Alan Wayne Martinez, a gay man and architect who was involved in San Francisco historic preservation efforts, has died, friends and family members said. Mr. Martinez was 69.
His brother, Richard Martinez, told the Bay Area Reporter May 22 that Mr. Martinez was found deceased in his bed in his San Francisco home the week of April 21. He did not have an exact date of death pending obtaining a death certificate, he said.
Richard Martinez said his brother, who had long lived with AIDS, tested positive for COVID for the first time in February. While he had later tested negative, he was still not back to normal.
Anne Cervantes, a straight ally who was a longtime friend and colleague, stated that she last spoke to Mr. Martinez on April 20, Easter Sunday.
“On Easter Sunday, he sent me a link to an Easter mass at a Portuguese church in San Jose he was obsessed with the architecture,” Cervantes wrote in an email.
Over his career, Mr. Martinez served on the San Francisco Historic Preservation Advisory Board, the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission, and the Historic Preservation Fund Committee, according to Cervantes, who founded Cervantes Design Associates Inc. and wrote up a memorial that was submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission members, and gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman’s office.
Cervantes said she would miss her friend.
“We would call each other weekly or sometimes multiple times, depending where our historical research took us,” Cervantes wrote in an email. “He was always coming up odd historical facts. As colleagues, he consulted with me on architecture issues and how to approach to find a resolution.
“I am sad because I can’t call him on a new discovery ... so now I look to the sky to have conversations with him,” she added.
Mr. Martinez was involved in preservation of LGBTQ spaces. Back in the late 1990s, his brother said that he served as vice president of Friends of 1800, the group that wanted the San Francisco LGBT Community Center to keep the historic Queen Anne Victorian that it initially wanted to demolish to build the center. The Fallon Building, which survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, was incorporated into the design of the center after it was designated a city landmark by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The community center withdrew its opposition after negotiations with Friends of 1800 and San Francisco Heritage Foundation, according to an online history of the friends group.
Cervantes’ tribute stated that Mr. Martinez’s “intellectual pursuits were deeply enriched by his admiration for Hannah Arendt, the renowned historian and philosopher.”
“Her profound examinations of human nature, politics, and society resonated with Alan’s own explorations of architecture and preservation,” Cervantes wrote. “He often drew inspiration from her writings, integrating her philosophical insights into his designs and dialogues. For Alan, architecture was more than a physical structure; it was a reflection of humanity’s complexities, a theme he believed Arendt eloquently captured in her work.”
A business owner for 37 years at Alan Martinez Architect Inc., and a licensed architect for 40, Mr. Martinez brought insight to every project, Cervantes stated. He was a 1977 graduate of UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, noted Cervantes.
During his service on San Francisco preservation bodies, Mr. Martinez “was instrumental in safeguarding landmarks and cultural sites, ensuring they endured as living testaments to the city’s diverse heritage,” stated Cervantes.
Among his notable achievements, Mr. Martinez co-authored with fellow Historic Preservation Commissioner Diane Matsuda a resolution to adopt social heritage resources as part of the planning department’s context statements. It was, Cervantes explained, “a groundbreaking step in recognizing the cultural layers of urban spaces.”
Mr. Martinez also played a pivotal role as one of the co-authors of the San Francisco City Wide Pan Latino Context Statement and was deeply involved in the landmarking of the Carnaval and Chata mural, stated Cervantes.
He was also a champion of Portuguese history. “He often spoke of the lessons that could be learned from the Portuguese approach to preservation, and this passion for this cultural heritage was reflected in his work, discussions, and endeavors to integrate its ethos into the urban fabric of San Francisco,” Cervantes wrote in her memoriam.
Family tragedy
Richard Martinez said that his son, Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, was among those killed by a gunman in a mass shooting in Isla Vista, near the UC Santa Barbara campus, on May 23, 2014. Mr. Martinez wrote about his nephew, a college sophomore, in a guest opinion in the B.A.R. several weeks later. “Years ago, I thought that someday I would have a niece who I would play dolls with and have long talks with about her boyfriends,” Mr. Martinez wrote. “Instead, I got a nephew, Chris, who played take-no-prisoners football and ambidextrous basketball.” But he grew close to his nephew.
“I was the uncle who let him do and think about the weird stuff,” Mr. Martinez wrote. “I got to show him around the Alhambra and explain to him how the architecture of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane worked. We talked about Cicero's essays and Roman history. And he knew that I had AIDS and about my political activity. Chris wrote part of his college application about me, about how much he admired me. I was kind of stunned. To have the experience, for someone like me who grew up queer and in mortal fear of jocks, to have this gentle resolute young man, my nephew, admire me ...”
Cervantes said that Mr. Martinez’s legacy will continue to inspire.
“He was a friend of history, a steward of preservation, and a tireless advocate for the stories that buildings and landscapes could tell,” she wrote.
A memorial for Mr. Martinez is planned, but a date has not been set.
