William S. Hebbard

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William Sterling Hebbard (1863-1930) was born in Milford, Michigan and was an 1887 Graduate of Cornell University. He is noted for his work as an architect in California, mostly San Diego county.

He worked as a draftsman and assistant for the Burnham and Root firm in Chicago and for Curlett, Eisen and Cuthbertson in Los Angeles. By 1890 he was in private practice in San Diego. In 1896 he formed a well known partnership with Irving Gill. The Hebbard & Gill firm arguably produced San Diego's best architecture until its break up in 1907. Hebbard worked until the year of his death, his practice slowing considerably after 1914.

'Will' Hebbard produced work in an eclectic variety of styles, including Richarsonian Romantic, Mission Revival, Arts and Crafts, Tudor Revival and Cubist Modern, He is most regarded for his designs for private residences, but did good work on commercial structures and late in his life was a naval architect with the United States Army.

His best known projects include: Pavilion at Mission Cliff Garden (1890, demolished), State Normal School (1898, with Irving Gill, demolished), City of Ramona Town Hall (1893), Christ Episcopal Church, Coronado (1894), George Marston Residence (1904/5, with Gill, now a museum).

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Little has been published about Hebbard. The most important source is an article by Kathleen Flanigan in the Winter 1987 issue of The Journal of San Diego History