartment houses in the City, which featured several Sutton & Weeks designs. Sutton moved to Hood River, Oregon in 1910, after a bitter divorce and child custody battle, leaving Weeks to practice on his own.  During this period Weeks designed several buildings, including  in 1914, 2150 Washington for Mary Louise Phelan, the sister of Senator (and former San Francisco Mayor) James Duval Phelan.

This Italian Renaissance mansion was completed in time for its owners to enjoy the spectacle of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition laid out at the edge of the Bay, across what is now the Marina District.  The house is laid out around a spacious central courtyard.  It was designed with two main bedroom suites, one centrally located on the north side to enjoy the Bay view, and one on the south-east corner with excellent morning light and a peaceful outlook of the trees of Lafayette Park.  The lot originally extended down to Jackson Street, but the rear portion was sold off by the McGinnis family, who had bought the property at auction in 1936.  No substantial changes were made to the home until 1985 when the kitchen was remodeled and the decor updated for University High School’s Decorator Showcase.

In 1916 Weeks took on engineer William Peyton Day as a partner and together they designed the magnificent Don Lee Building at 1000 Van Ness (1921, S. F. Landmark #152 and now converted to a mixed-use residential condominium and retail building), and many fine residences, apartment buildings and hotels, including, on Nob Hill, the Huntington Hotel (1924), the Mark Hopkins, (1925, S. F. Landmark #184), the Brocklebank apartments at 1000 Mason (1926), the Cathedral co-operative apartments at 1201 California (1927), and the Sir Francis Drake Hotel on Powell at Sutter (1928).  Their distinctive 1923 building on 19th Avenue for Shriners Hospital was saved from demolition and designated as S. F. Landmark #221 in 1998.

Also in 1923, at the age of 53, Weeks married for the first time.  His wife, Beatrice Woodruff Mills, was the daughter of a U. S. Navy Lieutenant-Commander.  After the Brocklebank was completed in 1926, the Weeks’ moved into the building.  Unfortunately, on March 25, 1928, Weeks was found dead in the living room of the apartment by his wife’s maid.  Will Day continued the operations of the company the two had formed for another 25 years, but the creative spark was gone.