(b. February 20, 1918 – d. 1998)

Following his graduation from UCLA in 1937, Vincent Bonini first worked for Harold Sexsmith and then Lockheed until the U.S. entered World War II. Stationed in Chicago with the US Navy between 1945-46, he worked for the home fleet newspaper. While in Chicago Captain Bonini became intrigued with architecture and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. He wrote Mr. Wright requesting an appointment to visit Spring Green – to which Wright replied, that when Vince completed his military service, he could join the Taliesin Fellowship.

In 1946, Mr. Bonini went to Taliesin East, then on to Taliesin West. By the end of his stay with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fellowship (in 1947), he was working diligently as a draftsman. In the drafting room, Bonini met both Fred and Marianne Liebhardt and a several other Fellows he would maintain long-lasting friendships with. Among them was Paolo Soleri, who Bonini, also Italian, helped translate for in his early days at Taliesin.Back in Hollywood, wife Maryann raised the children throughout Vince’s Taliesin education (Vince’s father, Robert A. Bonini worked on Wright’s Hollyhock House while the property). Additionally, in the years following the war, Bonini drafted for Harwell Hamilton Harris prior to a three year stint with Smith & Williams.

Second to Wright, Vince was heavily influenced by Harris’ design philosophy.Following his work in others’ architecture offices, Bonini sought to hang his own shingle. At first work was slow, but when Maryann displayed one of Vince’s models at the doctor’s office where she worked, his first client, the St. Julian family, responded to his design ideas. Aside from a number of custom residences, including his own, Vincent designed in the La Canada and Pasadena areas.For a short time in the 1950s, Bonini worked with Floats Inc. While he did not design any of their Rose Bowl floats, he designed the Monsanto House’s interior remodel for Floats Inc as well as the company’s own conference room.

Off the clock, Vince designed houses for Floats Inc owners Robert Henry and Roger Tierney.While working on his own residences (#1 in 1950, #2 in 1957) in La Cañada, Vincent became friends with Eugene Weston III, who at the time was building a number of contemporary residences for clients – several of which were being published by Julius Shulman. Late in 1944, Vince met Shulman, mentioning that he had built a contemporary house for himself in La Cañada. Vince and Maryann borrowed patio furniture designed by Weston to stage a Shulman photo shoot (Modernism Rediscovered pp162-163) and soon enough the photos were published in the Los Angeles Examiner (September 11, 1955).

A few years later, after the Weston family moved to La Jolla, the Boninis followed suit. While the coastal town was enough of a draw, and he now had friends in town, Vince’s daughter’s asthma was worsening as the smog increased in La Cañada. Upon arriving, Vince designed the third residence for his family on Copa d’Oro where they lived for seven years. This residence was more traditional than Vince would have liked – as the neighborhood did not allow contemporary architecture.Vince re-engaged with two of his compatriots in contemporary architecture – the firm of Liebhardt & Weston – where he worked during the 1960s.

At the time Fred Liebhardt and Eugene Weston III were designing the Hyatt Islandia Hotel and years later, several projects for The University of California San Diego. Vincent Bonini assisted the firm of Liebhardt & Weston in construction administration. As the firm’s workload slowed down Vince was hired by UCSD. Vincent Bonini would work for UC San Diego’s Architects and Engineers department for the remainder of his careerFollowing the sale of their Copa d’Oro house, the Bonini family rented Frederick and Marianne Liebhardt’s La Jolla house for a number of years. After resigning from Liebhardt & Weston, the Bonini family moved to La Jolla Shores where Vince took up surfing, remodeling their home and ultimately retirement. Mr. Bonini’s largest contribution through UCSD was his work on Scripps Memorial Hospital and UCSD Medical Center – a remodel of the San Diego County Hospital in Hillcrest.

(Many thanks to Modern San Diego)

Henry Hartwell Hester (1925-2006)

(Hester & Davis, Cody & Hester, Hester & Jones, Hester & Livingstone)

Though his designs for Gerald Jerome, Colonel Irving Salomon and Jonathan Edwards were widely published through Julius Shulman’s timeless images, the La Jolla based architect was a private man. Married twice (Piretta, Nancy) and raising a son and a daughter, Henry Hester retired in the late 1980s from his downtown La Jolla office, leaving his 2nd home on Torrey Pines Road to golf and health in Palm Springs, California.

Henry Hester was born May 30, 1925 in Vinta, Oklahoma to Loraine Burgess Hester (who was part Cherokee) and Alford Vernon Hester. Named after his two grandfathers, young Henry attended Roosevelt Junior High and Brown Military Academy in San Diego until World War II broke out. Hester served three years in the US Coast Guard and then attended USC.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, “I knew him at USC and he was a talent even then,” Hal Sadler said. “He was recognized by a group of USC people who came to San Diego as one of the early standouts in design.”
The same day he graduated from USC’s School of Architecture in 1947, he moved to La Jolla. Designing two homes for himself (also photographed by Shulman) in addition to a wide array of residential and commercial commissions, Hester had the good fortune of a small personal inheritance that allowed him to pick only the clients and projects he felt strongly about.

Through the years, Henry Hester would join in partnership with Frederick Liebhardt (ca. 1957), Ronald K. Davis (ca. 1958-60), William F. Cody (ca. 1958-1960), fellow USC-grad Robert E. Jones (ca. 1960-67) as well as Roger Zucchat and David Lorimer. According to his obituary, Hester worked alongside Lloyd Ruocco in some capacity. Projects, while mainly focused in the San Diego area, stretched to Denver, Albuquerque, Florida and throughout California.

Over the years he was published in over 30 architectural magazines and three hard cover books noting his status as a significant local architect. His local and national AIA awards are numerous across a wide range of projects.

In May, 2006 Henry Hester was profiled by Dwell Magazine regarding the restoration of the Salomon Apartments on 6th Avenue. Refusing to be aligned with the renovation, he felt the alteration of the project was significant enough that is was no longer his work.

Henry Hester’s designs peaked during as Julius Shulman recently stated, “a good period of architecture when San Diego  was just beginning to express itself in favor of modernism… in the early years…the International Style was not accepted… Hester and others warmed up the work quite a bit and edited it in a way that clients would accept.”

Henry Hester raced Formula One cars nationally, rode motorcycles in Mexico and held a multi-engine pilot’s license throughout his career. He sailed with the Coronado Yacht Club and Isla Del Sol Yacht Club (in St. Petersburg, FL), In addition to his interest in windsurfing, water skiing and dominoes, Hester was a devoted golfer at La Jolla Country Club, Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, and Indian Ridge Country Club (in Palm Desert).
Among the few articles on Henry Hester, the September 1983 San Diego Magazine review of San Diego’s architectural firms included a very brief description of his firm: “In the last seven years Hester has limited his practice to custom residential projects.

A solid “contemporary architect,” he says his work runs “a broad gamut, from designing houses with limited budgets to designing houses with no budgets at all.” He also incorporates landscaping and interior work into his practice.”

Photographs by Julius Shulman