Beverly Willis

Beverly Willis, FAIA, was a noted artist, photographer, teacher, and writer who applied a full range of visual arts and design skills to her architectural projects, primarily in San Francisco, California. Willis became licensed in 1966 and was one of perhaps three women architects in the United States to own her own architecture firm between 1958 and 1990. She was also the only woman in San Francisco to have her own practice for 17 years.

Willis played a major role in the revitalization of San Francisco neighborhoods after World War II. She renovated commercial spaces in the Jackson Square area and Union Street, redesigned Glide Church, designed the San Francisco Ballet Building, and won an international competition to design the Yerba Buena Gardens development downtown.

Despite the heavy demands of her practice, Willis also found time to serve on the U.S. Government delegation to the United Nations conference on Habitat, become a trustee and founder of the National Building Museum in 1976, and was also the first woman to serve as President of the California Chapter of the National Institute of Architects in 1979.

Willis’ interest in the issues affecting planning, population density, and land-use economics in large-scale development led to the creation of the computer program CARLA (Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis) in the 1970s. The software was developed by Willis with Eric Tiescholz and Jochen Eigen. With CARLA’s completion and implementation, Willis and Associates became one of the first architectural firms to incorporate computers into the routine practices of design and land development.

Her extensive collection primarily documents her work as an architect in San Francisco from 1960 to 1990, her development of CARLA, the history of twentieth-century urban planning—particularly in San Francisco—and the contributions of women to twentieth-century American architecture.