Henry Doelger
Encyclopedia
Henry Doelger (1896, San Francisco - 1978) was a San Francisco developer known for the creation of large low-cost housing tracts in San Francisco and Daly City
.
Doelger built large sections of San Francisco’s Sunset District during the 1940s. In 1947, Doelger and his associates started building what is now known as the Westlake district
in Daly City. This is one of the earliest examples of a large-tract suburb
. Life Magazine featured photographs of the numerous rows of houses in the 1950s, which were immortalized in the song Little Boxes
.
Henry Doelger died in 1978 at the age of 82.
Daly City, California
Daly City is the largest city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with a 2010 population of 101,123. Located immediately south of San Francisco, it is named in honor of businessman and landowner John Daly.-History:...
.
Biography
Doelger was born behind his parents' bakery in San Francisco. After his father's death when he was 12 years old, Doelger left school in the 8th grade in order to help support his family. Henry Doelger went into business with his two brothers Frank and John Jr, eventually becoming a major real estate developer in San Francisco.Doelger built large sections of San Francisco’s Sunset District during the 1940s. In 1947, Doelger and his associates started building what is now known as the Westlake district
Westlake, Daly City, California
The Westlake District of Daly City, California, is one of the first post-World War II suburbs in the United States. Located just south of San Francisco, Westlake has frequently been compared to Levittown, New York, the first major large-scale postwar middle-class housing development in the...
in Daly City. This is one of the earliest examples of a large-tract suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
. Life Magazine featured photographs of the numerous rows of houses in the 1950s, which were immortalized in the song Little Boxes
Little Boxes
"Little Boxes" is a song written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963.The song is a political satire about the development of suburbia and associated conformist middle-class attitudes...
.
Henry Doelger died in 1978 at the age of 82.
Books and articles
- Brechin, Gray. (1990). "Mr. Levitt of the Sunset". San Francisco Focus, June 23, 1990.
- Keil, Rob. (2006). Little Boxes: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb. Daly City, CA: Advection Media. ISBN 0977923649.
External links
- "Visionary's 'ticky-tacky' landmarks" by Ken Garcia, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, October 15, 2002. - "Praising San Francisco's Champion of Conformity" by Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times, January 29, 2003.
- "Profile: Builder Henry Doelger" by Rob Keil, Daly City History Online (website), 2005.
- "Streetwise: Doelger City" by Steve LaBounty, Western Neighborhoods Project (website), November 1999.
- "The Changing Physical Landscape of the Sunset District: The Late 1800s through the Mid-1900s" by Lorri Ungaretti, Encyclopedia of San Francisco (website), 2004.
- Westlake Resource