William S. Hebbard

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William Sterling Hebbard (1863-1930) was born in Milford, Michigan and was an 1887 Graduate of Cornell University. He is noted for his work as an architect in California, mostly San Diego county.

He briefly worked as a draftsman and assistant for the Burnham and Root firm in Chicago and in 1888 for Curlett, Eisen and Cuthbertson in Los Angeles. By 1890 he was in private practice in San Diego. In 1891 he became associated with the Reid Brothers firm, noted designers of the Hotel Del Coronado and took over their San Diego projects when that firm moved to San Francisco. In 1898 he formed a well known partnership with Irving Gill.^[1] The Hebbard & Gill firm arguably produced San Diego's best architecture until its break up in 1907.

'Will' Hebbard produced work in an eclectic variety of styles, including Richarsonian Romantic, Mission Revival, Arts and crafts, Tudor Revival and Cubist Modern, He is most regarded for his designs for private residences, but did good work on commercial structures. During WWI he entered the Army transport Service and worked until 1922 as a design consultant for military shipbuilding. After his service with the Army, he moved to Los Angeles and practiced architecture sporadically until his death in August, 1930.

His best known projects include: Pavilion at Mission Cliff Garden (1890, demolished), State Normal School (1898, with Irving Gill, demolished), City of Ramona Town Hall (1893), Jessie Root Grant residence (1894) for the son of President U.S. Grant, Christ Episcopal Church, Coronado (1894), George Marston Residence (1904/5, with Gill, now a museum), All Saints Episcopal Church (1912, with Carleton Monroe Winslow), The Maryland Hotel (1913).

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Little has been published about Hebbard. The most important source is an article by Kathleen Flanigan in the Winter 1987 issue of The Journal of San Diego History