William Turnbull

William Turnbull Jr., FAIA, (April 1, 1935 – June 26, 1997) was an American Bay Area architect whose unique building designs challenged the more traditional architecture of California's West Coast. His design style is most closely associated with the Sea Ranch community in Sonoma County, California. The Baker House, within that community, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Career Born in New York City in 1935, Turnbull was raised in Far Hills, New Jersey. Both of Turnbull's parents were architects, as was his great-grandfather George B. Post, who designed the New York Stock Exchange Building, Turnbull studied architecture at Princeton University, graduating in 1956. Upon completion of college, he moved to San Francisco and was employed at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Turnbull worked on a Big Sur revitalization project, which may have had a factor in developing his lifelong connection to California. Turnbull was one of four Bay Area architects invited to design an architectural facade for The Presence of the Past exhibition when it was shipped from the 1980 Venice Biennale and reinstalled in San Francisco in 1982.

Personal life Turnbull was married twice and fathered four children. In 1985 he married Mary Griffin, his second wife, who remained with him until his death. Turnbull designed his own winery vineyard, Johnson-Turnbull, which culminated after years of interest in wine-making.

Selected bibliography William Turnbull Jr: buildings in the landscape (with William Stout, Dung Ngo, and Lauri Puchall) William Stout Publishers (2000) The poetics of gardens (with Charles W. Moore and William J. Mitchell) MIT Press (1993)