Archinect - News

Paul R. Williams' first LA home finally gains historic monument status

2022-02-17T14:31:00-05:00

Encouraging news for preservationists and Paul Revere Williams fans as local news outlets are reporting that the architect's first Los Angeles home, bought under the auspices of segregation, has now officially been named a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Jefferson Park home had been listed in early September for $1.6 million, prompting several local groups to petition commissioners for the designation which now gives the body the formal ability to delay any future demolition efforts for at least a year.

Williams bought the home in 1921 and used it as his principal residence until he moved to Lafayette Park in 1952. His move-in coincided with the opening of his Hollywood Masonic Temple. Commissioner Gail Kennard said the home‘s significance had more to do with the housing covenants that essentially forced the then 27-year-old architect into the neighborhood where he resided over a prolific output that yielded some of Los Angeles' most iconic...

Lost masterpieces by Frank Lloyd Wright are up for auction

2019-12-05T13:01:00-05:00

Two pairs of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed chairs will be up for auction on December 13th in New York via Christie's auction house. Each pair are estimated to sell between $200,000 to $300,000.

The Ward W. Willits House in Highland Park (1901), by Frank Lloyd Wright

Designed as part of Wright's Ward W. Willits House in Highland Park, Illinois, the chairs were completed in 1902. Considered one of the first of the Prairie School houses, Wright emphasized the dwelling's horizontal lines with an expansive cruciform plan. The dining suite housed a table accompanied by six tall back chairs and five intermediate back chairs that could be situated flexibly throughout the space.

According to Christie's, the four chairs for sale remained in the Willits house from 1902 until the passing of the Willitses in the early 1950s, when the house and its contents were sold to a new owner.

Dan Ohlmann creates impossibly detailed miniature interiors

2019-05-14T13:28:00-04:00

If you ever find yourself in Lyon, France, you'll want to make time for a visit to the Musée Miniature et Cinéma, one of the city's most peculiar museums. It is most notably for featuring Dan Ohlmann's impeccably detailed 1/10th and 1/12th scale models of architectural interiors.

The Brooklyn Collection Miniature, by Dan Ohlmann.

His models are so realistic, in fact, that the only way their illusions can be broken is by the addition of the artist's body, whether that's a hand adding or removing a piece of furniture, his head poking through to revel in the model's completion, or even his whole body, as he was able to achieve in his rendition of a natural history museum.

Maxims de Paris Miniature, by Dan Ohlmann.

His practice can be likened to that of Thomas Demand, a contemporary German artist that photographs intricate models of architectural spaces. The crucial difference is that while Demand destroys his models after photographing them, Ohlmann proudly displays his behind glass, a...

Archinect Outpost to host artist Thomas Demand for book signing of The Complete Papers

2019-03-19T13:34:00-04:00

Join us at Archinect Outpost on March 29th, from 7-9pm to host artist Thomas Demand and The Complete Papers, the comprehensive survey of the artist's photographs to date. Published by MACK Books, The Complete Papers is an extensive volume encompassing all of Thomas Demand’s work over the past 28 years, together with the most critical texts written about his practice.

Thomas Demand will be in attendance to sign books. Limited copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event, first come first serve, or you can reserve a copy from our online store, to pick up at the event or have shipped to you. You can also RSVP for the event here.

Thomas Demand, Space Simulator, 2003. Chromogenic Print On Diasec

From MACK Books: "The book includes previously unseen early works from 1990, together with reference reproductions on every one of his pieces. A newly commissioned interview with Russell Ferguson, new texts by Jeff Wall and Alexander Kluge, contributions by Parveen Adams, Franc...

Kate Wagner challenges the myth: "We don’t build houses like we used to"

2019-01-21T17:17:00-05:00

“We just don’t build houses like we used to.” Whether we’re criticizing an individual home or a wave of boxy buildings, it’s a common lament... It’s a statement that contains some truth, but it also misses crucial context about the material conditions, functionality, and style trends of the past.

Kate Wagner, the writer and critic behind McMansion Hell, has turned their sights towards an often-uttered statement about the current state of architectural craftsmanship: "We just don't build houses like we used to."

Listen to our conversation with Kate on Archinect Sessions:

Wagner methodically debunks this myth, starting with the false belief that there was once a great and more well-treated supply of craftsman in the past. "Many of the beloved houses of the 19th century and early 20th century, such as pattern book houses, kit houses, foursquares, and bungalows," Wagner reminds us, "were built by local carpenters, contractors, and builders who had small teams of employees or hired local day laborers. Often these houses were even built by the completely unskilled person who bought the house."

A typical California Bungalow.

Second, Wager points to the myth that older buildings are 'better' because they were built using fewer codes, claiming that those same codes make more recen...

Performing the ghosts of the Gamble House

2014-10-02T17:35:00-04:00

Wanting to stretch one's fascia, the wood wanting to expand, and the people inside being very minute in comparison with the wood's needs. It's almost as if the house itself is turning and emptying out all the residue of the people, wanting just to be free, free of the people, free of... the spoilage is the word that I'm getting, I just want to keep pushing out further and further and further, and as I do my own body just feels much much more relaxed.

Aside from being an emblem of the Arts and Crafts movement and an historical landmark, it turns out the Gamble House in Pasadena, California is also haunted. Or, so it would seem according to performance artist Asher Hartman, who communed with former generations of Gambles in his "psychic reading" performance of the House. Filmmaker David Fenster captured Hartman's performance in a beautiful short piece, while also languishing on a few elements of the House's rich craftsmen style.

"Psychic Reading of the Gamble House" is part of The Machine Project Field Guide to the Gamble House, a slew of ongoing art and performance pieces put on by Machine Project, a maker, teacher, artist and hacker event space in Los Angeles. The Field Guide puts different instances of contemporary art practice in the midst of the Gamble's exemplary early 20th century architecture, creating some interesting counterpoints in the process. Hartman has previously performed for The Machine Project’s Field Guide to L....