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HENRY J. DEGENKOLB
1 913-1 989
BY WILLIAM ~
. HALL
HENRY I. DEGENKOLB, a leading structural engineer in San
Francisco, California, passed away on December 9, 1989, in
San Francisco following a long battle with heart disease,
cancer, and related ailments. His contributions to the
community and to public safety will long be remembered
as precedent setting for the entire engineering profession.
To most of us, earthquakes are frightening events, but to
Henry Degenkolb, they were his laboratory. Perhaps more
than anyone else, Henry established and demonstrated the
art of "learning from observation" through visiting the sites
of damaging earthquakes to determine why certain buildings
performed well, while others were seriously damaged or
collapsed. As one of the pioneers of "earthquake chasing,"
Henry Degenkolb was one of the few people willing to give
of his own time and resources to visit the sites of damaging
earthquakes all over the world. His observations were
landmarks in the evaluations of seismic effects on engineered
buildings and facilities in Kern County in 1952, Eureka in
1954, San Francisco in 1957, Anchorage in 1964, Caracas
in 1967, Santa Rosa in 1969, San Fernando in 1971, Managua
in 1972, Oroville in 1975, Guatemala in 1976, and Mexico
City in 1985.
In explaining the importance of chasing earthquakes,
Henry once said, "The principal reason for rushing to the
45
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46
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
site is to evaluate the earthquake and its effects on engi-
neered buildings. It is really the only means we have of
assessing and improving upon the quality of our work. You
can apply theory to the limit, but the true test is to see how
the construction performs under the stress for which it was
designed."
Putting his research and analysis into practice, Henry
Degenkolb was responsible for the structural design of some
of the most distinctive structures in California. One of the
first major jobs he handled was the structural design of the
eleven apartment buildings that comprise the Parkmerced
Towers in San Francisco, constructed in 1948. Since then,
his structural design work has included downtown San
Francisco's International Building, the Fireman's Fund Home
Office Building, University of California at San Francisco's
Long Hospital, and the Stanford Court Hotel. Henry
Degenkolb was responsible for structural design of Bank of
America branches and Pacific Telephone buildings throughout
northern California. Additionally, he designed dozens of
parking structures including the initial development of the
parking structure at San Francisco International Airport, as
well as ski chalet structures in the Sierra Nevada.
Well known for his technical innovations, Henry Degenkolb
also designed the twenty-one-story Bank of California Building
in crown town San Francisco, noted for its slurry wall construction
and the "upside down" design of its three basements and
foundations. Also Henry participated actively in the initial
structural conceptual studies that subsequently led to the
development, by longtime friend and colleague Professor
Emeritus Egor Popov of the University of California, Berkeley,
of the eccentric braced frame, a high-performance earthquake
resisting system.
In addition to his technical innovations and designs, Henry
Degenkolb will be remembered for his commitment to the
engineering profession and his outstanding service to technical
societies and professional organizations. As one of the early
members of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
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HENRY J . D EGEN KO LB
47
(EERI), he helped organize the First World Conference on
Earthquake Engineering and participated in all succeeding
world conferences on the subject.
Henry J. Degenkolb was born in Peoria, Illinois, on July
13, 1913, to Gustav l. and Alice (Emmert) Degenkolb. He
attended the University of California at Berkeley, graduating
with a B.S. in 1936. He married Anna Nygren in 1939, and
they had five children, Virginia, Joan, Marion, Patti, and
Paul.
His technical career began in 1936 when he became a
design engineer for the San Francisco Bay Exposition Company,
where he helped design buildings for the Golden Gate In-
ternational Exposition of 1939 to 1940. At that time John
Gould was the chief structural engineer for the company
and later founded his own firm. Following various assignments,
which included a copper refinery addition at Tacoma,
Washington, in 1940, and work as assistant technical direc-
tor for testing and analysis for a large-scale timber research
program from 1940 to 1943, Henry Degenkolb joined Mr.
Gould's firm in 1946 as its chief engineer. After ten years
he became a partner in the firm, thus forming Gould and
Degenkolb. Upon Mr. Gould's death in 1961, Mr. Degenkolb
continued as president of the firm now known as H. J.
Degenkolb Associates, Engineers, located on Sansome Street
in San Francisco. The firm is recognized for handling dif-
ficult and unusual foundation and structural engineering
problems in the San Francisco Bay Area and the state of
California.
Henry Degenkolb was elected to membership in the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering in 1977.
His professional affiliations included the following: fel-
low of the American Concrete Institute; honorary member
of the American Society of Civil Engineers, chairman of its
Structural Division Executive Committee in 1964, president
of the San Francisco Section in 1964, and recipient of its
Moisseiff Award in 1953 and its Ernest E. Howard Award in
1968; life fellow membership of the Franklin Institute and
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48
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
recipient of its Frank P. Brown Award in 1978; fellow of the
Consulting Engineers Association of California, president
in 1971, and director from 1968 to 1972; honorary member
of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and
president from 1974 to 1978; member of the International
Association of Earthquake Engineering, and U.S. representative
from 1976 to 1978; member of the Seismological Society of
America; member of The Society of American Military En-
gineers; member of the Structural Engineers Association of
California, and president in 1958; honorary member of the
Structural Engineers Association of Northern California,
and president in 1957.
In other capacities he has been a lecturer, College of
Engineering and Engineering Extension, University of
California, Berkeley, from 1946 to 1961; member of the
California Seismic Safety Commission in 1976; member of
the San Francisco Bay Area Conservation and Development
Commission including past-chairman, Engineering Criteria
Review Board from 1970 to 1977; member of the California
Building Standards Commission; member of the California
LegisTator's Committee on Seismic Safety; consultant to the
California Public Utilities Commission; member of the Ad-
visory Group on Engineering Considerations and Earthquake
Science; consultant to the National Science Foundation;
member of the Board of Examiners of the city and county
of San Francisco; member, Building Seismic Safety Council;
chairman of the Building Code Section of the San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce from 1954 to 1960; and consultant
to the U.S. Office of Science and Technology from 1970 to
1971 and from 1977 to 1978. He also served on the Advisory
Pane} for Earthquake Studies of the U.S. Geological Survey
from lL978 to 1981. In the July I, 1976, issue of Engineering
News Record, Henry Degenkolb was credited with ". . . having
more to do with the development of San Francisco's [building]
code than any other individual in the past twenty years."
Henry Degenkolb was the author or coauthor of more
than twenty-six formal publications. From 1972 to 1978 he
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H E NRY J. D E GENKOLB
49
carried major responsibility as part of a national group that
developed the document Tentative Provision for the Develop-
ment of Seismic Regulations for Buildings, under auspices of the
Applied Technology Council (ATC) Report ATC 3-06. The
provisions in this document, as subsequently reviewed and
slightly revised, form the basis of the new seismic building
provisions now being adopted throughout the United States.
He was licensed as a civil and structural engineer in Caii-
fornia and as a civil engineer in Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming.
The author of this memorial shall always be indebted to
Henry Degenkolb for the "seismic engineering education"
received during the long effort devoted to completion of
the ATC study, and shall always remember with fondness
the many walks in San Francisco with Henry Degenkolb
while Henry recited the history and interesting structural
features of the major buildings. Unselfish in all matters,
Henry Degenkolb will long be remembered by his family,
colleagues, and many friends.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
structural design
