User:Pacificboy/Prosper Huerne

Prosper Louis-Etienne Huerne (November 26, 1820 – October 1, 1892) was the first French architect and engineer to practice in California, known for his work in Gold Rush–era San Francisco and on the Panama Canal. He designed the Bishop's House in Portland, Oregon, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Life and career
Huerne was born in Pontgouin, Eure-et-Loir, in north central France. His father was Louis Théodore Huerne. He was educated at L'Ecole d'Arts et Métiers in Châlons-sur-Marne, one of the oldest engineering schools in France. After graduating he worked as a civil engineer for the government department of bridges and highways (ponts et chaussées).

He departed for California upon hearing of the Gold Rush, arriving in June 1850 aboard the S.S. Jacques Laffitte. This early arrival date, before September 9, 1850, and the fact that he was a white male, made him eligible for charter membership in the Association of Territorial Pioneers of California, which he joined on November 10, 1874. Upon arrival, instead of hastening to the mines, he established himself as an architect and engineer, becoming the first French architect in California. He served as an engineer on several mines, and was chief engineer of the first Market Street Railway.

He married Zoe Zelie Huerne, from Nemours, France, some time before 1860. He and his wife were both devout Catholics. The 1870 census indicated that he and his wife had a French boarder and two Chinese servants with their child.

In 1878, Huerne obtained the commission to design the gothic revival Bishop's House in Portland, Oregon, for Charles John Seghers, who had been appointed coadjutor archbishop of Oregon City.

In 1881, he went to work on the Panama Canal on the invitation of Ferdinand de Lesseps, where he worked on the initial dredging of the Canal. He was a partner in the firm Huerne, Slaven and Company (renamed as the American Contracting and Dredging Company), that obtained a lucrative contract to dredge ten miles inland from the coastal city of Colón, known at that time as Aspinwall. While in Panama, Huerne also supervised the design of several camps for French workers laboring on the canal's construction and alterations to the Grand Central Hotel in Panama City. The New York Times reported in 1888 that "...Huerne personally was given the contract to dredge 2,000,000 cubic meters at 32 cents a meter."

Huerne died on October 1, 1892, and was buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California. His wife was buried alongside him when she died in San Francisco in 1907.

Legacy
Huerne played a significant role on large projects such as the Panama Canal and the Market Street Railway and likely designed many buildings in San Francisco. However, the sole building securely attributed to him that remains standing is the Bishop's House in Portland, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Peter J. Barber, who worked as a draftsman for Huerne around 1855, later became a successful architect in Santa Barbara.