Background
John M. Curtis was born at St. Louis, United States.
John M. Curtis was born at St. Louis, United States.
He was first apprenticed to a building contractor, later was employed as draftsman in the office of Mitchell & Brady, and after working there five years moved to San Francisco. Beginning as an "assistant" of architect E. J. Baldwin who was engaged in preparing plans for a theatre and hotel building in the city described as "magnificent," Mr. Curtis subsequently established his own office, and carried on his work alone until 1881. In that year he joined the office of A. A. Bennett, then State Architect, where he aided in preparing plans for a number of business and public buildings including the German Bank Building at 528 California Street; Sonoma County Court House at Santa Rosa (under erection in 1883), and the Humboldt County Court House at Eureka.
Mr. Curtis subsequently appointed Supervising Architect on work at the old City Hall in San Francisco.
He was a member of the old Pacific Coast Association of Architects, later merged with the San Francisco Chapter, A. I. A.