Herman Ruhnau, 93; Architect Designed Riverside City Hall

Herman Ruhnau, 93, the architect who designed Riverside City Hall and many other public and commercial buildings in Southern California, died June 10 in Riverside, according to his firm, Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke. The cause of death was not announced.

He opened his own practice in Riverside after World War II and designed homes, libraries, banks, schools, churches and government facilities that dominated the landscape of the inland area in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

In addition to the current Riverside City Hall, completed in 1975, among Ruhnau’s most prominent projects in that city were the Riverside County Administrative Center, Sherman Indian High School and downtown’s Main Street pedestrian mall. He also designed a colonial-style mansion in Rubidoux in 1955 for restaurateur and horse breeder Tiny Naylor that now serves as the headquarters of the Riverside County parks department.

Ruhnau, elected to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows in 1974, eventually opened a second office in Carlsbad and saw his son David follow him into the business.

Born Sept. 1, 1912, in Santa Barbara, Ruhnau moved with his family first to Pasadena and then to Riverside. The son of a German artist, he studied architecture at USC and during World War II worked on various projects in the Southland, including the Corona Naval Hospital.

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Abram S. Ginnes, a writer for TV, radio, theater and film whose screenplay for the 1969 film “Gaily, Gaily” was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award, died May 20 in Los Angeles. He was 91.