About Paul Lucas Hamilton (American architect)

 

Paul Lucas Hamilton (May 31, 1919 - January 28, 2015), also known as Paul Hamilton, was master American architect specializing in the Second Bay Tradition.1 

Early Life

Hamilton was born in Moscow, Idaho.  His family moved to Burbank, California.  He graduated from the ArtCenter, College of Design, Pasadena.  After completing his education, he moved to Orinda to set up a successful home design and building company.

Hamilton was a very well-known and respected architect in Sonoma County and California. He designed over 50 houses, and two among them were featured in Hollywood films, including "The Bodyguard."2  He also designed commercial buildings, including the Matanzas Creek Winery building. 

Hamilton’s work was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.  This inspiration is visible in the buildings and structures designed by him. 

Paul Hamilton: "More artist than advocate" by Verna Mays

Text of article:

Paul Hamilton: "More artist than advocate" by Verna Mays

From article found in the Santa Rosa Library archives "Architects file" - from Press Democrat, Home section (circa 1978 as the article notes Hamilton is 59 at the time) - 

    Laurie Simons (formerly Mrs. Larry S.) lives in a Paul Hamilton house.  So do a scant 150 other American families.  Living a la Hamilton is about as realistic as a flight to Venus for most people--but if the architect had his way, you and I could afford the elegance, purity and practicality of his art, if not the scale and signature.

    Hamilton, however, is not likely to have his way, which is our loss, not his.  More artist than advocate, he spills ideas like an underground spring.  The water flows gently, but forcefully.

    At 59, he is happy to design, and sometimes build, two houses a year.  He's been working on his own latest house--at the top of Sonoma Mountain--for three years, with only occasional help from a pair of carpenters.

    But Hamilton does mind "camping out."  Despite a natural elegance there's a toughness, and an easy acceptance of nature, that enable him to find his own place, whether snowed in near Lake Tahoe for the winter, or reclining before the fireplace in his Sonoma Mountain home, or exploring Central America in a modified "hippie Volkswagen" van.  In Singapore and Hong Kong, he found beauty, cleanliness and charm.

    Hamilton is a maverick.  Until last year, he hadn't bothered to get an architect's license--after 30 years of practice.  "I really wasn't interested at first," he says with a smile.  "There's a creative openness about being who you are and doing what you're doing.  In fact," he muses, "I've always had an ambivalence about being an architect.  I was a carpenter's apprentice for $1.50 a day after the Depression.  After junior college, I prepared to enter USC in architecture.  I went down there--and it all reeked of death."  He didn't go to USC.

    Instead, he studied industrial design at the Art Center in Los Angeles.  Spawned by the Depression, it was a wide open field. "Sears Roebuck," he says, "was the first to realize the aesthetic value of the things we use in our daily lives."  Industry fostered it, but there weren't yet many industrial designers to teach it, and the task fell to architects.

    But Hamilton was largely a self-taught man.  Restimulated, he says, by the Art Center, he benefited in a way, from poor health, which caused his rejection by Uncle Sam in WW II.  "I went into graphic arts, studied on my own.   I had the time--and little energy--so I visited, asked questions, occasionally did a house, or custom furniture.  My health improved,"  he notes, "when I moved north."

    

    His present house, at least the sixth he's built and lived in, is, he says, a restatement."  It is, as well, a very contemporary statement of his ideas about environments.  

    It's solar heated.  But you won't find any flying saucer domes in the roof, or any mechanical interventions.  "I studied everything I could find on the subject,"  Hamilton explains.  "I read government reports for three months, immersed myself.  I could have spent $10,000 I realized, on solar heating equipment.  But I said, 'Why not spend that on the architecture itself and make it expect its own energy?'"

    "At that time," he notes, "I hadn't heard of 'passive solar energy.'  But the method is simply to make a house as heat efficient as you can by using glass areas to work for you, creating sun traps.  The Pueblo Indians knew this a long time ago.  They designed their caves, in the cliffs, to eliminate the high summer sun, and be exposed to the low winter sun."

    Hamilton's house, all glass, natural wood, and stone, works on this principle.  Huge windows track the sun.  Stone masses and concrete floors store the heat and transfer it slowly.  Just as thick stone walls maintain temperatures in old wineries, or in the Great Pyramid, he points out.

    The only other heat sources are a large wood-burning fireplace in the living room with a high metal flue which radiates heat intensely, and a portable electric heater in daughter Deirdre's room.

    A hothouse behind the kitchen works for them too.  With glass doors leading to the house and to the outside, heat can be trapped, stored, and let in or out.  Even the exhaust heat from the electric dryer and refrigerator funnel into the hothouse, to be stored.  And inside, plants grow profusely.

    Just as a precaution, the architect put in a water coil radiant heating system under the living room floor, to be fired by fuel oil if needed.  So far, he says, they've never had to.  And the storage hold for the fuel, under his driveway, can be filled whenever the price of oil is low.  It holds a two-year supply.

    Ironically, Hamilton's passive solar energy system is not eligible for the current tax-saving program.  "The ball game," he says wryly, "is not to save energy.  It's to create new industries really not energy-saving to build all these devices to store energy.  But I can see the point, "  he adds philosophically, "of all the people who are in business with these devices.  After all, they've got a product to sell."  

    Similarly, Hamilton is pessimistic about changes in architecture today.  "Most design experiments have flopped," he states flatly, "because architects have tried to produce what looked like someone's romantic ideas of a house.  They're afraid to tamper with public taste."

    "In fact," he believes, "there are fewer new overtures now, less 'form follows function.'  But the energy problem seems to be bringing some of that back.  Necessity dictates a return to purity.  You know, anybody who can put solar collectors on their roof and still create a beautiful house has to be innovative."

    On the other hand, the deeply thoughtful architect does not espouse innovation for its own sake.  His essay for his degree--which took him three years to write--explored the idea of imitation, he says, "as a path of evolution."

    "When we're expressing ourselves," he contends, "each of us is unique.  No matter how like something else it seems, it's always new.  It's never imitative in the sense of an artificial likeness.  Today we shun imitation, we strive to be novel.  But novelty for its own novelty is more false than imitation.  It began in painting, and has spilled over into architecture.  Instead of being grounded, we try to be free, and the most bound up thing I can imagine is simply a reaction.

    "But, " he believes, "limitations get you out of that.  Necessity is the mother of the new form."

    Hamilton is excited--as only an architect could be excited--by the introduction of the metric system.  

"The meter is such a beautiful module," he says, and his indelibly blue eyes, like sun-splashed gentians, light up.  "It's just wide enough to pick up with two hands.  The four-foot module is too awkward to handle easily."

    He has, nevertheless, done some masterful things with the four-foot module.  He brings out layers of scaled drawings he did recently for a house, every inch of every room based on the four-foot module.  Their precision is as breath-taking, in a way, as a Durer etching.

    "Houses," he points out earnestly, "could be light-weight, high-strength, made of modules a man and wife could put together themselves over a weekend.  And they could be changeable--you could rearrange them, move entire walls, panels, window areas, and create new rooms.  The Japanese have been doing this for centuries."

    "But there are too many vested interests that don't want to accept this.  Plumbing and electricity would have to be mounted in surface structures, for example.  Many traditional methods would have to be abandoned."

    Hamilton is equally disgusted with planning commissions and government regulations.  "They say, 'Houses can't be built on land with more than a certain slope." Or, 'Houses can't be built on hillsides where they'll be seen.'  Or, 'Houses can't be built on less than 30 acres of land.'  Well, that's the architect's problem, not theirs.  Why don't they let the people who know what they're doing go ahead?  I could put a dozen houses on a hillside and they'd never be seen.  I put a house on a sheer cliff overlooking the Mendocino coast."

Architectural works 

● Paul Lucas Hamilton House, Orinda, California, 1951 3

Published in the California Book of Homes, 1956.  Found in three archives, the Halprin Archives, University of Pennsylvania; UC Santa Cruz Library, Special Collection, Pirkle Jones Collection; UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design Architectural Archives.

● The Joses House, Orinda, 1951 

● The Hayward Home, 1955 

This home was designed to prove that a home within $12,000 can offer good living. Hamilton designed the house for James Lovera and his parents. 

● Evans House, Oakland, 1956 

● Sonoma Cabin, 1960 

● Berkeley Fire Fighter's Association Clubhouse (demolished), 1962 

● Three Creeks Ranch, Santa Rosa, 1965 

● Tallac House, South Lake Tahoe, 1969

The house is located at Fallen Leaf Lake. It was featured in two movies; “The Bodyguard,” with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in 1990 and “City of  Angels,” featuring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage, in 1998. As per the Business Journal, “the house literally has movie-set appeal.”

● Kirkwood Houses, Sea Ranch, California, 1972

One of the Kirkwood homes covers an area of 3,000-square-foot and it has a sod roof that helps the property blend into the greenery that surrounds it.  It has been published multiple times. 

● Matanzas Creek Winery Building, Santa Rosa, 1977 

Awards and recognition

Hamilton’s work has been featured in 

• The California Book of Homes, 1956, and 
• the seminal book about Sea Ranch, Sea Ranch: Fifty Years of Architecture, Landscape, Place, and Community on the Northern California Coast.  
• His work also appeared in Light Steel Framing – August 1960, Sunset Books.
• The Art of Interior Design by Victoria Kloss Ball, 1960. 
• Beyond the Grapes: An Inside Look at Sonoma County by Richard Hinkle and Dan Berger.

Personal life 

Hamilton was an independent thinker and a renaissance man. 

Hamilton met his first love, Rita Stone in Orinda, whom he later married. After having their first child, Guy Hamilton, the couple moved to Sonoma County. They had another children, Deirdre Hamilton. Rita passed away in 1983. 

After he moved to Sonoma County, he purchased a piece of land on top of the Sonoma Mountain. Hamilton built his house on top of Sonoma Mountain.

Five years after the passing of his first wife, he married Betty. With this marriage he added Terryle, his stepdaughter to his family. 

Hamilton passed away at the age of 95 on January 28, 2015. He was survived by his second wife, Betty, three children, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild.

When Paul Hamilton ran for the Bennett Valley Homeowner's Association Board of Directors for a second time, in September, 2006, he wrote the following statement: "Together with ... others we initiated the Bennett Valley Homeowner's Association (now the Bennett Valley Community Association). I was a member for several years. ... I have practiced architecture for 62 years with projects from the Canadian border to Cabo San Lucas, Baja, Mexico. AWARDS: The Sea Ranch Award & Sea Ranch Community Enhancement Award; Matanzas Creek Winery, one of the 10 best buildings in Sonoma County." BVHA VOICE, September, 2006 

Sources: 

1. “Paul Lucas Hamilton.” Obituary. The Press Democrat, February 8-9, 2015. 
2. Ben van der Meer.  "House near Lake Tahoe Literally Has Movie Set Appeal"  Sacramento Business Journal,  April 22, 2015.
3. “Land and Living Quarters Complement Each Other in This Home Among the Trees.” California Book of Homes 11 (Winter/Spring 1956). 
4. 15 Northampton Avenue, Berkeley.” Real estate. San Francisco Chronicle, November 3, 2013.
5. “Beautiful Charles Hill Area.” Real estate. San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, January 4, 1959.
6. “Charming Contemporary.” Real estate. Oakland Tribune, July 20, 1962. 
7. “Choice Contemporaries.” Real Estate. Oakland Tribune, September 13, 1964. 
8. “City of SR Building Permits.” The Press Democrat, December 11, 1966. 
9. “Construction Permits Issued in Santa Rosa.” The Press Democrat, February 5, 1967. 
10. “County Building Permits.” The Press Democrat, June 19, 1966. 
11. Ersland, Celia. “Acres of Oaks and Rolling Hills Are the Setting for Family’s ‘Involvement’ in Horse Business.” The Press Democrat, July 29, 1973. 
12. “Firemen Build Own Clubhouse.” Oakland Tribune, April 4, 1962. 
13. “Land and Living Quarters Complement Each Other in This Home Among the Trees.” California Book of Homes 11 (Winter/Spring 1956). 
14. Contra Costa County Office of the Assessor, Parcel Maps. 
15. Contra Costa County, Department of Conservation and Development, Records Division, Building Permits. 
16. “Oakland $125,000.” Real estate. San Francisco Examiner, August 5, 1990. 
17. “Oakland $154,500.” Real estate. San Francisco Examiner, August 5, 1990. 
18. “Orinda $545,000. 12 Charles Hill Cir.” Real estate. San Francisco Examiner, November 1, 1998. 
19. “Orinda. $799,000. 12 Charles Hill Cir.” Real estate. San Francisco Chronicle, June 16, 2002. 
20. Pringle, Joan. “Problems of Steep Lot Are Solved.” Oakland Tribune, January 13, 1957. 
21. --------. “Hayward Home Proof That Good Design And Good Living Can Be Had for $12,000.” Oakland Tribune, April 24, 1955. 
22. --------. “Architect Couldn’t See the Site for the Trees, but …” Oakland Tribune, September 4, 1955. 
23. --------. “Good Design – That’s It’s Secret.” Oakland Tribune, July 21, 1957. 
24. --------. “Books Lend Warmth.” Oakland Tribune, August 11, 1957. 
25. --------. “An Ideal Home—And then Some.” Oakland Tribune, September 22, 1957. 
26. “Redwood Still a Favorite of California Builders.” Oakland Tribune, May 26, 1963. 
27. Stockle, Margaret. “Mountain Club of Gardeners Plan Meeting.” The Press Democrat, August 26, 1960. 
28. “Sweeping View Mt. Tamalpais.” Real estate. San Francisco Examiner, August 23, 1966. 
29. “The house that ‘grows’ on a wooded hillside.” Sunset Magazine (October 1960). 
30. “View Contemporary.” Real estate. Oakland Tribune, April 30, 1972. 
31. “Ask Mr. Smith.” Real estate. Oakland Tribune, August 4, 1962. 

32. “A Distinctive Modern.” Real estate. Oakland Tribune, October 16, 1953. 

33. “95 Estates Drive.” Real estate. Oakland Tribune, August 26, 1962. 

34. “15 Northampton, Berkeley.” Edificionado, November 5, 2013. 

35. “32 Charles Hill, Orinda.” Edificionado, August 7, 2014. 

36. “42 Sotelo, Piedmont.” Edificionado, July 2, 2017. Accessed online January 6, 2021.  

37. Ball, Victoria Kloss. The Art of Interior Design: A Text in the Aesthetics of Interior Design. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company, 1960.

38. Brinklow, Adam. “Midcentury Piedmont pad with Japanese tea room ...” Curbed, June 30, 2017. Accessed online January 6, 2021.  

39. Britt, Aaron. “Oakland Aesthetics.” Dwell (September 2008). Accessed online January 6, 2021.  

40. Brown, Mary. San Francisco Modern Architecture and Landscape Design, 1935-1970: Historic Context Statement. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Planning Department, 2011. 

41. California State Office of Historic Preservation. Built Environment Resource Directory (BERD), updated March 2020. 

42. Hamilton, Paul. Letter to the Editor. Dwell (February 2009). 

43. Hirsch, Alison Bick. City Choreographer: Lawrence Halprin in Urban Renewal America. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2014. 

44. Jensen, Marilee. “Paul Hamilton, ‘One of Those Prescient People’, Notable Resident of Bennett Valley for 57 Years.” Bennett Valley Voice 32, no. 2 (March 2015). 

45. Labong, Leilani Marie. “Eric Pfeiffer’s mid-century home in Montclair.” SFGate, January 10, 2012. 

46. “Lawrence Halprin: Biography.” The Cultural Landscape Foundation. 

47. Lyndon, Donlyn and Jim Alinder. The Sea Ranch: Fifty Years of Architecture, Landscape, Place, and Community on the Northern California Coast. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2014. 

48. M., Kathryn. “A Sea Ranch Stunner With a Green Roof ...” Dwell, May 17, 2019.   

49. Meyer, Elizabeth K. “Lawrence Halprin.” In Shaping the Postwar Landscape, edited by Charles A. Birnbaum and Scott Craver, 80-83. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia, 2018. 

50. Mumford, Lewis. “The Sky Line.” The New Yorker, October 11, 1947.  

51. Serraino, Pierluigi. NorCalMod: Icons of Northern California Modernism. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. 

52. Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine Editorial Staff. Garden Pools Fountains & Waterfalls. Menlo Park, CA: Lane Books, 1965. 

53. “The Cozy Cabin from ‘The Bodyguard’ & ‘City of Angels’” Hooked on Houses, August 9, 2016. Accessed online January 6, 2021.  

54. The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin: A Guide to the National Traveling Exhibition. National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., November 5 – April 16, 2017. 

55. Woodbridge, Sally, editor. Bay Area Houses. Salt Lake City, UT: Peregrine Smith, 1988.

56. Wright, Frank Lloyd. An Autobiography. San Francisco, Pomegranate: 2005, first published New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce: 1943. 

57. Viladas, Pilar. “Sticks and Stones.” The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 24, 1997, page 429