Historic Knight Library: Art & Architecture

Frederick Baker designed the lighting fixtures for the historic Knight Library, including the prominent lamps in Art Deco style at the entrances of the building.

Frederick Charles Baker was born in Bay City, Michigan, on August 15, 1887.  His family moved to southern Oregon in 1892.  Baker opened his own business in 1912 with the Pittock Mansion being his first major lighting fixture commission in 1914. He typically created works by first making a drawing, then creating a model in clay, then plaster, and the finally using a lead model for the final work in bronze  His numerous works include  fixtures at the Lloyd Frank home (Lewis & Clark College administrative building), Oregon State Capitol, Temple Beth Israel, Timberline Lodge, University Club, California Bank, University of Oregon's Straub Hall, Oregon State University's Memorial Union.  The Oregon Historical Society holds the Baker archives which include thousands of his designs.  Frederick Baker died in Portland ion October 1, 1981 at age 94.  In 1986, an anonymous donor gave the School of Architecture and Allied Arts a gift of $1 million to established an endowed chair in Baker's honor.

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SOURCES

Ancestry.com. Oregon, Death Index, 1898-2008 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.

F. C. Baker Receives Architects' Award; Oregon Chapter Gives Annual Plaque to Designer. Handcraft Gets Praise," Sunday Oregonian, April 28, 1929, 26.

McCarthy, Nancy, Architecture School to Get $1 Million," Oregonian, October 1, 1986, 28.

Sterrett, Frank, "This Lamplighter Not So Old at 80," Sunday Oregonian, April 14, 1968, 68.

Baker, Frederick Charles, University Archives Photographs, 1890s-2010s, UA Ref 3, Box 2A, Folder 5.