Clarence Cullimore, Sr. was born in Jacksonville, Illinois October 20, 1886. After graduating from Belmont Military Academy in 1905, he pursued a B.S. in Architecture at the University of California where he granduated in 1910. He obtained his Master of Architecture in 1942 from the University of Southern California. He entered the Army in 1917 in Company F, 361 Infantry commissioned as a First Lieutenant.

Licensed to practice architecture in 1927, Mr. Cullimore also taught architecture, drawing, and descriptive geometry at Kern County Union High School and Bakersfield College. He also had a passion for adobe architecture and construction and was considered an expert. Because of this expertise he published a number of magazine and newspaper articles on historic old adobe houses as well as the books Santa Barbara Adobes and Old Adobes of Forgotten Fort Tejon. The highlights of this collection include correspondence with state elected officials (including the Governor) to restore and preserve Fort Tejon as well as architectural drawings his students completed in his classes.

Clarence Cullimore, Jr. was born in Bakersfield on April 12, 1926. He attended local schools and graduated from Bakersfield High School. World War II interrupted his education but after his service in the Navy he pursued a Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Southern California. Cully’s career was dedicated to architecture. He spent twenty-seven years working for the State of California and three years as the Director of Building Safety in Stockton, California. Over the course of his career he designed buildings for the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Atascadero and San Mateo School Districts.

His legacy can be found, perhaps, in the area of historic preservation. Cully spent fifteen years as Executive Director of the California State Historical Building Advisory Board. His tenure resulted in the development and adoption of the California State Historical Building Code and remains in effect today. He was awarded for his work with the President’s Award from the California Preservation Foundation.