Kelley & VerPlanck is a historical resources consulting firm specializing in cultural resources surveys, historic resource evaluation reports (HRER), CEQA and NEPA compliance reports, National Register and city landmark nominations, historic structure reports, Historic American Building Survey (HABS) reports, preservation tax credit applications and a variety of other planning reports. Our office, which is in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood, officially opened for business on February 20, 2007. Consisting of founding partners Tim Kelley and Christopher VerPlanck, the firm has already taken on several major planning projects including surveys of San Francisco’s Northeast Mission/Showplace Square neighborhood and downtown Martinez, California.

Beginning as a grass-roots activist, founding partner Tim Kelley has become an acknowledged leader in the school of thought that holds historical and cultural values to be equal to architectural significance. Mr. Kelley believes that every building has a story to tell, ranging from elaborate high-style masterworks to simple vernacular structures. His research has specialized in the documentation of overlooked landmarks of labor history, intellectual, and ethnic/cultural sites, as well as recognizing works of major architects. Tim Kelley served as president of the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board for five terms, gaining valuable experience in working within the often contentious atmosphere that surrounds questions of historic significance in land use decisions. Operating from the stance that both historic preservation and urban development should be treated justly and fairly in public proceedings, his years of experience are reflected in the effectiveness of his plain-spoken and well-documented assessments.

Chris VerPlanck has over ten years of professional experience in the fields of architectural history, historic preservation, and planning in San Francisco, the broader Bay Area, and the West. Upon graduating from the University of Virginia in 1997 with a Masters Degree in Architectural History, Mr. VerPlanck was awarded the prestigious Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship, sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). In December 1997, he was hired as the lead architectural historian at San Francisco Architectural Heritage, a not-for-profit preservation advocacy organization. From 1999 to 2006, Mr. VerPlanck served as the senior architectural historian at Page & Turnbull, Inc., where he documented hundreds of individual resources. Some of his most important projects included the Blue Wing Inn Historic Structure Report and the Dogpatch Cultural Resource Survey, both of which won California Preservation Foundation awards. A Bay Area native, Mr. VerPlanck holds a wide range of professional interests. Some topics he has pursued outside work include restoration of a 1906 Earthquake refugee shack, photographing industrial plants and workers’ housing, and advocating for the preservation of rural Western ranch buildings and cultural landscapes.