C.J. "Pat" Paderewski
(Paderewski, Mitchell and Dean)
(b. 1908)

Clarence Joseph "Pat" Paderewski was born on July 23, 1908 in Cleveland, Ohio. Following his graduation from Benjamin Franklin High School in Los Angeles (in 1926), Pat attended one year at UCLA and completed his BA in Architecture in 1932 at Cal Berkeley. In 1936 he would garner 3rd prize in the National Design Competition of a Residence for Structural Clay Products.

Moving to San Diego soon thereafter, Mr. Paderewski began teaching drafting, architecture and related subjects in 1939 for San Diego Unified School District. Between teaching Evening High School (1939-1944), War Training Program (1943-1944) and UC Extension (1944-1957) classes, C.J. Paderewski would define himself as more than an architect but a real contributor to San Diego.

In 1946 Mr. Paderewski assumed the responsibility (on behalf of the AIA) of "working with one of the San Diego Evening newspapers in furnishing an article each week, together with photographs or sketches, of a house designed by an architect."

During a long career leading his firm with partners Delmar S. Mitchell and Louis A. Dean (Paderewski, Mitchell and Dean AIA Architects), Pat would stake claim on a number of "firsts". Pat was "the first architect to advocate the use of colors in elementary schools" he led the John J. Montgomery School in Otay to be the first school (in 1946) "in which interesting colors were used in interiors and exteriors." Recognized for designing the first school to utilize radiant heat (via hot water in the floor) in 1947 in San Marcos, Pat was an innovator early on. The firm would also establish the first pre-fabricated plywood wall and roof panel systems used in several schools to meet the economics of rapid construction (in 1948). C.J. Paderewski also secured many accolades for the first exterior all-glass elevator on the El Cortez Hotel (1956) and a forward-thinking Buckminster Fuller-esque geodesic dome on the Palomar College campus.

In his 1957 FAIA sponsorship application, the San Diego Chapter of the AIA (at the time led by Chapter President Sim Bruce Richards) noted "It is his philosophy that an architect can, and should, contribute of himself at every possible opportunity, that his community may be a better place in which to live for himself and his neighbor. He is stron in the belief that good architecture provides the environment for children and adults which will result in an enlightened generation. He also believes that it is the architect's mission to preach the gospel of good architecture at every opportunity in order that an ever increasing percentage of our people will appreciate and demand good architecture."

Partial Project List

Anthony's Fish Grotto (1960)
La Jolla

Anthony's Fish Grotto (1960)
9530 Murray Drive
Renderings published in March 1960 issue of San Diego & Point

Apartments
1000 10th Street, Coronado

Bank of America (1962)
3rd & K, Chula Vista

Central Elementary School (1954)
1290 Ebony Street, Imperial Beach

Chase Avenue Elementary School
195 E. Chase Avenue, El Cajon

Coronado City Hall (1957)

Dabkovitch Building (1961)
3211 Fifth Avenue

Ducommun Metal & Supply Co. (1954)
National City

El Cortez Hotel Remodel (1956-57)
(demolished)

Emory Elementary
1915 Coronado Avenue

First Federal (1963)
Chula Vista

Fletcher Hills Building (1957)

General Hospital for San Diego County, 1960
Award of Merit, AIA San Diego 1960

Hallahan, Tim Residence (circa 1957)
5686 Dorothy Way

J.C. Penney Building
Garnet & Hornblend, Pacific Beach

John J. Montgomery School (1946)
Otay, CA

La Jolla Coast Apartments (1964)
Coast Boulevard

Paderewski Residence #1 (1955)
7055 La Jolla Scenic Drive, La Jolla (Demolished)

Paderewski Residence #2 (1960)
Kalmia Place

Paderewski Residence #3 (1980)
Kalmia Place, South Park

Palomar College (1956-59)
1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos
Most noted (SD & Point 12/57, 3/59) is the Buckminster Fuller-esque Dome (1958), originally the Physical Education Building.

Pomerado Elementary School (1960)
12321 Ninth Street, Poway

San Diego Blood Bank (1957)

San Diego County Medical Society (1957)
4th and Walnut

San Diego International Airport (1967)
3665 N. Harbor Drive

School (1947)
San Marcos, CA

State Division of Highways Building (1953)
Taylor Street, Old Town
(With Adrian Wilson, Architect)

St. Mary's Catholic Church (1958)

St. Mary's Parochial School

St. Paul's Manor (1963)
owned and operated by St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Wetherell, Mr & Mrs. J.G. Residence (1955)
8760 Alpine Avenue, La Mesa
Designed in 1954 by Paderewski, Mitchell and Dean

Wherry Housing Project
895 Units in KEarny Mesa
"East of Highway 395 and Aero Drive"