By JESSE B. GILL
FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, Leon Armantrout has been pushing the envelope of architectural design, and he has no plans to slow down.
The architect has worked on some of Redlands’ most notable landmarks: the Mitten Building, the Edwards Mansion and the Packinghouse.
And while he has worked on classic Redlands structures, Armantrout also believes in a "green" future.
Several of his projects have been built with the purpose of retaining energy rather than expending it. The Hall of Paleontology at the San Bernardino County Museum and the ESRI Café on the Redlands campus are two examples of Armantrout’s commitment to the environment.
Armantrout tailored designs for the Edwards Mansion to make the iconic building run on solar power, an example of his ability to take old buildings and bring them up to date. He is able to modernize them without compromising their historical significance.
The 74-year-old architect developed his philosophy of design over a lifetime, drawing inspiration from many places.
"Architecture affects people very, very positively," he said. "Oriental cultures had this figured out for thousands and thousands of years. It’s called feng shui.
There are ways to relate to our universe that are contributive to human character."
Armantrout’s journey to Redlands was a long one. It began in 1934 on a farm in Scott City, Kan., where his family grew wheat, and raised cattle and hogs.
"We made our own toys," Armantrout said. "We would make boats and tractors. That started my interest in model building."
Armantrout often suffered from hay fever as a youth.
"I had to get out of Kansas, and I was attracted to California," said Armantrout, who came to the Golden State in 1960.
Armantrout earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture at Kansas State, completed graduate studies in seismic structures at UCLA and graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology School of Civil Engineering. Armantrout also spent two years in the Air Force as a civil engineer.
The first year he was stationed at a remote radar site in Alaska, the other was at a classified site in Inglewood.
"We were designing missile sites to fend off the Russians," Armantrout said. "You could always say that we succeeded."
Since 1974, Armantrout has been the principal architect for ESRI, a geographic information systems firm, designing many buildings including the award-winning Café, which seats 250 diners and serves as a meeting center for 350.
The first home he designed was for his mother after his father died. He then start doing remodeling projects. His first commercial effort in Redlands was the La-Z-Boy store on Tennessee Street. His second project in the city was the First United Methodist Church, a 15,000- square-foot, two-story brick building with a multi-purpose sanctuary. It received the Masonry Institute Design Award and the Vintage Award from the Inland Empire Design Institute.
He has been married for 45 years to his wife, Margie. They have three grown children, Julie, Jeff and Jami.
