For this installment of Dear California we are joined by Bruce Marwick from the Art Deco Society to discuss California Architect, Alfred Eichler. Marwick will be joined by James Scott,from the Sacramento Public Library. Eichler was brought to life in a recent article written in our Bulletin, #120.

"He was born in Missouri in 1895, the oldest son of Dr. Alfred and Laura Eichler. The family moved to San Francisco in 1896 where his father became a surgeon at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Young Alfred excelled as a student who enjoyed doing art. His future was full of potential until age thirteen when he contracted spinal meningitis and became deaf." To read more: CLICK HERE

Bruce Marwick, is a board member of the Sacramento History Alliance and Preservation Chair of the Sacramento Art Deco Society. He graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with degrees in Studio Art and Art History. Bruce spent many years as a marketing and graphic design professional in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Over the last ten years, he has written many articles about early 20th Century Sacramento artists and architects, including Alfred Eichler, designer of the Tower Bridge and Carlo Taliabue, a noted Gladding McBean sculptor.

A native of Portland, Oregon, James C. Scott is an archivist for the Special Collections and Archives of the Sacramento Public Library. He is a graduate of Marquette University, holds master’s degrees in European History and Library and Information Science, and is author of the recently published “From Jennies to JATO: World War I, Sacramento and the Ascent of an ‘Air-Minded’ California Community,” California History 97, no. 3 (Fall 2020): 122-158. E-mail: jscott@saclibrary.org.