George Thomas Rockrise, FAIA, ASLA, AICP (November 25, 1916 – July 7, 2000) was an American architect, landscape architect, and urban planner of Japanese and English descent based in San Francisco, California. During his career he practiced both nationally and internationally, had a distinguished career in public service, and received numerous honors and awards.
Early life and education
Rockrise was born in New York City to Iwahiko Tsumanuma (also known as Thomas S. Rockrise, one of the first American-educated Japanese architects in the United States) and Agnes Margaret (Asbury) Rockrise, of Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in New York City and later at Saranac Lake, New York, where his father was under treatment for tuberculosis. In high school he was an Eagle Scout and built and operated his own ham radio.
Rockrise received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from his father's alma mater, Syracuse University in 1938. At that time, the program at Syracuse taught the Beaux Arts method of classical design. While attending Syracuse, Rockrise received several scholarships. Of note was a Flight Training Scholarship from the U.S. Army Air Corps his senior year, leading him to receive his pilot's license upon graduation.
After working a few years in architecture and construction, Rockrise was awarded concurrently a Graduate Fellowship at Columbia University and an Advanced Flight Scholarship from the U.S. Army Air Corps for advanced flight training. With war on the world's horizon, Rockrise made what he considered to be a difficult decision. He chose to decline the Advanced Flight Scholarship, instead to attend Columbia University, where he received his M.S. in Architecture in 1941.
Career
Upon graduating from Columbia University, Rockrise accepted a job in the Canal Zone of Panama, where he was residing when the U.S. entered World War II, December 7, 1941. Rockrise remained in Panama for the duration of the war, working as an architect for the Canal Zone, U.S. Navy, the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Caribbean Defense Command at various times. He also established a private architectural practice in Panama City. Rockrise was never able to fulfill his desire to fly for the U.S. Navy, as he was repeatedly denied a commission because of his Japanese ancestry.
Returning to New York City after the war, Rockrise went to work for Edward D. Stone, FAIA (’58), who at this time was one of the leading American architects exploring modernism. Rockrise worked on various projects including the El Panama Hotel (Panama City, Panama), coordinating the firm's work with Thomas D. Church, FASLA, in San Francisco, then the country's leading modern landscape architect. As Rockrise stated, “I was chosen to go to San Francisco—and I think this was really the turning point—to coordinate the architectural drawings with Tommy's landscape drawings. Perhaps this was because they had to be done in the metric system, and perhaps because the notes had to be in Spanish, and I spoke Spanish.” Subsequently, Rockrise worked for the architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he was assigned by design partner Gordon Bunshaft, FAIA, to be a staff designer for the United Nations Headquarters Building. As one of the ‘Backroom Boys,’ Rockrise worked under Sven Markelius and Le Corbusier, two of the group of world-renowned architects who designed the United Nations complex. In 1947, Rockrise was invited to become an associate in the landscape architecture office of Thomas D. Church in California. Church is the recognized pioneer in the modernist mid-century landscape style of the day. Among other projects, Rockrise worked with then associate, Lawrence Halprin, FASLA (’69), on the award winning design for the landscaping of the Donnell residence in Sonoma County, California. Rockrise was responsible for the design of the bath house and lanai. The 1948 garden is “famous for its unusual abstracted forms” and is considered a “Modernist icon.” In these early years, 1949–1953, Rockrise also taught at the School of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and was the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
In 1950, Rockrise established his own practice in San Francisco. Among the first draftsmen he hired were John Matthew Myers and Robert C. Mountjoy in 1955, who became associates in 1958. Mountjoy's wife, Jan, a former ‘star’E-mail from Jan and Robert Mountjoy to Christina Rockrise, July 29, 2019. architecture student of Rockrise's at Berkeley, came on as secretary/draftsman.Jan Mountjoy's architectural education was interrupted in 1954 when she followed her husband, then a lieutenant in the Navy, to Adak Island, Alaska, where he was stationed as Naval Utilities Officer. She left the office in 1958 to start a family but returned in the 1970s to work for the firm in various capacities through the years until both she and her husband retired in 1982. E-mail from Jan and Robert Mountjoy to Christina Rockrise, July 29, 2019. Rockrise's early practice was focused on the design of award-winning residential projects, including: Perlman Residence (Squaw Valley, CA 1956), Merit Award, Progressive Architecture Magazine Carpenter Residence (Medford, OR, 1955), National Award of Merit, A.I.A. Matzinger Residence (Belvedere, CA 1961).Rockrise and Watson, A.I.A. brochure, approximately 1960. Design Award, A.I.A. and House and Home Magazine; Merit Award, A.I.A. and Sunset Magazine Gilman Residence (Kent Woodlands, CA 1953) National Award of Merit, A.I.A Riley Residence (Atherton, CA 1960) Award of Excellence for Design, Architectural Record Magazine Rockrise Residence (Squaw Valley, CA 1957) Design Award, Progressive Architecture Magazine Peñaherrera Residence ("La Casita Escondida", Santa Rosa, CA 1958)Corroborated by the Berkeley Environment Design School Curator. 2017 Donation. "Early Houses" folder (Box 2, Folder 3 of the Rockrise collection). https://archives.ced.berkeley.edu/collections/rockrise-george.
"He was one of the leaders of the modern California movement in architecture. His work always showed a Japanese sensitivity to materials and the environment -- a real sensitivity on how to use wood, how to use stone, and how to integrate buildings into the natural site," said Jim Chappell, Assoc. AIA, past president of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). Chappell was president of SPUR from 1994-2009.
In 1954, he was invited to Venezuela for several months to assist renowned Venezuelan architect Tomás José Sanabria in the establishment of that country's first school of architecture at the Universidad Nacional. Rockrise also served as a visiting professor and curriculum consultant at the school.
In 1957, Rockrise was commissioned to design the American Consulate in Fukuoka, Japan, in collaboration with the noted architects Hervey Parke Clark, FAIA, and John Beuttler. The job took him to Japan for the first time in the later part of that year and, for the first time, he was able to visit the birthplace of his father (Yamagata City) and meet many of his Japanese relatives, among them, his last living aunt.
Rockrise entered into partnership with William J. Watson in 1960, forming the firm, Rockrise and Watson A.I.A. Rockrise and Watson dissolved in 1968.
In 1962, Rockrise collaborated with Lawrence Livingston Jr. and Lawrence Halprin to produce the study, “What to do About Market Street.” It remains the seminal study for the rehabilitation of lower Market Street in San Francisco,San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, "What To Do About Market Street," San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), December 11, 1962. resulting in the complete rebuilding of the street during the period 1966-1980.
In 1968, Rockrise formed George T. Rockrise and Associates, with Robert A. Odermatt, FAIA (‘86), Robert C. Mountjoy and James J. Amis, FAIA (‘97), all of whom were associates, becoming principals. The firm later became Rockrise, Odermatt, Mountjoy and Amis (ROMA), and is known today as ROMA Design Group, though none of the original named partners are any longer associated with the firm.
“Perhaps more than any single achievement, George should be commended for advancing an interdisciplinary approach to design…. [His] active involvement in architecture, landscape architecture and planning became reflected in the development of ROMA, which evolved into one of the earliest truly interdisciplinary offices, advocating a team approach to design."Letter October 15, 1985, from ROMA Design Group partners Robert A. Odermatt and Boris Dramov to "Friends and Colleagues" on the occasion of Rockrise's retirement from the firm. According to Mountjoy, “I think the interdisciplinary approach to design was always a part of our practice. Even with residential work there was always collaboration with consultants for structural, mechanical, electrical, landscaping input. Later, in urban design and planning, there were close ties to environmental, transportation, economic and social disciplines.”E-mail to Christina Rockrise, August 12, 2019. Odermatt commented, “George Rockrise was a strong believer in a collaborative approach to urban planning and architecture design. Under his leadership, members of collateral design professions such as landscape architecture, structural and mechanical/electrical engineering were engaged as team members early on in the design process. This collaborative approach ensured that the various design disciplines had the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and expertise at the earliest stages of the development of the project's design concept.”E-mail to Christina Rockrise, August 4, 2019.
Rockrise retired from ROMA in 1986. He established a solo practice based in Glen Ellen, CA, completing the Wellington Residence & Winery (Glen Ellen, CA), the Paradise Ridge Winery (Santa Rosa, CA), the Sternik Residence (St. Helena, CA), and the Rockrise/Brown residence (Camano Island, WA).
Personal life
In 1948, Rockrise married Margaret (Maggie) Lund Paulson, originally from Oregon and a Stanford graduate, who was the fashion editor of a San Francisco newspaper. In the early 1950s, they had two children, Christina Margaret and Peter Lund. Maggie passed away prematurely in 1957. In 1959, Rockrise married Sally Scott Griffin, with whom he had a daughter, Celia Asbury. The marriage ended in divorce in 1964. In 1988, Rockrise married Anneliese Warner, originally from Garmisch, Germany, who worked for the American Consulate in Munich, Germany. They met while Rockrise was on assignment for the US State Department there in Munich. They purchased a home in Glen Ellen, California, moving there after an extensive remodel.
Selected works
A representative selection of projects George Rockrise worked on include the following:"Rockrise and Watson A.I.A.," firm brochure, November 1, 1968.
Married Student Housing, University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (San Francisco, CA), 1960. Honor Awards; A.I.A., Life Magazine and House and Home Magazine Matzinger Residence (Belvedere, CA) 1961. Merit Awards; A.I.A. and Sunset, Design Awards; A.I.A. and House and Home Magazine Bomberger Residence (Kent Woodlands, CA) 1961. Merit Awards; A.I.A. and Sunset Married Student Housing, University of California, Davis Campus (Davis, CA), 1962. Honor Awards; A.I.A., Life Magazine and House and Home Magazine Tacoma Urban Renewal Plan (Tacoma, WA), 1963 Stanford Research Institute Development Plan (Palo Alto, CA) 1963 Sausalito Firehouse (Sausalito, CA) 1964 Algarve New Town Plan (Portugal) 1965 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Theoretical and Computation Building (Livermore, CA) 1965 Chico State College Master Plan (Chico, CA) 1965 Salem Plaza Shopping Center (Salem, OR) 1966 Ames Research Center Master Plan (NASA) (Moffett Field, CA) 1966