Louis Christian Mullgardt was born in Washington, Missouri in 1866. At fifteen years old, Mullgardt apprenticed with architectural firms in St. Louis. Six years later, he went to work for the firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked on plans for Stanford University. In 1889, Mullgardt enrolled as a special student at Harvard College for a brief period of formal training that was cut short by illness after a semester. By 1891, he was back to work in Chicago for Henry Ives Cobb, where Mullgardt was responsible for the exterior of the Newbury Library and detailing the Fisheries Building at the World Columbian Exposition.

Mullgardt formed his first partnership—Stewart, McClure, and Mullgardt—in Chicago in 1892, and the firm lasted for two years. He then went on a year long European tour. In 1899 he formed a short-lived partnership with John M. Dunham. From 1903 to 1904 Mullgardt worked as a structural consultant in England, where he encountered the Arts and Crafts style. In 1905, Mullgardt arrived in San Francisco opening his own office in early 1906. Surprisingly rather than engaging in the commercial reconstruction of San Francisco following the earthquake and fire designed residences in the Oakland, Berkeley, and Piedmont Hills. These houses were in the bungalow style using natural materials and a sensitivity to the topography.

In addition to residences, Mullgardt designed the San Francisco Juvenile Court and Detention Home (1914-1916), a 9-story reinforced concrete building, and the Durant School in Oakland. In 1912, Mullgardt was appointed to the board of the Panama Pacific International Exposition. For the Exposition, he designed the “Court of the Ages,” an ornate courtyard that included an “altar tower” on one side. Mullgardt designed the President’s house for Stanford University (1915-1918), the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park (1916-1921), and a block-long business center in Honolulu (1919-1921). After a world tour in 1922-1923, Mullgardt returned to San Francisco. It was a difficult period, and he did not adapt well to the new architectural trends. Mullgardt died in a state hospital in Stockton, California, in 1942. Most of his drawings were reputedly destroyed after his death.

Source: Clark, Robert Judson. Louis Christian Mullgardt: An Exhibition Marking the Centennial Year of the Architects Birth. Santa Barbara and San Francisco, 1966