Roger Lee (1920-1981)

Roger Lee received his BA in Arts and Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley with top design honors in 1941. Between 1941 and 1945 he worked with William Hays and Howard Moïse on U.S. Post Offices and served as an Assistant Engineer with the U.S. Engineers office in Honolulu, working on various defense projects. Following the war he briefly worked with a number of firms in the Los Angeles area and then returned to the Bay Area in 1947.

Lee was noted for the grace and clarity of his residential designs and in 1957, the London Architectural Review recognized him as one of forty U.S. architects who have “made personal contributions to American Architecture.” In 1964 he moved his practice to Hawaii. During the course of his California practice, he designed nearly 100 residences, and a small number of apartments, housing projects, recreational facilities, and churches. The Lee collection consists of photographs and drawings for more than 175 projects.