The Cypress Lawn website shows a photo of renowned local Architect Arthur Brown Jr. (Coit Tower, City Hall, War Memorial Veterans Building, just to name a few). However the SF Library website shows numerous photos of a Arthur Brown Jr., but never refers to him as anything other than Supervisor. The photos are clearly that of the same man. Does anyone know if Architect Arthur Brown Jr. also served as a city Supervisor or does Cypress Lawn simply have a photo of the wrong man? Judge the photos yourself.

http://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAA-6371.jpg

http://www.cypresslawn.com/index_cemetery.html

-- Michael Binetti (mbinetti@boldata.com), December 18, 2003

Answers

I can't really answer your question but the library's web site actually shows two Arthur Browns, one an architect and the other a supervisor:

http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/search/d?SEARCH=Biography+Brown+Arthur

-- bug (bugmo@myrealbox.com), December 23, 2003.

Yeah, I saw those two photos as well, but I assumed due to the old look of the pictures that they were most likely photos of Arthur Page Brown (1859-1896). Architect Arthur Page Brown is best known for the magnificent Ferry Building he designed in 1892. Since Coit Tower wasn't erected until 1933, it seems unlikely that the man in the old photo's you suggest would be the same Arthur Brown who designed Coit Tower and the War Memorial Veterans Building. Another reason why I think the photos you mention are of A.P. Brown is that the second photo shows him working at a drafting table inside the Crocker Building. Arthur Page Brown was brought out to San Francisco, from New York, in 1889 by Mary Ann Crocker to design a mausoleum for her husband Charles. It stands to reason that she would have also established an office for him to work in and the obvious location of that office would be in the building she owned.

It seems odd to me that an Architect as influential and as famous as Arthur Brown Jr. would have been during his lifetime in San Francisco, wouldn't have numerous photos of him on the S.F. Library website or anywhere on the internet for that matter. Unless the celebrated Mr. Brown lived like a hermit when he wasn't designing buildings, there should be countless photos of this great San Francisco Architect. At least at the dedication of the buildings he designed if nowhere else.

-- Michael Binetti (mbinetti@boldata.com), December 23, 2003.