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TIMOTHY LUDWIG PFLUEGER

BAY AREA ARCHITECTS

TIMOTHY LUDWIG PFLUEGER

BIOGRAPHY

Timothy Ludwig Pflueger
Born: San Francisco | 1892
Educated: little formal education; completed high school
Died: 1946

SUMMARY

Born to German immigrant parents, he was raised in the City’s Mission District.

Coming of age in an era dominated by the influence of l’Ecole des Beaux Arts, he defied the dominant tastes of the day by embracing a daring modernist aesthetic all his own.

Began his career as a draftsman in the office of Miller & Colmesnil where, at the age of 18, he took part in the design of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. At the age of 20, Pflueger designed his first solo project, Our Lady of the Wayside. He became a junior partner of the firm in 1919 and remained until the late 1930’s.

The firm’s work includes: the Castro Theater (1921), Roosevelt Jr. High School (1924), the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Building (1925), and Alhambra Theater (1928). The Medical-Dental Office Building, at 450 Sutter Street, (1929) was innovative because it took advantage of the steel frame, emphasizing a thin-skinned exterior, with delicate Mayan-ornamented spandrels alternating with windows, some of which wrap the corners of the building.

Later work includes: the Paramount Theater in Oakland (1931), the remodel of the New Mission Theater in San Francisco (1932), George Washington High School (1932), El Rey Theater (1936), Transbay Terminal (1939), Union Square Garage & Plaza, and City College of San Francisco. He also served on the Board of Architects in charge of designing the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.