Following graduation from USC's School of Architecture in the 1947, French worked for Lloyd Ruocco in his office at The Design Center. Following his tenure with Ruocco, he worked for Henry Hester in the early 1950s. By the late 1950s, he had moved over to Boyle Engineering. Here he designed the Balboa Stadium expansion in 1960 and worked for the firm through the 1980s.
Soon after graduation from USC's School of Architecture, French worked for Lloyd Ruocco in his office at The Design Center. Following his tenure with Ruocco, Stanley worked for Henry Hester in the early 1950s. Following which, he became interested in commercial construction and moved on to a position with L.C. Anderson Co. as an estimator for a number of years.
By the late 1950s, French moved over to Boyle Engineering where he helped with the Balboa Stadium expansion in 1960. According to French, the Balboa Stadium project “…focused on enlarging the seating capacity of the original stadium constructed by the WPA… I received my contract in June and the city scheduled football games in late August. This called for fast action. Main columns and footings were poured on site using precast, pre-stressed concrete with “high early” strength cement. Seat sections were poured on one day and put into place the next. I practically lived at the job site, and we nearly made the deadline by only rescheduling the first game.” Employed with Boyle into the 80’s, he was the senior architect for projects such as a proposal for a floating stadium for the San Diego Chargers.
French was proud of the San Diego County Juvenile Detention Center (1967) for decades following its completion. The design for this building included some solar power considerations that were ahead of their time. French offered, "The entire line of exterior sunscreen panels moved so that screens were protecting exterior glass and were activated by solar clocks. They automatically returned to the starting position at night."
"While I led Boyle Engineering’s Architectural Division, we provided complete services for El Camino Memorial Park from its inception, including all surveys and mapping, design of roads, water system and drainage, administration building, cremation facilities, mausoleum, and illustrations for sales kits. The three arch design theme was carried throughout the park,” he later offered.
Through Boyle Engineering, he traveled to Ruidoso, New Mexico to meet a Mescalero Apache Chief to create the Inn of the Mountain Gods, his largest career project. He became enamored with the town and decided to relocate to the area in 1975. There, he designed several private residences, commercial buildings and a golf course until he retired for health reasons in 2000.
Balboa Stadium Expansion (1960)
SDSU (demolished)
El Camino Memorial Park
5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood
Inn of the Mountain Gods
287 Carrizo Canyon Road, Mescalero, NM
Kircher Residence
La Crescentia Drive, Point Loma
Montecito Memorial Park
Colton
Mountain View Cemetery
San Bernardino
Pacific View Memorial Park
Newport Beach
San Diego County Juvenile Detention Center (1967)
2801 Meadow Lark Drive
San Diego Zoo - SkyFari and Wegaforth Bowl
Santa Clara Memorial Park
Santa Clara
Spanish Landing Park
Harbor Island
Valley of Fire Monument
Hawaii
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