Background
Charles Bebb was born in 1856 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom.
Charles Bebb was born in 1856 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom.
He was educated in London at Kings College, he studied engineering at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
He began his career in that field of work in South Africa, employed by the Cape Government Railroad in building the Capetown-Kimberly Railroad.
Mr. Bebb arrived in the U. S. in 1880, subsequently settled in Chicago where he found employment as Construction Engineer with the Illinois Terra Cotta Company, and during the five years he worked there acquired experience which later proved of value in his practice. Leaving the Terra Cotta Company, he joined the office of Adler G Sullivan as Supervisor of Construction and remained with the firm until 1890, when he decided to begin his career in the Pacific Northwest. Later, having established a residence in Seattle, he worked for a time in a supervisory capacity with architectural firms, also independently designed a number of buildings.
After 1912, in which year the firm of Bebb & Gould opened offices to start professional practice in Seattle, the partners won recognition in the successful execution of a number of important commissions. In 1915 they were appointed architects of the Campus Plan for the newly organized University of Washington, and after the acceptance of the plan designed some twenty of the major buildings for the University, the first to be completed being the Home Economics Building. The firm also designed a number of buildings at the Western Washington University at Bellingham, erected between 1925 and 1929, including the Library and Home Economics Building. In addition Bebb & Gould were architects of several important public and commercial, notable examples of which were: the Hoge Building; LI. S. Marine Hospital; The Frye and Stander Hotels; Cyrus Walker Office Building; the Normal School; Athletic Club; the new Seattle Times Building (1915); the Art Museum, completed in 1932, and the Virginia Mason Hotel. For several years Mr. Bebb was architect for the Pacific Telephone Company and designed buildings erected at Tacoma, Bremerton and other cities, also various works for the Boeing Aircraft Company, Government Locks at Ballard; the new Public Library at Everett, and residential and commercial buildings at Bellingham, Everett and Yakima. At the new State Capitol at Olympia, Mr. Bebb served as Supervising Architect during its erection, also designed the Legislative Building and the Temple of Justice in the Capitol group.
After 1929, when the partnership was terminated by the death of Mr. Gould, Mr. Bebb carried on his work in association with John Paul Jones. He also collaborated at intervals with other architects on various projects, the most important being the Olympic Hotel, with the George B. Post Company of New York; and the General' Hospital at Everett, of which Stevens & Lee of Boston were the architects.
Dean of Washington architects at the time of his death, Mr. Bebb had been a member of the State Chapter of the A. I. A. since 1901, and president during three terms. In 1910 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute. He also served three years as the first Chairman of the Board of Appeals.
He was also prominent in civic affairs, one of the organizers of the Municipal Planning Commission, and a moving spirit in the architectural development of Seattle.