CARTER SPARKS (1923-1996)

Sparks studied engineering at Oregon State University before serving in the Navy in WWII.  He got a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley then worked as a draftsman for two architectural firms in San Francisco:  Mario Corbett, and Anshen and Allen (who designed homes for Joseph Eichler). In Sacramento, he was a designer with Gordon Stafford. After earning his state license, Sparks opened his own firm in 1954. He partnered with Donald Thaden for a few years, but primarily worked as a sole practitioner.  Alone, as the architect for the Streng Brothers, Sparks contributed to over 3,000 modern residences in the Sacramento Region. In addition to these plentiful examples, Sparks designed commercial and civic buildings and many custom homes for individual clients, ranging in feature and style from modest low-slung concrete block and plywood structures, to expressionist forms employing hyperbolic roofs and symphonic beam play, to larger cathedrals of redwood and glass. Bio adapted from cartersparks.org.

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Note:  We're going to do something we've never done, which is to link to an external archive.  Justin Wood has just done such a superb job of cataloguing Sparks' work in great detail, there's no point in repeating it here.   Enjoy!

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