BIOGRAPHY of Robert Alan Bowlby

Robert Alan Bowlby was born (1932) and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - In 1950 he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma’s School of Architecture, then under the guidance of Bruce Goff as Chairman.

After graduation in January of 1956 he moved to Houston, Texas where he worked as a draftsman for Herb Greene in the office of Joseph Krakower. He worked in the production of construction documents for Greene’s residential work.

When architectural commissions for the Krakower office waned in October of 1956, Bruce Goff invited him to Bartlesville, Oklahoma to work in his new office in the Frank Lloyd Wright Price Tower. While there he was responsible for preparation of construction documents for Goff’s Comer, Motsenbocher, Pollock (later the Warriner house), Freeman #1, John Quincy Adams, Gutman, Durst houses, and the Price Studio. Bowlby supervised the construction of the Comer, Motsenbocher, Pollock Houses, the Price Studio and prepared the preliminary perspective drawings for Goff’s Circle Tower, the Telemovie project, and the interior perspective for Goff’s Trinity Baptist Church project. He left Bartlesville in April of 1959 to travel for the first time to see Wright’s work in Chicago and Arizona.

Bowlby then returned to Oklahoma City to work in the large architectural office of Bailey, Bozalis, Dickenson and Roloff while trying for an architectural license. During this time, he designed and built a new bank building in Oklahoma City. In the summer of 1964, he worked for Herb Greene in Norman, Oklahoma, helping to prepare the construction documents for Greene’s Cunningham and Moorman Houses, Later, he supervised the construction of the Cunningham House.

In 1967, while still working days for the Architectural firm in Oklahoma City, he spent many nights producing the construction drawings for the first addition to Bruce Goff’s Price Studio in Bartlesville. Later that year he moved to Lexington, Kentucky to manage the firm of Carruthers Coleman, Architect where Herb Greene was the design consultant for the firm.

In 1970 he moved to Denver, Colorado to work in the architectural office of Max Saul & Associates where Mickey Muennig was also a member of the firm. In 1972, he moved to Tahoe City, CA for work in an architectural firm doing condominium work around the lake and in Hawaii. Later that year he made another move to try to set up shop in Big Sur, CA but finally moved to Carmel where he opened his own office in 1974, designing and building a house for his wife, Toby and himself on Spindrift road in Carmel Highlands.

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Bowlby Residence, Carmel Highlands, California.

In 1978 he returned to Denver, Colorado to establish his office and architectural practice where he remains today working on residential additions and revisions. In 1979, Bruce Goff asked him to produce the construction documents for the revisions and addition to the Oklahoma City Warriner House (the former 1957 Pollock House). Though Bowlby has lessened his practice, he still is receptive to projects for former clients and small creative work that add to the quality of his clients’ lives.

Bowlby has always been interested in community planning and has been in positions of leadership in several neighborhood and community groups, including Lexington’s South Hill Historic Association, Denver’s Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, Morgan’s Historic District and Civic Center Association.

He has also given many volunteer hours to the Denver Art Museum, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, the Bead Museum of Glendale, Arizona, and the Friends of Kebyar.

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This page made by James Schildroth, Architect