Longtime resident of Berkeley, Kenneth H. Cardwell (1920 – 2010) was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended Occidental College for two years before transferring to UC Berkeley (UCB) in 1939 to study architecture. During World War II, Cardwell took a break in his studies and enlisted in the U.S. (Army) Air Force in the South Pacific from 1941-1945. After an honorable discharge, he returned to UC Berkeley and completed his BA in Architecture in 1947. He worked in the firms of Thomsen and Wilson of San Francisco; Michael Goodman, and Winfield Scott Wellington in Berkeley; Kolbeck, Cardwell & Christopherson in Oakland; and Hall, Goodhue, and Haisley. Early in his professional career, he also worked as a historical preservationist and reconstruction consultant with his wife, Mary (Sullivan) Cardwell, also a UCB graduate. Early in the 1940s, Cardwell became friends with Bernard and Annie Maybeck, beginning his lifelong fascination and scholarly research on Maybeck. He worked alongside Maybeck to catalogue the homes designed by Maybeck throughout Berkeley. Out of his research of and with Maybeck, Cardwell published Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist in 1977, republished in 1996; a groundbreaking book that brought Maybeck’s name to the forefront of architectural history. In 1949 Cardwell began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and retired as a full professor in 1982. He created and taught the University's first course in Historic Preservation, which integrated the cultural and literary heritage of the West with the development of its physical environment. While at Berkeley, Cardwell also began collecting many architectural records relating to Bay Area Architectural History, developing what would become the College of Environmental Design Archives. He collected the works of Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, John Galen Howard, Willis Polk, and Charles Greene.

In 1976, Kenneth Cardwell joined the firm Hall, Goodhue, and Haisley where he worked as an architectural preservationist and in community conservation. At this firm, he used his knowledge of architectural styles, construction techniques, and biographical information of individual architects to most accurately report and restore northern Californian historical sites. Important projects he surveyed, restored, and consulted on during this time include: the Historical American Buildings Survey on the U.S. Mint and Montgomery Block of San Francisco, the Sanchez Adobe building, the Cooper-Molera Adobe, the U.S. Customs House and U.S. Post Office, and South Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon retirement in 1982 he received the University of Berkeley Citation for Distinguished Teaching. Kenneth Cardwell was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. A civic-minded citizen, he served on Berkeley's Civic Art Commission and the Board of Adjustments. Sources: Kenneth Cardwell, Curriculum Vitae Kenneth Cardwell Obituary, East Bay Times from Jan. 14 to Jan. 16, 2010 “In Memoriam,” by S. Tobriner 2011, https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/inmemoriam/html/kennethhcardwell.html