Purchase the book.

The book costs $20 and is available at Bell’s Books, 536 Emerson Street, Palo Alto. The book will also be available to purchase directly if attending any PAST Heritage walking tours in May or October 2023. For more information on tour dates, please see past heritage.org.

Bo drafted the text and did the layout for Birge Clark Selected Projects, a book that was published by Palo Alto Stanford (PAST) Heritage (as was Ticket to Rock), which receives the sales proceeds. The book commemorates the 100th anniversary of the establishing of Birge Clark’s architectural office in 1922 on Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto. The book highlights four of Clark’s residential designs and four of his commercial designs, now familiar iconic Palo Alto features.

The commercial buildings that are highlighted in the book include: the Graduate Palo Alto hotel (formerly the Hotel President), the Hamilton Avenue Post Office, the Roth Building (soon to house the Palo Alto History Museum),and the Lucie Stern Community Center. Residences include those of Lucie Stern and author Kathleen Norris, whose rambling house was once the Newman Center. Clark was noted for designing in the Spanish California Colonial style that was prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in 1893, a year before Palo Alto incorporated, Birge lived into his 90s and did hundreds of projects throughout Palo Alto, Stanford, and surrounding environs.