Theodore C. Bernardi was born in Yugoslavia and moved with his family to the United States in 1904. He earned his bachelor's degree in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley in 1924, and studied at the graduate level for a short time. Bernardi worked as an architect and draftsman in a number of Bay Area firms, earning his architectural license in 1933. He worked for the firm of William W. Wurster from 1934-1942 and directed his independent architectural practice in the Wurster office between and 1942 and 1944. In late 1945 Donn Emmons joined Wurster & Bernardi (formed in 1944) establishing the firm Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons (WBE). In addition to his work at the firm, Bernardi was a lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture between 1954 and 1971. He was elected to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects in 1962, and WBE won the AIA Architectural Firm Award Medal in 1965.