Nearly nine decades after his death, renowned architect Irving J. Gill (1870-1936) was finally laid to rest during a public memorial ceremony at Mt. Hope Cemetery on Oct. 7. About 100 people attended the event to honor his life and acknowledge the significant contributions he made to San Diego’s built environment.

Proclaimed “Irving J. Gill Day” by Mayor Todd Gloria, the event took place on the 88th anniversary of Gill’s death.

Several people with professional or personal ties to Gill spoke, including representatives from key organizations and homeowners of Gill-designed residences. Others attended because they too had heard the media reports that Gill’s ashes had been found after decades of sitting in a cardboard box on a shelf at the Cypress View Mausoleum.

Gill’s ashes had been placed in a temporary cardboard box with a typed identification label. A handwritten “Hold” on the side of the box presumably indicated a family member would retrieve it. Instead, the box was placed on a storage shelf at the mausoleum where it stayed for more than eight decades.

In 2021, volunteers from the Find-a-Grave website (findagrave.com) documented the paper records of the permanent and temporary interred at Cypress View. In mid-2022, a Gill aficionado was looking for Gill’s gravesite on the Find-a-Grave website. He found the recently uploaded record that indicated Gill’s ashes were still at Cypress View. He contacted the Irving J. Gill Foundation (IJGF) for more information.

James B. Guthrie is a founder and president of the IJGF, who also owns a Gill-designed home (Cossitt Cottage, 1910).

When asked about his reaction to the revelatory news, Guthrie said: “Since 1993, when the first book that mentions Gill’s remains was written by San Diegan Bruce Kamerling (1950-1995), we had all believed that Marion, Gill’s wife, had spread his ashes shortly after his death. Kamerling was a good researcher, so we never doubted his work. We can only assume now that the distant Gill relative who passed on what was thought to be an accurate story was wrong.”

Guthrie confirmed the remarkable turn of events with Cypress View and was told that only a descendant could retrieve Gill’s remains. Gill and his wife Marion Agnes (Waugh) had no children. When genealogy searches failed to find a living descendant or related relative, the IJGF successfully petitioned the County of San Diego to secure Gill’s remains.

Guthrie’s plea: “Gill was a great San Diegan and remains a world-renowned architect. We have to do something. We can’t just leave him there.”

The IJGF helped organize Gill’s interment, as well as having used its general funds to purchase a burial plot for him in Mt. Hope Cemetery. According to Guthrie, “Mt. Hope was selected as Gill’s final resting place because it is one of San Diego’s historic cemeteries and many of his friends, associates, and clients are also buried there.”

Guthrie began the touching and befitting memorial service by sharing some historical references and anecdotal stories about Gill’s life. Many were taken from Gill’s letters, written to and from “Jack,” the name Irving J. Gill was called by family and friends. The stories conveyed something of Gill’s character and personality, which evoked a more intimate connection to the man everyone came to honor and remember.

Then Guthrie introduced the Rev. Dr. Mark Hargreaves, rector at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla, who presided over the graveside ceremony. Gill designed the original St. James Church, which was later replaced by the current and larger church designed by his nephew, Louis Gill.

Hargreaves is not only a church leader in a place of worship historically attributed to Gill, he is also the author of an IJGF book titled, “The Sacred Architecture of Irving J. Gill” (independently published, 2023). Hargreaves started the service by inviting attendees to say a few words.

The first was Mike Schaefer, a San Diego City Council member some 50 years ago, who was one of several homeowners who attended to pay their respects. He grew up in the Gill house at 3367 Albatross St. at the corner of Upas. He showed a photograph of his former family home and said, “I’ve grown up hearing great things about Mr. Gill and when I found out that we were going to have the chance to salute his great heritage, I couldn’t wait to be here!”

In a light-hearted moment, he added, “I saw our Gill home appraised at $2 million, we bought and sold it for $20,000!”

Robin Lakin represented Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO), a nonprofit devoted to the preservation of historic architecture and landmarks in San Diego. Lakin manages the historically designated Marston House Museum (1905) in Balboa Park, designed by Gill.

Drawing from her role as the site historian, she shared this about Gill: “He left an extraordinary legacy of modern architectural innovation that embraces simplicity and resonates with the spiritual connection to the natural beauty of San Diego. We are so happy that so many of his buildings, private and public, are preserved and protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy, and are keeping his indelible mark on our region’s character alive.”

Seonaid McArthur, chair of the Landmark Committee of the La Jolla Historical Society, also highlighted some of Gill’s contributions, saying: “I just wanted to come to thank Irving Gill for creating such a beautiful enclave of buildings for La Jolla. Those buildings are a testament to his skill in planning, and his masterful use of light, form, and line … and we just pray that future and present designers and architects will just look at his work. They are a testament to his talents. We’d love to have other structures work as well as his do.”

The “Scripps enclave” of buildings McArthur spoke of was commissioned by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932). They include Scripps Hall (1910), Bentham Hall (1912-13), and Gilman Hall (1916) at The Bishop’s School, the La Jolla Woman’s Club (1914), La Jolla Recreation Center (1915), and Scripps’ own home, now the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. They are among more than 50 historically designated Gill buildings across San Diego and Southern California, including extraordinary homes, schools, churches, and civic buildings.

Hargreaves acknowledged that Bishop’s Head of School Ron Kim was in attendance, as was former student Scott Murphy, who spoke. Murphy described Gill’s masterful designs using building resources that worked in San Diego’s climate. He shared about his unique connection to Gill’s legacy, saying “[He] lived in his work for six years I was on campus at The Bishop’s School and (experienced) how it functions in the sun and the way he placed buildings.”

He added: “We need to be able to carry this baton on and see the master planning of San Diego and La Jolla. You know, have good architecture, that’s one thing that will make San Diego better, carrying on architecture like Irving Gill’s.”

Hargreaves then led a service, saying Gill “was a faithful member of an Episcopal Church, All Saints in Hillcrest, so it’s entirely fitting that our service this afternoon will follow an Episcopal order of service with which he would have been very familiar.”

The Acts of Committal included the King James Version of Psalm 23 and concluded with the Lord’s Prayer. He ended the service by saying: “Let’s give Gill the last word and I quote him from a letter he wrote to a church in Coronado… Irving J. Gill, ‘May you go into the House of the Lord and may His peace abide with you forever.’ Amen.”

The ceremony was a poignant close to a completely unexpected development in the life story of a notable San Diegan. Architect Irving John “Jack” Gill was finally laid to rest thanks to a diligent Find-a Grave volunteer, an inquisitive and observant Gill aficionado, the Irving J. Gill Foundation (IJGF), and many other organizations and individuals who took part in his memorial service.

Founded in 2015 by Guthrie and fellow architect, Steve Wallet, the IJGF is the only organized not-for-profit group working to specifically preserve Gill’s architectural legacy. A volunteer board of directors and interested others produce its many programs, including exhibits, tours, lectures, and symposiums. The Foundation, which operates solely with the support of volunteers and donated funds, would now like to commission a befitting marker for Gill’s grave. Donations to the Irving J. Gill Foundation for Gill’s headstone can be made at irvingjgill.org.