California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


J. CORBLEY POOL.  When Mr. Pool was a boy his fondest ambitions were for a career as architect.  At 
the age of thirteen his father died, leaving him the head of a family consisting of his mother and three 
younger children, a sister and two brothers.  Under such conditions and heavy responsibilities the task 
of securing an education became a very difficult problem.  While setting himself earnestly to the duties 
which lay nearest at hand, he also took a long look ahead and never lost sight of the star to which he 
had hitched his wagon.  As a boy he determined that his goal should be a high rank in the architectural 
profession.  No obstacle seemed too great for him to overcome.  The success he has attained has 
been due to certain principles and rules of conduct.  One of these was a definite purpose.  He also was 
strongly determined to succeed, and refused to consider defeat, feeling that whatever was worth 
doing was worth doing well.  Another factor in his advancement was systematic study, carried on 
every day, as a youth as well as in mature manhood.  He has neglected none of the stepping stones 
that lead to success in his exacting calling.  He worked through the different trades connected with 
architecture, and after a hard days work he continued his studies into the night.  He has also followed 
the rule of purchasing the best books and magazines and from them has derived many new lights on 
the various problems which come up in the course of his practice.
 
During the few years of his independent practice Mr. Pool has attained a rank among the leaders of 
the profession in Southern California.  He practices in Santa Barbara, but has done work in various 
states of the Union.  Besides architecture he is also an authority on acoustical engineering, having 
worked out his own formula for determining acoustic qualities.
 
Born in Waco, Texas, December 18, 1876, he educated himself largely by self application and by 
constant study.  In 1896 at the age of twenty he took up the earnest study of architecture.  For some 
years he also continued in the contracting business in order to increase and broaden his experience.
 
His office as architect and acoustical engineer is now at Santa Barbara.  A large part of his practice is in 
acoustical engineering.  Some splendid achievements are to his credit in that time.  He was responsible 
for the arrangement with respect to acoustic properties in the Christian Science Church on West 
Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles, in St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Phoenix, Arizona, in the Presbyterian 
Church at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he has also been called in as a consulting expert on acoustics 
and other phases of architecture in many other auditoriums on the continent and some of the palatial 
residences of Southern California.  Mr. Pool drew the plans for the San Marcos Building, the largest 
business structure in Santa Barbara.
 
For the past eight years he has served in Santa Barbara as a park commissioner and is a loyal and public 
spirited citizen of that community.  Politically he is a republican.  In Santa Barbara he married Miss 
Mabel Young.  They are the parents of two children, Phena and Harry, both of whom are enthusiastic 
followers of their father’s profession and are studying architecture in his office and lend him a great 
deal of assistance in various ways.