Merchant, William G.

Biographical Notes

William G. Merchant (1889-1962)

William Gladstone Merchant, born in California in 1889, was educated at the Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts in San Francisco, CA, graduating in 1909. In 1912, he supplemented his education with private classes in engineering. Merchant worked briefly for John Galen Howard in 1909, and between 1909 and 1911, Merchant worked in the offices of [Charles] Wittlesay and William Woolett. From 1911 to 1914, Merchant worked for Bernard Maybeck on the Palace of Fine Arts for the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Merchant was also the designer in charge of exhibits at the Palace of Fine Arts. Merchant obtained his architectural license in 1918, and from 1917 to 1928 worked in the office of George W. Kelham. While in Kelham's office, Merchant worked as the associate architect for the Medico-Dental building in San Francisco. Merchant then spent a year traveling in Europe in 1929, after which he returned to San Francisco to open his own firm in 1930.

Between 1932-1939, Merchant was the consulting architect for the San Francisco Recreation Commission. In this position, he worked as architect for the development and reconstruction of 28 San Francisco playgrounds. Also, in the years 1935-1937, Merchant worked on a number of residences with the firm Maybeck and White. From 1935-1939, Merchant served on the Architectural Commission for the Golden Gate International Exposition. For the Exposition, Merchant designed the Pacific House, the Temples of the East, the California Recreation Building, the Redwood Empire Building in association with Bernard Maybeck, as well as several other small buildings.

Beginning in 1943, Merchant served as the architect for the World Trade Center. Due to lack of funds, Merchant's 1951 plan for a complex of buildings at the foot of Market Street was abandoned. Instead, the World Trade Center was incorporated into the North Wing of the existing Ferry Building. In 1946, Merchant expanded his practice as William G. Merchant & Associates. This firm completed projects for, among others, the Sailors Union of the Pacific, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco State College and continued work for the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept.

In 1960 the firm was granted the commission to rehabilitate the crumbling Palace of Fine Arts Building, but sadly Merchant passed away just two years into the project in 1962.

Hans U. Gerson (1915-2000)

Hans U. Gerson was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1915. His father, Oskar Gerson, was a well-known German architect. In 1934, when the Hitler regime came to power in Germany, Gerson fled to England. He received his architectural education at the Royal West of England Academy School of Architecture, Bristol, and the Architectural Association in London from where he graduated in 1939. He became a registered architect in England in 1940 and worked there in several architects' offices until he immigrated to California in 1946. He worked in various architectural firms in the Bay area from 1946 to 1948, becoming a registered architect in California in 1947. In 1949, Gerson joined the firm of William G. Merchant & Associates, and in 1951, Gerson became a U.S. citizen.

When Merchant died in 1962, Gerson took over the firm William G. Merchant & Associates and practiced alone - sometimes under the firm name William G. Merchant & Associates and sometimes just as Hans U. Gerson, Architect - until he was joined by Harry Overstreet in 1968. At this time, they formed the firm Gerson/Overstreet with whom Gerson practiced until he retired in 1985. Following his retirement, Gerson functioned as a consultant to the firm until his death in 2000.

Sources: "William G. Merchant Dies at 72," San Francisco Chronicle , February 27, 1962. Biographical Record compiled by the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco, California. Woodbridge, Sally. "Visions of Renewal and Growth: 1945 to Present" in Visionary San Francisco, Paolo Polledri, ed. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , San Francisco, CA 1990.

From the guide to the William G. Merchant / Hans U. Gerson collection, 1897-1993, (bulk 1930-1967), (Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design.)