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Abrams,
Harold |
Robert Mosher (b. September 27, 1920) & Roy Drew
Robert Mosher, raised in Los Angeles attended The Art Center School, USC and University of Washington (Seattle) where he majored in architecture. Drafted by the US Army and lated discharged on medical disability, Mosher completed his degree in Seattle as World War 2 came to a close. Returning to San Diego, Mosher worked for Myron Hunt & H.C. Chambers (where he met roy Drew in 1946) on several projects in San Diego for the US Navy and Marine Corps. Having married Chambers' secretary, Ann Hoover, Robert returned to L.A. to study for his state architectural exams and an 8-month stint with Harwell Hamilton Harris.
Roy Drew, raised in Pasadena, graduated with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Arts from Stanford in 1936 and a Masters in Architecture from Yale in 1941. As WW2 was enveloping the world, Drew gained experience working for Myron Hunt and Henry J. Kaiser. Following his service in the US Navy (1942-1946), Drew rejoined his architecture career where he met Robert Mosher in Paul Haynes' Los Angeles office.
Following the completion of his exam, Mr. Mosher returned to his family in La Jolla and work for William Templeton Johnson. Robert's father, Jack Mosher, purchased the Green Dragon Colony in 1944 which following Robert's leaving Templeton Johnson's office became a project to design buildings for the property including his own office. As house commissions started pouring in for clients like Rosco Hazard, Harry Rollins, George Wick and Richard Compton.
As the firm slowly grew, Mosher invited Drew to stay in a Green Dragon apartment for 6-month trial period. By 1948, Roy Drew had sold the house he designed for himself in La Canada, moved his family to La Jolla and established the firm Mosher and Drew, Architects. Early work was primarily resdiential and commercial commissions in La Jolla - including garage remodels, additions, signage, fences, store fronts and any other work they could muster.
Mosher and Drew, Architects engaged San Diegans in their brand of humanist/modernist architecture. Designs for Gordon Gray, Herbert Kunzel, James Copley drew attention from several publications including House Beautiful where Robert Mosher worked while on sabbatical from the firm in New York City with editor Elizabeth Gordon (ca. 1954-56). During this two-year span Robert lived with his family in Dobb's Ferry, commuting in to Manhattan daily. In preparation for House Beautiful's landmark dedication of an entire issue to Frank Lloyd Wright, Mosher lived with Mr. Wright at Taliesin in Spring Green, WI for two weeks. According to Mosher, he designed 18 homes in La Jolla to Roy's 9. The firm's expansion was enabled by the hiring of Bill Watson, away from Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Bill Ferguson.
*Between 1958 and 1968, in addition to the residential work which was the basis of their early practice, they were retained to design larger projects. For Roy, these included: the Namara Inn in Del Mar, the Whittemore Office Building in La Jolla, Decatur Elementary School, the La Jolla branch of the Bank of America, Muirlands Junior High School, Torrey Pines Elementary School, The Children's Home Society of California, the La Jolla Federal Saving and Loan main office building, the La Jolla branch of San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, Saint Dunstan's Episcopal Church, Vacation Village hotel, La Jolla Senior High School, the San Diego USO, and Bentham and Cummings Halls, both at The Bishop's School. *For Robert, projects included the first alterations and additions to the La Jolla Art Center (later to become the La Jolla Museum of Art); the San Diego Children's Home; the Married Students Apartments, the Residential Apartments Phase Two, the Master Plan for John Muir College, and the Applied Physics and Mathematics Building at the University of California, San Diego; the Aztec Center (Student Union) at San Diego State University; the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, West Wing (now the San Diego Museum of Art); the Bank of La Jolla Building (now the Wall Street Building); All Soul's Episcopal Church in Point Loma; an office building for Coldwell Banker in San Diego; the Kellogg West Conference Center at California Polytechnic University, Pomona; the Golden Valley Office Complex in Mission Valley; the La Jolla Branch of the California First Bank (now the Union Bank of California); and the Sherwood Auditorium, expanded galleries, and a new entrance for the La Jolla Museum of Art (now the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego); During this period, Robert also served as Design Consultant for the San Diego/Coronado Bridge. Partial List of Early Projects All Soul’s
Episcopal Church (1965) Andrews, Stockton
Residence (1954) Anson Lewis Building Applied
Physics and Mathematics (1966) Ascot Shop Interiors Aztec Center,
Student Union Building (1964) (demolished in 2011) Baily, Edward
Residence (1949) Bank of America
(1960) (Demolished) Bank of La Jolla
(1964) Borchers, Jack
Residence (1952) Bowman, John
C. Residence (1954) Carter, Armistead
Pool House & Garden Shelter (1955) Compton, Richard
Residence (1948) Coon, Thurlow
Residence (1954) Copley Library Copley Press
Building Dunham Office
Building E.F. Hutton and
Co. Office Building (1960) E.F. Hutton and
Co. Office Building (1967) First Baptist
Church of La Jolla (1957) Geisel, Ted Residence
Additions/Alterations (1964) Green Dragon
Buildings (1948-49) Hazard, Rosco
Residence (1948) Irwin, James
Residence (1954) Koehler, Otto
Residence (1949) Kunzel, Herbert
Residence (1951) La Jolla Art
Center Alterations and Additions (ca. 1950, 1960, 1970) La Jolla Christian
Fellowship Church La Jolla Federal
Savings and Loan (1962) Lebenhouse Residence Lek Residence
Remodel Married
Student Apartments (1961) Matthews Campus
Art Gallery (1965) McGrath, Thomas
Residence McNarney, Joseph
Residence Interiors (1958) Mosher and Drew
Offices (1957) Mosher, Jack
Residence (Jack-O-Lantern House Remodel, 1946) Mosher Offices
(Jack, Robert) (1947) Mosher, Jack
Residence (1950) Mosher, Robert
Residence (1950) Office Building
for Robert Golden (1969) Reagan, Bruce
Residence (1954) Retail Building
for Anson Lewis (1954) Richards, Trumbull
Residence (1961) Rollins, Harry
Residence (1948) San Diego Children’s
Home (1958) San Diego –
Coronado Bridge (1965) San Diego Fine
Arts Gallery, West Wing (1964) San Diego Trust
& Savings Bank Small, Luciene
K. Residence (1959) Southern California First National Bank St. Peter’s
Episcopal Church, Chancel Window (1958) Student Apartments
(1965) Tasende Art Gallery Thiele, John
Residence (1960) Tuttle, William
Residence (1952) Tyson, D.R. Residence
(1958) Van Dorn, William
Residence (1950) Warwick’s
Books Front Façade (1953) Wick, George Residence
(1948) Wohlford, Burnet
C. Residence Additions (1949) Young, Richard
Residence (1959)
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