Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Rebecca Wood Watkin Architectural Collection, 1940-1989; 2011, Ms1995-009, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The papers were donated by Rebecca Wood Watkin in April 1995 with the aid of Inge S. Horton of San Francisco, California. Additions to the collection were received in August 2002 and March 2011.

Processing Information

Processing of the collection was completed by J. Harlow, Student Assistant, under the supervision of L.K. Smith, Manuscripts Curator, in 1995; and by Jessica Caruthers, Student Assistant, under the supervision of Catherine G. OBrion, Manuscripts Archivist, in October 2002. The 2011 addition was processed by Kathryn Shackelford, Graduate Assistant.

Biographical Information

Rebecca Wood Watkin was born in 1913 in Portland, Oregon. She earned a B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in 1933, and a B. Arch. from the Architecture School of the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to the west coast, and worked in other architects' offices during the 1930s and 1940s. She earned her California Architectural license in 1944 and opened her own practice in 1951. She collaborated with architect Fred Coolidge from 1953 to 1970, and then practiced from her own office in Sausalito, California, from 1972 to 1989. She served on the Marin County Planning Commission from 1954 to 1958. She continued to design until her retirement in 1990.

Watkin married Joseph Esherick in 1938; they divorced in 1951. She married Harold Watkin in 1958; he died in 1981. She has three children. Her avocational activities include involvement in Democratic Party political campaigns on all levels of government and work with the Ecumenical Association for Housing in Marin County, California.

Watkin passed away on December 19, 2010, at the age of 97, in La Jolla, CA.

Scope and Content

The papers consist of architectural drawings of remodelings, alterations, additions, and new designs of buildings, mostly residences, that Watkin worked on from 1940 to 1989. The locations, unless otherwise noted, are all in northern California.

Also in the collection are photographs of three projects: the Watkin residence in Kentfield, California; the Creek Apartments in San Anselmo, Marin County, California; and the Watkin residence in Placer County, California; and a 1956 article in Progressive Architecture on the Watkin residence in Kentfield.

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Architectural drawing--20th century.
• International Archives of Women in Architecture (IAWA)
• Women-owned architectural firms.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Architectural drawings.

Occupations:

• Architects.