Ream, James.

Biographical Note

Jacob (Jack) Robbins was born in 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and earned his degree in architecture from Harvard in 1953. From 1952 to 1955, he operated Robbins & Associates with offices in San Francisco and Boston, where he designed a number of residences. From 1955-1961, he designed a residence with Goetz and Hansen Architects, a number of elementary schools around the Bay Area with John Lyon Reid and Partners (including the Santa Margarita School, which received a Citation from the American Association of School Administrators), and eight buildings with Gerald M. McCue & Associates, including the Cyclotron Building (which won the Award of Merit from the Bay Region Honor Awards in 1962), the Health Physics Laboratory at Lawrence Laboratory at UC Berkeley, Metallurgical Laboratories at Lockheed in Sunnyvale, and various engineering and laboratories in Richmond, California.

In 1955 Robbins designed his own home in the Oakland hills, which won an Award of Merit from AIA/Sunset Western Home, was written up in Architectural Record in 1962, and was featured in Architectural Guide to the Bay Area in 1962 and 1973.

In 1961 Robbins re-opened Jack Robbins & Associates in Oakland, California. From 1961-1967 Jack Robbins & Associates designed a number of high-end residences and apartment buildings in the Oakland hills, Berkeley, Marin County and Squaw Valley. In 1967, Robbins joined Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, based in San Francisco, for a series of projects until 1972. His designs with the firm include San Jose City College Master Plan, Evergreen Valley College Master Plan and Phase I Buildings in San Jose, Feather River College Master Plan and Phase I Buildings in Quincy, and Mills College Residence and Dining Halls in Oakland.

In 1972, Robbins became the Director of City Planning and Community Development for the City of Fremont, California. During his four years as Director he oversaw more than a dozen major projects, including the Civic Center Master Plan, Open Space Plan, Seismic Safety Plan, BART Area Plan, and the Walnut Knolls, Northpointe and Mission Valley neighborhoods.

Robbins founded Robbins and Ream, Architects, together with James Ream in 1977 in San Francisco. From 1977 to 1983, they worked on residences, offices buildings, colleges, parking structures, and a church. Their designs include Third Baptist Church Center in San Francisco, World College West Master Plan and Phase I Buildings in Marin County, and Oakmead Terraces Office Buildings in Sunnyvale, which was featured in Architectural Review as well as Architectural Record in 1979 and 1978, respectively.

Robbins returned to solo work in 1984 under the company name Jack Robbins FAIA Architect, Urban Design, Inc. From 1984 to 2007, Robbins designed more homes in the East Bay, a home in Los Angeles, two condominium buildings in San Francisco, Crocker Bank in Sonora, and a biomedical research building in Zimbabwe. He became a Fellow of the AIA in 1975.

Robbins retired in 1993.

Sources:

CV provided by J. Robbins

Biographical listing in 1962 American Architects Directory

Biographical listing in 1970 American Architects Directory

From the guide to the Jack Robbins Collection, 1955-2007, (Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design.)