John Savage Bolles

John Savage Bolles (June 25, 1905 – March 5, 1983) was an American architect. He was most active in San Francisco, and the designer of Candlestick Park. He was a founding partner of the architecture design firm Ward & Bolles.

Biography

Born on June 25, 1905, in Berkeley, Bolles was the son of San Francisco architect Edward Grosvenor Bolles (1871–1939), who had arrived in the city in 1893. In 1926, Bolles graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Oklahoma, and graduated from Harvard University with a master's degree in architecture in 1932.

During his Harvard years he pursued archeological work at the Medinet Habu site in Egypt under Uvo Hölscher, and particularly at Chichen Itza, state of Yucatán, Mexico. of Piper Aircraft.

Bolles returned to San Francisco and joined his father's firm in 1936. They began as collaborators in 1942 on two wartime housing projects, one in Marin City and one in Oakland. From 1943 to 1945, Bolles was project engineer for the Federal Public Housing Authority for San Francisco,

In 1954 Bolles left the partnership and formed John S. Bolles Associates, which lasted until 1975 and did a variety of Bay Area commissions.

All through his career, Bolles was "a strong believer in the artistic embellishment of public buildings." before its dissolution in 1966.

Candlestick Park

His most prominent single work, Candlestick Park stadium, was the subject of civic debate over its perceived design flaws. Its placement near the Pacific Ocean exposed players and fans to chilly temperatures, fog, dew, and particularly wind, all of which grew worse at night. Giants pitcher Stu Miller was blown off the pitcher's mound during the All Star Game of . Celebrity attorney Melvin Belli sued owner Horace Stoneham and the ballclub for the return of the price of his season tickets, worth just under $1600, proceedings which were heavily reported from jury selection to his victory. Bolles had included a boomerang-shaped concrete wind baffle in the original design, reportedly reduced in construction.

After the park's expansion for the San Francisco 49ers football club in 1970, which Bolles also designed, the wind problems changed, but were no better. The architect "heard a constant chorus of insults directed at his first and only stadium." According to his son Peter, "I think Candlestick was his greatest pride and his greatest disappointment. He was thrilled to be able to do the project. But there was so much ugly press about it that I know it hurt him inside, a lot."

Work

Bolles's architectural work includes:

assisting his father, "Tower of Peace", Ping Yuen Housing Project and North Ping Yuen expansion, San Francisco, with landscape architect Douglas Baylis and foo dog sculptures by Mary Erckenbrack, 1951 and 1961 four projects for the Sperry & Hutchinson Company: South San Francisco warehouse, San Jose warehouse, San Francisco warehouse, and Oakland offices, 1954-1957 Potrero Annex housing development, south slope of Potrero Hill, San Francisco, 1953-54 IBM Site Plan and Building Complex, including IBM Building 25 and a campus of about 30 others, Paul Masson Champagne Cellars, Saratoga, California, with fountain sculpture by Gurdon Woods, 1959 (razed) Capilano house in Novato, California, notable example of mid-century modern residential design integrating architecture with the environment, 1963 Candlestick Park, former home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team, 1960, renovation 1970 McGraw-Hill Office and Distribution Center, later the Birkenstock offices and distribution center, Novato, 1962 General Motors Fremont Assembly plant, as of 2010 the Tesla Fremont Factory, Fremont, California, 1962 JFK Towers, 2451 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, 1966 990 Pacific Senior Housing, San Francisco, 1969 Redevelopment Agency Building, 939 Ellis, San Francisco, 1970 Bayfair Center in San Leandro interiors for Hilltop Mall in Richmond, Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, and Valley Fair in San Jose interior for the renovation of the Macy's Union Square San Francisco flagship store

Published works 1977: Las Monjas, A Major Pre-Mexican Architectural Complex at Chichen Itza, University of Oklahoma Press, ,