John Cooper Funk opened his own architecture practice in 1939, after working as a draftsperson in William Wurster's San Francisco office from 1936 to 1938. San Francisco Planning names him among the architects it aligns stylistically with the Second Bay Tradition, and its modern-era context statement calls him a "master architect." The records place his work in San Francisco, Berkeley, Lafayette, Belvedere and Modesto, and on University of California campuses. When a seller or an old listing calls a house a Funk design, the records below are where that credit can be tested.
This guide draws on three official records. SF Planning's San Francisco Modern Architecture and Landscape Design 1935–1970 historic context statement, heard as case 2011.0059U, has an appendix entry for Funk. A draft SF Planning biography repeats that entry and adds a San Francisco church interior. And the guide to the John Funk Collection, posted on the Online Archive of California, describes the drawings and files the Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley hold.
Funk's offices, year by year
The statement's entry sets out his work history in this order, and the draft biography matches it:
Draftsperson, William Wurster, San Francisco, 1936 to 1938;
Principal, John C. Funk, Berkeley and San Francisco, 1939 to 1941;
Partner, Funk and Stein, San Francisco, 1946, with the architect Joseph Allen Stein;
Principal, John C. Funk, Berkeley and San Francisco, 1947 to 1955.
The list shows no office for 1942 to 1945. The statement's narrative says he worked on large-scale housing projects during World War II. The archive's guide adds that the collection holds files on multi-residential communities, among them the Hawthorne Defense Housing project.
The list also stops at 1955, but the archive's project records cover designs from 1937 to 1985, and its guide says he completed several large University of California buildings between 1950 and 1980. Later work exists; it just falls outside the years the entry covers.
The statement's own Wurster entry also names Funk among the architects who began their careers at Wurster's firm (see our William Wurster page).
The look SF Planning ties to his houses
The statement's entry says Funk became an influential figure in the Second Bay Tradition, which it calls a regional interpretation of the International Style "softened by local materials and an enthusiasm for nature through open views and thoughtful landscaping." It describes his buildings as modest in scale and known for "simple, elegant lines, horizontal orientation, and siting low to the ground." It also says the work of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto influenced his designs.
The archive's guide puts the style in similar terms: close to the International Style "in its openness and clarity," but with local materials and "a sensitivity to the landscape." According to the statement, Funk's firm worked on both single-family houses and postwar housing projects, which it says were in high demand in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
For the style as a whole, the statement's character-defining features include several that fit that description: horizontal orientation, an emphasis on volume over ornament, ribbon windows or large areas of glass, open or flexible floor plans, indoor-outdoor living, and a rear yard that works as an extension of the house. They are traits of the whole style, so they can describe a Funk house without proving one.
The 1939 house and the exhibitions
The archive's guide says a 1939 house established Funk at a national scale. The statement's entry places that house in Modesto and says the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art showed it in its 1941 exhibition "Architecture around San Francisco Bay," and that it was described as an "inexpensive house [with] classic dignity and restraint." The entry adds that the house was on the cover of the Museum of Modern Art's first Built in the U.S.A. book. The archive's guide gives that same phrase to the Museum of Modern Art, in 1945, so the two records differ on which museum used it and when.
The records disagree on its location. The entry's narrative and the draft biography say Modesto, but the project list at the end of the same statement entry says Berkeley.
Funk also appears in a statement table listing the buildings and gardens from "Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Region," a 1949 show put on by the San Francisco Museum of Art. Its Funk entry is a Belvedere project, in Marin County, with no landscape architect named.
Ladera and the postwar housing work
Beyond his house work, the statement's entry says Funk worked on the Ladera housing development near Palo Alto in 1947. Its entry for the landscape architect Garrett Eckbo lists the "Ladera Cooperative" of 1947 as a collaboration with Funk and Joseph Allen Stein. The archive holds files on the Ladera Housing project, its guide pairs that project with the photographer Ernest Braun, and it says the development was later completed as an Eichler subdivision.
The cooperative-era work and the later Eichler houses are separate jobs, and Joseph Eichler was the developer, not the architect. Our guide to Ladera's Eichler homes covers the later phase. Check the permit year before you credit a Ladera house to Funk.
Funk's San Francisco projects in the records
The statement's San Francisco list for Funk is short, and the draft biography adds one item. Streets and years only:
1948: a house on Glenbrook Avenue, which both lists mark "altered";
1948: a residence on Chestnut Street;
1955: a residential remodel on Union Street;
1955: interiors of the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, also on Union Street (draft biography only);
1958: a UC San Francisco dentistry building, which the draft places on Parnassus Avenue.
A house on the list can still have lost its original character; the "altered" note on the Glenbrook Avenue house is the lists' own warning. For the wider city, our San Francisco page is the place to start.
Both lists also name work outside the city: his own house in Lafayette (1945), a 1949 house in Berkeley, a 1952 residence at Greenwood Common in Berkeley, and University of California buildings at Davis, including dormitories, a dining hall and the Science Library, plus student health centers at Davis and Santa Cruz. The draft gives no years for the campus work.
Is my house a John Funk design?
Work through these records before you repeat a Funk credit:
Match the year to the office. The statement places his own office in 1939–1941 and 1947–1955, with the Funk and Stein partnership in 1946. The archive's project records run from 1937 to 1985, so a later house isn't ruled out, but it needs its own record. Work from 1936 to 1938 falls in his years as a draftsperson for Wurster.
Pull the earliest permit and the drawings. Check the title block for "John C. Funk" or "Funk and Stein" and see whether the year fits. Our advice: credit a Funk and Stein drawing to the partnership, not to Funk alone.
See whether the street and year appear on SF Planning's lists. Missing from them doesn't rule a house out. In SF Planning's words, the output of this group of master architects "varies widely, from just a few known works to dozens of projects in San Francisco," and it calls for a survey to find more.
Ask the archive. The John Funk Collection fills 23 linear feet (4 boxes, 6 flat file drawers and 1 tube) in three series: Personal Papers, Office Records and Project Records. The project records hold manuscript files, drawings, specifications and photographs. The collection is open for research, and the guide says requests to publish or reproduce material go to the curator.
Read the photo and garden credits. The guide names photographers of his projects, among them Morley Baer, Ernest Braun and Roger Sturtevant, and landscape architects he worked with, including Lawrence Halprin, Douglas Baylis and Eckbo, Royston & Williams. A period photo or garden plan with one of those names can point you to the right file.
Don't go by looks. The statement names many other Second Bay Tradition architects, among them Roger Lee, Jack Hillmer, Henry Hill, Charles Warren Callister, Mario Corbett, Clarence Mayhew, Gardner Dailey and Joseph Esherick. The features above belong to the style, not to any one of them. Our how-to on dating a house helps you read what you see.
Owning a Funk house today
A credit to Funk is not a historic designation. The statement calls him a "master architect"; the draft biography's label is "Architect of Merit." Neither phrase, on its own, adds a house to a historic register.
The statement does put Funk on its list of Bay Tradition architects and firms recommended for further study. It calls for a survey of their works to identify more historic resources and to compare known works, and it says that survey could lay the groundwork for National Register multiple-property submissions or for listings in the local, state or national registers.
Before you change the outside of a house that may be his, ask SF Planning, or the planning office in the house's city, about its survey and landmark status. Our guide to the city's modern-era context statement explains how it judges a house, and Is My House Historic in California? covers the lists and review steps. We aren't giving legal advice here.
Frequently asked questions
Did John Funk design Eichler homes?
No record read for this guide says so. The archive's guide says the Ladera development he worked on with Garrett Eckbo was later completed as an Eichler subdivision, but Eichler was a developer, and these records don't credit Funk with the Eichler-era houses.
Is a John Funk house mid-century modern?
His San Francisco projects in SF Planning's records date from 1948 to 1958, within the 1937 to about 1964 span the statement sets for the Second Bay Tradition. The 1939 house falls in that period too.
Where are his drawings kept?
In the John Funk Collection (collection number 2002-1) at the Environmental Design Archives, UC Berkeley. The guide says the collection is open for research.
Related reading
Ladera Eichler History: Jones & Emmons Homes Near Portola Valley
Joseph Esherick: San Francisco Architect Between Two Bay Traditions
Gardner Dailey: San Francisco Architect of Bay Region Modern Houses
John Ekin Dinwiddie: San Francisco Architect of Early Modern Houses
More guides on this topic: Mid-Century Modern Architects & Builders
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Researching a John Funk house? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team to go over what the records show.
