Willis Jefferson Polk was an American architect, best known for his work in San Francisco, California. For ten years, he was the West Coast representative of D.H. Burnham & Company. In 1915, Polk oversaw the architectural committee for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE).

A. Page Brown, born Arthur Page Brown, was an American architect known for buildings that incorporated classical styles in the Beaux-Arts manner. Having first worked in the office of McKim, Mead and White in New York City in 1879, he established his own firm in 1884 and hired a young Willis Polk as a draftsman. In 1889 Brown moved his office to San Francisco, California to take advantage of the city's growth.