Biographical / Historical Notes
Born in Maine to an English mother and Italian father, Lloyd Ruocco (1907- May 10, 1981) eventually became one of San Diego’s most influential architects. He was raised in Canada and moved to San Diego in 1922. After completing a degree in architecture at U.C. Berkeley, he returned to San Diego and became known as a “visionary architect” for both his private residences and his public buildings. He later married Ilse Hamman, a professor of art at San Diego State University who worked with him as an interior designer. Ruocco’s best-known accomplishments include the Children’s Zoo (1955), the Geophysics Building at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (1964), and the Civic Theatre (1965). His office on Fifth Avenue, known as the “Design Center,” became famous for its unique style that integrated humans and nature. Ruocco also designed numerous homes around San Diego including his own home completed in 1945 in La Mesa, which he called “Il Cavo.” In 1945 Ruocco co-founded the Allied Artists’ Council, and in 1961 he founded the Citizens’ Coordinate for Century 3, an action group that sought to promote urban design and aesthetics. In 1974 Ruocco became a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Lloyd Ruocco was well known for his ideas of a “kinderpath” town,” which would connect human structures with nature, and of Centre City, an idealized urban center that would promote the well-being of its residents. Ruocco openly professed his ideas of how modular homes could be the answer to the problem of tract housing, specifically the ability to grow with a family. Though none of these ideas were ever actualized, Ruocco’s contributions to San Diego architecture and his charitable works are still recognized throughout the world.
From the guide to the Lloyd Ruocco Papers, 1944-1981, (San Diego History Center Document Collection)
