Theodore Bernardi

Theodore C. Bernardi was born in 1903 in Yugoslavia and moved with his family to the United States in 1904. He earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley in 1924, and studied at the graduate level for a short time. Bernardi worked as an architect and draftsman in a number of Bay Area firms, earning his architectural license in 1933. He worked for the firm of William W. Wurster from 1934-1942 and directed his independent architectural practice in the Wurster office between and 1942 and 1944. In late 1945 Donn Emmons joined Wurster & Bernardi (formed in 1944) establishing the firm Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons (WBE). In addition to his work at the firm, Bernardi was a lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture between 1954 and 1971. He was elected to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects in 1962, and WBE won the AIA Architectural Firm Award Medal in 1965.

The Theodore C. Bernardi collection consists of student work, HABS information, and one project file. Student work includes books of basic drawing exercises as well as elaborately rendered presentation boards. The collection also contains elevations, plans and detail drawings of the San Carlos Presidio Church (Monterey) completed as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), as well as procedural bulletins from HABS. Project records consist of drawings and specifications for residences designed and built for Mr. and Mrs. Russell Giffen by the firm Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons.