CRSA - Key Persons
Allen Roberts was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Lorell (Lee) and Pauline Roberts. Allen comes from a deep building and crafts tradition. Both his father and grandfather were building contractors and carpenters-a trade he also practiced before becoming and architect. He was raised and schooled in Milwaukee and San Francisco before moving to Utah, where he attended Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. Allen was married in Utah and helped his former wife, Dawn, raise their five children.
Early in his career, he worked for three architectural firms before becoming the Historical Architect for the Utah State Historical Society's Preservation Office (SHPO). There he prepared more than 100 successful National Register nominations for individual buildings and historic districts, helping owners to eventually restore many of these buildings. Later, with CRSA, he completed more than 25 successful Historic Building Tax Credit restoration projects, often for buildings that had been registered decades earlier.
Simultaneously, Allen began a long publishing, editing, and writing career with several publishers of books, journals and magazines. Since 1975, he has authored or coauthored eight published books (one a best-seller and Pulitzer Prize nominee) and several award-winning articles on Utah history, architectural history, historic preservation and social issues.
Job Titles:
- Senior Architectural Technician
Job Titles:
- Interior Design Associate
CRSA was the first firm in the region dedicated to historic architecture-and its founders were very credible experts as they brought both academic historic background and practical remodeling know-how.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Technical Director
Job Titles:
- Business Development Manager
- New Business
Job Titles:
- Managing Principal
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Senior Architectural Technician
Job Titles:
- Managing Principal
- President
Job Titles:
- Architect and Then Cooper / Roberts Architects
Wallace Cooper knew he wanted to be an architect in seventh grade. He grew up on the west side of Salt Lake City in Rose Park, the son of a dry cleaner and his wife. After he graduated from West High School, Wally received a scholarship to the University of Utah. While studying psychology, Wally supported himself by working in architecture offices, and bagging, stocking, and cashiering in grocery stores. When he entered the Master of Architecture program, he thought he would be a pioneer in the emerging movement called architectural psychology, a field that explored humans' relationships to their spaces.
After graduation in 1971, Wally and wife Martha joined the Peace Corps and were assigned to Tunisia, where Wally worked with City Planners and architectural students. Upon their return to Salt Lake City, Wally got a job with Architect Stephen Baird. The Coopers had their first child and were staying with Martha's family while looking for their first home. Baird owned a house built in 1857, in the Marmalade District. It was abandoned, and he was considering using it as an office. One day, Baird sent Wally to secure the windows. Wally came home and told Martha, "I found our house."
The house was a disaster, and their families thought they were nuts to buy it and attempt to make it livable. But, as Martha said, "We were Peace Corps volunteers, we could do anything."
Moving into the Marmalade neighborhood was the turning point in Wally's life and career. Working on the house project made Wally's architectural education practical. He learned how buildings are put together. These experiences gave him confidence to start his own practice. He went out on his own in 1975. He set up a drawing table on sawhorses at home and got his first contract: the Perry Theater in Perry, Utah. His second project was a small job at Wheeler Farm, which turned into several more for the same client. He moved into a second floor office at the Guthrie Bicycle shop. The rent was $30 a month, and some months he didn't know if he would make that.