Samuel & Son
Builder
Samuel & Son, as the name implies, was a father and son building company. Gilbert F. was the father and Gordon F. was the son.
According to the 1920 Census, Gilbert was born in Missouri in 1887. He was married to Eunice Samuel, and they lived in Colorado. They had one son, Gordon, who was 9 years old at the time of the census. Gilbert was listed as a “Carpenter”.
Both Gilbert and Gordon show up in the 1926 City Directory for San Diego as living together at 4378 41st Street in North Park. By 1927, Gilbert is listed as a carpenter in the phonebook.
Gordon was born in 1911 in Missouri. He was listed as working with his father in the Classified section under Contractors in the San Diego City Directories from 1937 until 1942. Gordon was married to Mary L. Samuel, and they had a son, Arthur, and a daughter, Barbara.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has an Obituary on Gordon F. Samuel from July 29, 1995. The title is, Gordon F. Samuel, 84; held oil, construction interests. The article states that Gordon grew up in a 15-acre ranch in Mission Valley during the 1920s. The broadcaster Art Linkletter was a classmate and friend who lived with Gordon’s family until they both graduated from San Diego State Teachers College, as it was known then. Art went on to become famous in broadcasting (The Art Linkletter Show, among others), and Gordon went on to work in the family construction business. He worked with his father approximately 5 years (1937-1942). He then went into the aircraft and defense industry. After WWII, Linkletter and Gordon reunited, and went into the oil well business in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Graham, Texas. Gordon Samuel retired in 1980 and died of bone cancer in 1995.
From 1947 until the 1960s, Gordon lived in Talmadge at 4850 Monroe Avenue, which he and his father originally built in 1940.
Samuel & Son built 20 houses within the Talmadge Park Estates Historic District (TPEHD). They built in the Minimal Traditional and Streamline Moderne styles.
Samuel and Son have two houses that were individually designated by the City of San Diego. One is The Willis and Jane Cotton Fletcher House in La Playa and Malin Burham House in Point Loma.
Considering they only built together for 5 years, the father and son team built many quality and beautiful homes together.
Reference
May, Ronald V. & May, Dale Ballou 2008. “The Willis and Jane Cotton Fletcher House/Ralph L. Frank, Architect” Historical Nomination, Pages 21-22, & 87.