Henry Clay Smith

Charles, a co-founder, with his brother of the town of Evergreen, California, now part of San Jose, was a blacksmith, who found success in real estate (Smith Phelps Realty) and lumber (President of Union Mill and Lumber, Co.) He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was mentored by James Hamilton Windrim (1840-1919).

He subsequently practiced solo, continuing the development of a signature talent in the siting of buildings on San Francisco's hilly terrain, and became known as "The Hillside Architect."

Smith was adept at many architectural styles; there are fine examples in Spanish, Mission and Tudor Revival, Italian Renaissance and Neo-Classicism, often informed with an Arts and Crafts sensibility.

They made a home in Los Gatos, California, "Far Hills," where Smith could indulge his artistic imagination and love of landscape architecture.

Henry Clay Smith died on December 10, 1945, resident in his Cloister Apartments in San Francisco.