Joseph Esherick (1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – December 17, 1998) was an American architect, nephew of American sculptor Wharton Esherick. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1937, Esherick set up practice in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1953 and taught at University of California, Berkeley for many years. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal in 1989.

Inheriting the Bay Area architectural tradition of figures like Bernard Maybeck and William Wurster, Esherick's designs for hundreds of houses through his career centered on attention to regional traditions, site requirements, and user needs.

In 1959, Esherick was the co-founder, along with William Wurster and Vernon DeMars, of Berkeley's influential College of Environmental Design (CED). The CED encompassed disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, environmental planning and city planning, and served as a nexus for figures like Christopher Alexander, Catherine Bauer, Galen Cranz, Donlyn Lyndon, Roger Montgomery, Charles Moore, and William Wilson Wurster.

Esherick's buildings include:

• House at Kentwoodlands, Kent Woodlands, California, 1957
• Cary House, at Mill Valley, California, 1960
• Sea Ranch (in collaboration with Lawrence Halprin and Charles Moore), Sonoma County, California, 1967
• The Cannery, at San Francisco, California, 1968
• Monterey Aquarium, at Monterey, California, c.1980
• Garfield School, at San Francisco, California, 1981
• Silver Lake Lodge, at Deer Valley, Utah, 1982
• The Hermitage, at San Francisco, California, 1984
• Tenderloin Community School

1914 births | 1998 deaths | American architects