Richard Lareau

Born on October 17, 1927, in Bremerton, Washington, Dick Lareau moved to Chula Vista with his family when he was 4. "At Sweetwater High School, he was the school photographer, played on the tennis team and delivered what was believed to be the hilly area’s longest bicycle paper route for The Union-Tribune," according to the paper.

While still in school, he would visit his older brother at Cal where he would witness his friend Jack Herman's architectural coursework. Seeing the renderings of a young Cal architecture student caused Richard to tell his brother how badly he wanted to draw that well. He graduated from Sweetwater High School as the World War II ended in 1945. Dick's junior high teacher asked the class to design a home -- he took the assignment very seriously and began gathering a sense of what a house design meant to his fellow students (seeing them as clients early on).

Dick sold bottled water door-to-door for five months before following his father's footsteps into military service. In 1949, he finished his US Navy V-5 Flight program and began studies at the University of New Mexico, San Diego State College. Under the tutelage of sculptor John Dirks (being particularly influenced in his perspective drawing class) and painter Jean Swiggett, Richard built his GPA and transferred to Cal. At Berkeley, Lareau would earn a BA and MA in architecture and would act as president of the campus Architectural Association (as did architect J. Herbert Brownell years earlier).

Dick returned to San Diego where he felt more opportunity would arise in a city with too few licensed architects. He started his professional career in the office of Kitchen and Hunt and later for Paderewski, Mitchell & Dean until he opened his own midtown office on 6th Avenue in 1957. Through the late 1950s and early '60s, Dick would practice from his small office, including a move northward to another office on 6th Avenue and then onto 5055 Harbor Drive. By 1968, the Lareau office drew up plans for the office at 2845 Nimitz, where he continued to practice for nearly four decades.

Before building a successful practice, including a concurrent position as Cal Western's (later Point Loma Nazarene) campus architect, the Lareau offices took on a number of residential commissions. Not taking his first Sunday off until two years into self-employment, Lareau worked constantly grabbing any house design he could (including his own home) to make a name for himself. Losing the Lareau Residence #1 design to divorce early on, the office began to grow past the early "lean" years. Past the early designs for (his first client he found while still in Paderewski's office) Howard Brubeck (Dave Brubeck's brother) and Jean McCommins (who was a student in Richard's UC Extension Home Design course), the firm specialized in religious structures, commercial buildings, public schools and university work.

With an early respect for Harwell Hamilton Harris, as witnessed in the Howard Brubeck Residence, Lareau's design philosophy was built around expressing the structure of a building. Seeing structure as a building's decorative program, Richard's fondness for circular buildings was profound. From circular churches, Cal Western's Little Theater (his first project for Campus President Rust) to Mission Bay Park Visitor Information Center and the Wycoff Residence (both helixes), he recalled "the circle is a beautiful thing."

Growing to a staff of 15 at its peak, the Lareau office acted as a training ground for a number of the region's architects such as Paul McKim, George Hartley, Bill Richards and Paul Thoryk. The offices on Nimitz would also house interior designers and landscape architects including Seifert and Wyckoff. In addition to working with local landscape architects, the Lareau office also engaged local artists James Hubbell, Ira Spector and Mike Madson to integrate their sculptural work into some of the firm's projects.

Partial Project List

Bachelors Officers Quarters
Naval Air Station Imperial Beach

Bachelor Enlisted Quarters
Camp Pendleton

Benjamin Library (sculpture by Ira Spector)
5188 Zion Avenue, Allied Gardens

Berger, Eugene Residence Remodel (1964)
Garden Lane, Point Loma
*Here Lareau installed his own design for a shower/bath spout which he failed to secure mass production

Boehm, Dwight Residence (1966)
2320 Via Subria, Vista
*Published by Masonry Industry (September, 1960)

Bone, Jack Residence (1960)
1914 Guy Street, Mission Hills

Boney Hall (1967)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Brown, Mike Residence (1968)
5645 Taft, La Jolla

Brubeck, Howard Residence (1959)
8141 Vista Drive, La Mesa

Cal Western Dining Hall (1962)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Cal Western Fine Arts & Music Buildings (1969)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Cal Western Gymnasium (1962)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Cal Western Science Building (1967)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

California Western remodel of Old San Diego Club (1966)
6th & Ash Street, San Diego

Casa Hardware & Lumber Co. (1968)
3706 S. Barcelona, Spring Valley

Centre West - Richard Lareau Office Building (1969)
2845 Nimitz Boulevard, Point Loma

Copp Hall
32nd Street Naval Station, San Diego

Cranston, John Residence (1972)
337 Pacific Avenue, Solana Beach

Davis Apartments
National City

Henry, Fred Residence (1963)
1102 Sorrento Drive, Ocean Beach

Kensington Library Remodel (1961)
4121 Adams Avenue, Kensington

Lareau, Richard Residence #1 (1964)
2922 McCall Street, Point Loma

Lareau, Richard Residence #2 (1970)
2922 McCall, Point Loma

McCommins, Jean and Robert Residence (1959)
4896 Taltec Drive, La Mesa

Men's Dormitory (1960)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Mission Bay Visitors Information Center (1969)
2688 East Mission Bay Drive, San Diego

Navy Exchange Addition (1962)
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
*Formerly Naval Air Station Miramar

Navy Exchange Cafeteria (1972)
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
*Formerly Naval Air Station Miramar

Newman, Ruth Residence (1963)
1310 Alta Vista Drive, Vista

Ocean Beach Kindergarten (1964)
Ocean Beach

Pacific Beach Community Congregational Church (1966)
2088 Beryl Street, Pacific Beach

The Pan Pacific House (1959)
6361 Elmhurst Drive, Del Cerro
*Designed on spec for contractor Tom Bignell and exhibited during the San Diego Parade of Homes. Recognized at the 1964 United Masonry Association of San Diego Awards.

Resurrection Lutheran Church of Coronado
5th & Orange Avenue, Coronado

Ryan Library (1962)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University; Originally featured interior light fixtures by James Hubbell

Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Classrooms (1964)
1430 Melody Lane, El Cajon
*Robert Des Lauriers designed Phase 2

San Diego Public Library - East San Diego Branch Library (1961)
4089 Fairmount Avenue, San Diego

Sheldon, Gale W. Residence (1961)
972 Wakefield Court, El Cajon

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity (1967)
5076 College Place, San Diego

United States International University (1970)
10455 Pomerado Road, San Diego
*Now Alliant University, Lareau designed the Master Plan, Administrative Buildings, Library and Learning Resource Center, Science Building and lecture hall and Academic Classroom Cluster.

University City United Church (1967-70)
2877 Governor Drive, University City

Vollmer, Rose Residence #1 (1965)
4515 Ladera Street, Sunset Cliffs

Vollmer, Rose Residence #2 (1966)
4101 Lomaland Drive, Point Loma

Vollmer, Rose Residence #3
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

White, Jack Residence (1964)
690 Rimini Road, Del Mar
*This designed earned Lareau his first AIA Award of Merit

Women's Dormitory (1962)
Point Loma Nazarene University, Point Loma
*Formerly on the campus of California Western University

Wycoff, Ryan Residence (1968)
*Helix-shaped home in Del Mar (Off Del Mar Heights Road near Pine Needles). Designed by Wheeler employee Ronald Wiseman, built by Herb Turner