Frank B. King

Frank B. King was an American naval engineer and architect who, among other things, designed the San Pablo Ferry Boat. Although he was based in Washington, D.C., for much of his professional life, he had close ties to California. King’s wife, for example, was the daughter of lumber baron Andrew Hammond.

He is mentioned in a 1907 edition of the journal The Architect and Engineer of California as the Cashier for the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank in San Francisco, serving under President Isaias W. Hellman. Later, he was made vice president of this branch, prompting at least a partial move to San Francisco. His San Francisco residence, located at 3390 Jackson Street (also known as 50 Laurel Street), was built in 1917 by the architectural firm of Bliss and Faville. It remains an architectural landmark in the city today.

After his retirement, King sponsored Parr Hooper’s junior membership in the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in New York. Hooper was a naval engineer from Baltimore who died while fighting in World War I. He fell in June 1918 near Château de Sorel in Picardy, France, and has become somewhat well-known for his descriptive war letters back home.