Background
George W. Percy was born in 1847 at Bath, Maine, United States.
George W. Percy was born in 1847 at Bath, Maine, United States.
He went to Portland while a youth to serve an architectural apprenticeship under the late E. E. Fassett, and as draftsman continued in the office for a number of years. Later he worked in Boston with the firm of Bradlee & Winslow. In 1876 Mr. Percy moved to San Francisco where he subsequently joined F. F. Hamilton in partnership, and during the latter years of his career was identified with the design of a number of public buildings in San Francisco and other Californian cities.
Among Percy & Hamilton's best known works was the old Academy of Science Building in San Francisco built on Market Street near Fifth; the Children’s Playhouse with landscaped grounds in Golden Gate Park, and the First Unitarian Church at Geary and Franklin Streets. In 1891, shortly before Mr. Hamiliton’s death, the firm was commissioned to design the eleven¬story Hayward Building, a reinforced concrete structure at California and Montgomery Street, afterward re-named the Kohl Building. Mr. Percy completed plans of the building after his partner's decease, and during its erection Henry H. Meyers supervised the construction.
In addition to work in San Francisco, Percy & Hamilton designed the old City Hall in Alameda; Museum, Library and Assembly Hall at Stanford University, Palo Alto; the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamiliton, Hoitt’s School in Menlo Park, and an Episcopal Church in Stockton.
A leading member of the profession in San Francisco during his career, Mr. Percy was a member of the American Institute of Architects, a Trustee of the San Francisco Chapter, and a member and past-president of the Technical Socitey.