Derleth, Charles

Biographical Information

Charles Derleth, Jr. was born October 2, 1874 in New York. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the City College of New York in 1894 and a Civil Engineering degree from Columbia University in 1896. Derleth served as an instructor and lecturer at Columbia until 1901, when he moved west to become Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado. In 1903 Derleth accepted an appointment to the University of California, Berkeley to serve as Associate Professor of Structural Engineering. By 1907 he was Professor and Dean of the College of Civil Engineering, and in 1930 when the Colleges of Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering combined, Derleth was appointed Dean of the College of Engineering, serving until 1942.

Derleth played a pivotal role in the design and construction of some of the best known buildings, bridges, dams, highways, and tunnels in northern California. He was chief engineer for the Carquinez Straight Highway Bridge, the longest cantilever bridge west of the Mississippi at the time it was built in 1927. Derleth was a member of the Board of Consulting Engineers for the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the Broadway Tunnel (Caldecott Tunnel). He was in charge of engineering work for the San Francisco Bureau of Architecture and was a consulting engineer for numerous Alameda County municipal structures.

In addition, Derleth consulted for well known projects such as the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, the San Francisco Civic Center and Auditorium, Grace Cathedral, the Native Sons Hall in San Francisco, First National Bank of Berkeley, the Contra Costa County Hospital and was Chief Consulting Engineer on the Oakland-Alameda Estuary Tunnel (also known as the George A. Posey Tube). At the University of California, Derleth assisted with the design and construction for a number of buildings including California Hall, Wheeler Hall, Doe Library, Gilman Hall, LeConte Hall, and Sather Tower (the Campanile). In 1930 Derleth received an honorary degree from the University of California in recognition of his services. Charles Derleth died on June 13, 1956.

From the guide to the Charles Derleth Papers, 1893-1953, (The Bancroft Library)