SUMNER P. HUNT

Los Angeles County

Biographies

SUMNER P. HUNT

HUNT, SUMNER P., Architect, Los Angeles, California, was born May 8, 1865, in Brooklyn, New York; his parents were Stephen P. Hunt and Harriet (Conkling) Hunt.

Mr. Hunt was married on January 21, 1892 to Miss Mary Hancock Chapman and a daughter was born to them, Louise Hunt.

He was educated in private schools up to the age of fourteen years, when the profession of architecture having been selected by him, he studied that art in the office of Clarence B. Cutler of Troy, New York. Mr. Hunt worked in the office of Mr. Cutler in Troy from 1879 until 1887, and in the office of Mr. Cutler in New York until 1889, in which year he removed to Los Angeles.

On arriving in Los Angeles Mr. Hunt was employed in the firm of Calkins & Haas in that city from 1889 to 1892; by that time his personality had been recognized to such an extent in the class of designs he had been turning out that he felt empowered to enter business for himself, and so occupied himself, with a high degree of success, until 1895, when, with Theodore A. Eisen, he formed a partnership under the firm name of Eisen & Hunt, which continued until 1899.

In 1899 he went into partnership with A. W. Eager, under the title of Hunt & Eager, which extended until 1908, when the firm was altered to read Hunt, Eager & Burns, and in 1910 Mr. Eager retired and the firm has since been termed Hunt & Burns.

Owing to his long residence in Los Angeles, and his arriving there properly equipped, technically and artistically, it is within bounds to say that probably no one architect has had a greater domination over the creation of a type of elegance and of appropriateness and residences and club houses than that established by Sumner P. Hunt.

A vast number of those who have resided in Los Angeles for any great length of time, and who have erected houses notable for beauty, have employed Mr. Hunt to prepare the plans and execute the work.

In such varying examples of architectural arts as the notable home of the Los Angeles County Club, the most complete edifice of the kind in the country; the Annandale County Club and the Ebell Club House at Figueroa and Eighteenth street, the effectiveness and impressiveness of Mr. Hunt’s work can be studied to advantage, when it will be seen how permanently he has marked his talent on the region where he has practised (sic).

Other examples of his capacity for adaptation of plan to environment are the beautiful home of the Casa de Rosas, the private school building at Adams and Hoover streets; the home of Mr. J. F. Francis, at Ninth and Bonnie Brae streets, the home of Mr. W. G. Kerckhoff and Mrs. Ross Clark, on Adams street, the homes of Mr. William Lacy and Mr. H. W. O’Melveny, on Wilshire boulevard, and the residence of Mr. T. L. Duque, at New Hampshire and Seventh streets. And in another direction of art, besides the buildings earlier mentioned, the buildings of the Los Angeles play grounds show the happy versatility and comprehension that have won for Mr. Hunt a most satisfactory degree of success and a recognition of his purely artistic capacity as well as the practical side of his profession.

Mr. Hunt is one of the class of social uplifters who believe in starting with the child as a working basis for future citizenship, and in laying out the playgrounds he has had in mind not only artistic effect, but plans for teaching the children how to play and at the same time to grow strong.

Mr. Hunt has been elected a member of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects; of the Engineers and Architects’ Association of Southern California; of the California Club; of the Los Angeles Country Club, the Crags County Club and the Sunset Club.

Transcribed 6-11-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 66, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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