Anshen & Allen

Anshen and Allen was founded by Samuel Robert "Bob" Anshen (1910-1964) and William Stephen "Steve" Allen Jr. (1912-1992) in San Francisco in 1940. Anshen was born in Revere, Massachusetts, in 1910 to Louis Joseph Anshen and Sarah Jaffee, both of whom were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. At the time of his birth, they owned a jewelry shop and were prosperous enough to afford a servant. Allen was born in Neptune Township, New Jersey, in 1912.

Their relationship began while they were studying at the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture. Upon graduation, they both received a traveling fellowship that eventually led them to San Francisco in 1937.

Their first project was the Davies House, a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) Tudor Gothic inspired mansion in Woodside, California, commissioned by Ralph K. Davies, a senior vice-president of Standard Oil of California. The house was completed on November 30, 1941. After the end of World War II, as a generalist practice, the firm developed gas station prototypes for Standard Oil, parking garages and interior naval architecture.

Elmer Gavello, Joseph Eichler and John Calder Mackay, residential real estate developers, commissioned Anshen and Allen to build the initial Gavello homes, Eichler homes and Mackay Homes in the California Modernist style beginning in the 1950s. The firm continued to design tract housing and custom homes until 1962.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, under the leadership of Derek Parker, the firm was transformed into a modern international architectural practice.

During the mid-2000s, Anshen and Allen adopted the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM). In 2007, Anshen and Allen participated in the development of Integrated Project Delivery by serving on the IPD Definition Task Group of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) California Council.

Anshen and Allen used shipping containers in their design for clinics for Containers 2 Clinics (C2C), a nonprofit organization that provides access to healthcare for women and children in rural areas.

In 2009 the firm was identified as specializing in sustainable designs for the healthcare and academic markets.