Archinect - News

Marcel Breuer's 1950 Marshad House is on the market for $1.8 million

2024-05-01T12:23:00-04:00

Marcel Breuer’s restored 1950 Marshad House in the Hudson Valley has been listed with an asking price of $1.8 million. The residence at 204 Cleveland Street in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, is a three-bedroom design with 1.5 bathrooms and has an interesting history from the original owner's affiliation with Look magazine and relation to the influential sculpture garden installation that was exhibited 75 years ago at MoMA.

Image: Dot Record Media/Julia B. for Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. Galerie noted it includes a 290-square-foot converted art studio in the former garage.

Image: Dot Record Media/Julia B. for Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s (the art auctioneers) recently bought Breuer’s brutalist landmark Whitney Museum of American Art building in Manhattan for $100 million.

Image: Dot Record Media/Julia B. for Sotheby’s International Realty

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger demolish Craig Ellwood's 1950 Zimmerman House, raising ire online

2024-04-22T18:12:00-04:00

Chris Pratt has drawn ire from architecture aficionados after news broke that the actor and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, had razed a historic, mid-century modern home to make way for a sprawling 15,000-sq-ft mansion. Architect Ken Ungar, whose portfolio largely features high-end modern farmhouse-style residences, will design a home for the couple, Architectural Digest reported. The property [...] will also feature a three-car garage and a secondary unit near the pool.

As The Guardian reported, plans for a demolition went mostly under the radar until the Los Angeles Conservancy issued a warning last January. Actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger purchased the home later with the apparent intention of replacing it with an oft-reviled “modern farmhouse” design and have yet to respond to any other news outlets or critics, who are framing this as a loss tantamount to the destruction of Marcel Breuer's binuclear Geller I house on Long Island in January of 2022.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Robb Report Real Estate (@robbreportrealestate)

Lloyd Wright's landmark Wayfarers Chapel closes indefinitely due to landslide threat

2024-02-21T12:08:00-05:00

Lloyd Wright’s Wayfarers Chapel closed its doors to the public abruptly last week due to the threat of landslides that have afflicted the Los Angeles area and its site in Rancho Palos Verdes.

In a statement posted to the Chapel’s website, the ministry responsible for its stewardship cited “accelerated land movement” in the area as the reason for its immediate temporary closure.

Rancho Palos Verdes, which is a 12.3-square-mile incorporated city in coastal Los Angeles County, has been particularly impacted by winter storms since early February and is seeking to have a state of emergency declared for recent damage that’s compounded already dangerous landslide conditions.

A local official told the LA Times, “In some areas, [the land] is moving up to 10 feet a year. That’s significant movement, and we’re seeing the damage that’s being sustained throughout the community. We have approximately 400 homes that are threatened by this landslide.”

Completed by the eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wrig...

Explore images of Shubin Donaldson’s completed restoration of Richard Neutra’s Mariners Medical Arts building in Orange County

2024-01-05T09:00:00-05:00

An overlooked design from one of Southern California’s most respected midcentury designers, Richard Neutra’s Mariners Medical Arts building in Newport Beach, California, was restored thanks to Los Angeles-based ShubinDonaldson.

The project for client Burnham-Ward Properties sought to bring the three-pavilion design as close to its original appearance as possible. Key elements include the re-installation of water features that had been removed in the early 1970s.

Image © Benny Chan/fotoworks 2023

ADA accessibility upgrades, new drought-resilient landscaping, LED lighting, and other environmental improvements were equally vital in achieving the developer’s aim to once again establish Neutra’s design as an architectural superlative of the Orange County enclave.

All images: © Benny Chan/fotoworks 2023

“Having admired Mariners Medical Arts for decades, it has been an honor for me to be part of the team trusted to restore the building as originally designed by Neutra,” Shubin Donaldson Pr...

Pierre Koenig’s last completed project, the Schwartz House, listed for over $4 million

2023-12-21T11:48:00-05:00

Pierre Koenig’s Schwartz House has been listed for sale in Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles. Built in 1994, the home is the last project Koenig completed, uniquely built on four structural steel beams.

Image credit: Cameron Carothers

Externally, the home takes the form of a steel cube held aloft by four 40-foot-tall structural steel columns. The cube is rotated 30 degrees on an axis to face the canyon and ocean and clad in bright steel with a blend of full-length and half-length windows. By contrast, the four columns and external staircase are finished in black paint.

Image credit: Cameron Carothers

Inside, the four-bedroom home features two main levels floating above a garage and sheltered courtyard. The upper and lower levels are connected by a yellow spiral staircase wrapping around one of the structural steel columns, offering a colorful departure from a pure material palette of hardwood and glass.

Image credit: Cameron Carot...

SOM completes restoration of Lever House, a midcentury Manhattan office icon

2023-11-17T15:14:00-05:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has announced the completion of a recent restoration project that’s meant to breathe new life into their historic Lever House design in Manhattan.

The scope of their work entailed the creation of a new lobby, ground-level public plaza, installation of an entirely new modernized building system, and 15,000-square-foot Lever Club hospitality suite in addition to redesigned interior spaces from Marmol Radziner.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

The brief called for repairs affecting the material character of the building (terrazzo flooring, refinished exterior columns, and a glass mosaic tile wall) and fixes to water-damaged ceilings. Reed Hilderbrand has also contributed a comprehensive new landscape program for the building that connects the plaza area to third-floor terraces. Costs for the project were around $100 million.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

“This renovation brings Lever House into the 21st century,” SOM Partner Chris Cooper said in a statement...

Tesla's diner & drive-in theater supercharger station concept gets approved for West Hollywood

2023-08-28T15:14:00-04:00

Tesla’s retro-inspired supercharging diner & drive-in movie theater concept will begin construction soon after the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety recently approved a planning permit for the company’s first Stantec-led design at 7001 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, Teslarati reports.

The previously announced plan calls for a two-story, 9,300-square-foot structure with bars and an outdoor restaurant seating area. The structure will have two "drive-in" screens, which play movies of approximately 30 minutes in length, and capacity for 29 total charging stations. Tesla says it will operate the station on a 24-hour capacity.

CEO Elon Musk earlier this month described its design as "Grease meets The Jetsons with Supercharging" before promising its realization by the end of this year. Only technical drawings from the permitting application have been made official, leading some to offer their own speculative renderings via social media. A model of the structure was ...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design lists for $9 million in Arizona

2023-02-08T19:16:00-05:00

The private home considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design has hit the market in Arizona for $8.95 million, according to the Robb Report and several local real estate listings.

The 3,095-square-foot Norman Lykes House, also known as the "Circular Sun House," was first designed by Wright shortly prior to his death in April 1959 and eventually completed by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury nine years later.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

It stands on a 1.3-acre plot overlooking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in Palm Canyon and had previously been sold at an auction for $1.7 million in 2019 before being re-listed in September of 2020 for just under $8 million.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

Rattenbury’s 1994 renovation reduced the home’s capacity to three bedrooms from the original five. Its circular design was credited by Wright to the surrounding landscape.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

The home includes original furnishings made by Wright...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro issues update on historic Frank Lloyd Wright theater revitalization in Dallas

2022-12-12T18:50:00-05:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has shared new project details and a flythrough animation for their planned revitalization of the 63-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas.

The project’s scope revolves around a “faithful reinterpretation of Wright’s original design intent” that calls for the removal of several decades worth of accumulated additions; creation of a new “theater arts complex” outside that includes a new performance venue, two pavilions, and a 100-seat black box theater; demolition of the existing Heldt Building; and further development of the William B. Dean Park with an emphasis on “stitching” the site with the popular nearby Katy Trail and Turtle Creek attractions.

Image courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro

According to a press release, the final plans will be submitted to the city no later than December 31st of this year. Chicago-based preservation specialists Harboe Architects is also involved with the planning team, helping to restore the so...

SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe’s first Los Angeles area home hits the market in Glendale

2022-08-26T14:33:00-04:00

A historically significant mid-century modern home designed by SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe has hit the market in Glendale, California, for an asking price of just under $2.2 million.

The Pasadena Star is reporting the recent listing of Kappe’s Goetschel House, a 1954 commission that was recently restored to reflect its original design by HabHouse owner Andreas E.G. Larsson. Thanks to an archive of Kappe’s drawings and sketches for the home kept at the Getty Research Institute, Larsson hastened a yearlong renovation that added new elements such as a pergola and an outdoor shower to the property, which had been partly demolished. At the end of the restoration, the home had appreciated in value by nearly seven figures over the original sale price of $1.33 million.

Image: Cameron Carothers courtesy Unique California Property

The residence was the first designed ...

Iconic Los Angeles home designer Harry Gesner has passed away at the age of 97

2022-06-14T16:41:00-04:00

Los Angeles’ architectural community is mourning the death of a legendary figure in its storied history of residential design after reports that Wave House architect Harry Gesner passed away Friday, June 10 at his Malibu home following a battle with cancer.

Best-known as the designer of several important residential commissions such as the Cole House, the Hollywood Boathouses, and Eagle's Watch which helped create a more nuanced visual culture for Southern California.

Gesner was a headstrong modernist who broke with certain midcentury conventions in pursuit of his own vision of landscape-derived naturalistic “nests” that were deliberately more responsive to both environmental elements and the local character.

An image of Gesner's Eagle Watch home from its current Airbnb listing. Image courtesy of Airbnb via super host Katherine VandeVoort

An avid surfer and gregarious regular in Hollywood circles, Gesner rubbed elbows with celebrities like Errol Flynn and is said to have learned to ...

Marcel Breuer's first binuclear house has been demolished in Long Island

2022-01-26T18:23:00-05:00

Marcel Breuer's first binuclear house, Geller I in Lawrence, New York has been demolished in the dead of night. Geller I is largely considered the project that propelled Breuer to private practice in New York and prompted the Museum of Modern Art to commission Breuer to design an exhibition house in the museum’s courtyard entitled The House in the Museum Garden in 1949.

The conservation advocacy organization chalked up the loss to a combination of changing local property dynamics and the inability of the town of Hempstead’s planning laws to prevent the destruction of a structure it says would have claims to both the New York State and National Register of Historic Places.

“Late last year, Docomomo US was alerted to plans to demolish the house for a larger project combing multiple lots. Docomomo US and our colleagues at Docomomo US NY/Tri-State, the Preservation League of New York State, Preservation Long Island and Caroline Rob Zaleski author of Long Island Modernism formed a coalition to work for a better preservation outcome,” the group’s statement explained.

A photo of the demolition underway this morning, January 26. Image courtesy of the Town of Hempstead, Landmarks Preservation Commission.

“In December, an application for local landmark status was submitted to the Town of Hempstead and enthusiastically received and supported by the Hempstead...

Edith Farnsworth House: Name change emphasizes Farnsworth’s role in creating an American masterpiece

2021-10-19T12:38:00-04:00

As part of the house’s 70th-anniversary celebration next month, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced that the iconic Farnsworth House will be renamed the Edith Farnsworth House in order to better recognize the cultural and architectural contributions of its namesake, Dr. Edith Farnsworth.

The name change coincides with the trust’s “Where Women Made History” campaign, which now recognizes Farnsworth for her rightful place as a doyenne of American high culture.

Edith Farnsworth (left) and Beth Dunlap, 1951. Image © William Dunlap

According to a press release: “Ahead of her time in the post-World War II era, Edith Farnsworth lived an independent life of cultural and intellectual exploration and discovery. For decades, her story, as well as her pivotal role in the creation of this landmark, has not received the prominence it deserves.”

Image © Edith Farnsworth Papers, The Newberry Library

Ever the bon vivant, Farnsworth’s eye for artistic talent lead her to Mies van ...

Edward Killingsworth-designed office building to be converted to essential service center by Studio One Eleven

2020-07-28T20:29:00-04:00

Long Beach-based Studio One Eleven has announced plans to convert a former medical office designed by midcentury modern architect Edward Killingsworth into an "essential service center" that will provide services for needy families as well as food for area residents experiencing food insecurity.

The facility will comprise the new home of St. Francis Center, a group of Secular Franciscans who have operated a neighborhood-serving facility in the area since 1970. The group's facilities temporary shut down in 2017 and are now set to reopen in October 2020 when work on the project is complete.

According to the architects, the renovated structure will "allow St. Francis Center to resume its crucial mission of providing food, clothing and emergency assistance in a nurturing atmosphere." The 5,400-square-foot complex is set to include a commercial kitchen, offices for employment and family consulting services, meeting spaces, and storage to provide clothing to the homeless, according to ...

Oscar Niemeyer's Brasília turns 60 this year

2020-02-04T19:54:00-05:00

This is a good year to visit Niemeyer’s work since it marks the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of Brasília, the gleaming new capital of Brazil masterplanned by Lúcio Costa and designed by Niemeyer, built from scratch in barely four years and completed in 1960. I finally had my chance to visit the mother lode.

For The Guardian, Chris Hall on Oscar Niemeyer's modernist architectural legacy in Brazil, and arguably his greatest achievement — designing (with Lúcio Costa) the country's built-from-scratch capital Brasília six decades ago.

"If Rio is a creased duvet with the built environment and nature entwined in its folds, then Brasília is a crisp white sheet laid neatly across the savannah bed," Hall writes.

Aerial view of Brasília's central avenue, the Monumental Axis. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Remembering the civic architecture of Paul Revere Williams

2019-12-18T18:55:00-05:00

A new episode of the Lost LA series on Los Angeles channel KCET highlights the civic architecture of noted and prolific architect Paul Revere Williams.

Williams, who built over 3,000 structures over a more than 50-year-long long career, is largely known for designing stylistically eclectic Hollywood movie star houses, but the breadth and scope of his legacy far exceeds works that simply cater to the rich and famous. Instead, Williams, who was posthumously awarded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal in 2017, worked across styles, building types, and formal approaches to arrive at one of the most diverse and visionary bodies of work of any American architect of the 20th Century.

During his time, Williams helped design key components of the Los Angeles International Airport complex, for example, as well as the Pueblo del Rio housing projects, the Founder's Church of Religious Science, and a number of public schools, churches, and commercial structures for communities...

Architect and preservationist Dion Neutra has passed away

2019-11-26T18:20:00-05:00

Dion Neutra, the son of the 20th century architect Richard Neutra and a practitioner in his own right who also waged a decades-long war to save his father’s iconic buildings from the ravages of time, remodeling and demolition, has died at his home on Neutra Place in Silver Lake, a neighborhood studded with Neutra architecture. Neutra, who was 93, died Sunday in his sleep, said his brother, Raymond Neutra.

The Los Angeles Times highlights the life and career of Dion Neutra, the son and collaborator of Richard Neutra, the famed Los Angeles architect behind many of the city's sleek Modernist-era structures. Dion worked alongside his father on some of the firm's most creative works, including the VDL II Research House.

View of the downstairs interiors of the VDL II Research House. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user DavidHartwell.

In his later years, as his father's works increasingly fell to the wrecking ball, Dion became an ardent preservationist. In 2004, he told The Los Angeles Times, "There should be a national will to save these buildings,” adding, “It shouldn’t have to be a one-man crusade.”

The approach is one he lived through and through. "My wife gives me hell because I’ve kept the original 1950s Case toilet that doesn’t flush right,” Dion explained to The Los Angeles Times, "'Listen,' I tell her. 'This is the toilet that Richard Neutra sat on — I’m not getting rid of it.'"

...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Norman Lykes House, his last residential design, finally sells for $1.7m

2019-10-17T13:58:00-04:00

An Arizona house that was the last home designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright before his death sold on Wednesday for nearly $1.7m. Out of nearly 20 bids at a public auction for the Norman Lykes House, the winning bid came from a man who lives out of state, Heritage Auctions told the Associated Press.

Commissioned by Norman and Aimee Lykes, this Phoenix home known as the "Circular Sun House," was Frank Lloyd Wright's last residential design before his death in April 1959. The structure was completed nearly ten years later by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury.

Image: Heritage Auctions

In case you missed out on the chance to purchase the Lykes House, another Wright-designed property in Phoenix, the 1952 David and Gladys Wright House, is still on the market. Current listing price, according to The Guardian: nearly $10 million.

Olson Kundig's Seattle Space Needle restoration shines in new photos

2019-10-15T19:58:00-04:00

A collection of new images have been unveiled by the architects at Olson Kundig highlighting the firm's recent restoration and renovations of the Seattle Space Needle.

The $100 million revamp made its debut in 2018 and was overseen by Olson Kundig Design Principal Alan Maskin. This project was discussed with Alan when we had him on the podcast...

Conceived in close work with Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board, the cutting-edge redesign includes 196-percent more glass coverage than before while also featuring improvements that "make the original structure more legible and provide visitors with a widened lens of the stunning city and surrounding landscape," according to a press release.

Image courtesy of Hufton & Crow.

The renovations include the addition of floor-to-ceiling glass panels along the structure's observation level where a revolving glass floor is also located. The glass f...

Inga Saffron makes the case for saving Philadelphia's jaunty "Roundhouse"

2019-10-10T13:39:00-04:00

Despite having been closed for several years, the pavilion at 12th and Reed remains a much-loved landmark in Passyunk Square, where it is affectionately known as the “Roundhouse.” The contrast between its heavy stone walls and jaunty modernist roof make it unlike anything else in Philadelphia. Until it was eclipsed by a bigger community center in 2005, it was the place where neighborhood residents went to play bocce and take art classes.

As Philadelphia gets ready to undertake a $2.4 million renovation of the city's Columbus Square park, a curious stone drum topped by a folded plane roof set to be demolished under the plan has caught the public's attention.

Debate over the structure's provenance, particularly, whether the pavilion was designed by pioneering Philadelphia architect Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher or her business partner Gabriel Roth, has influenced the decision over whether or not to save it. Ultimately, city agencies have decided that the structure is directly attributed to Roth and therefore demolishing it would not erase a woman-designed building. The Philadelphia Inquire architecture critic Inga Saffron is neither convinced by the city's determination over the building's authorship nor by the overall decision to demolish the work, regardless of who is responsible for it.

Defending the structure, Saffron writes, "While we may never know whether a female architect designed this unusual mid-century modern...

Inside the first modernist house in New Orleans listed on the National Register of Historic Places

2019-08-18T07:00:00-04:00

The home consists of three pavilions connected by a central passageway. The public areas are in two pavilions: one side is the living room, and the other, the dining room and kitchen, all adjacent to patios accessed through glass doors, which can be opened when entertaining. With clerestory windows, these rooms are bathed with light, creating a treehouse feel.

Nola.com's Sue Strachan takes a look at the Frances and Nathaniel C. Curtis house in New Orleans. Originally built in 1963, the home became the first Modernist-era home in New Orleans to earn a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

Designed by maverick Modernist architects Curtis and Davis, the team behind the city's iconic Superdome, the thoughtfully-designed home has been restored by New Orleans architect Lee Ledbetter.

“We never could design a building as beautiful as the trees,” Oregon celebrates the legacy of architect Pietro Belluschi

2019-08-11T07:00:00-04:00

Every day, people work, live and pray inside Pietro Belluschi’s light-filled, modern creations. The legendary architect shaped Portland’s skyline with revolutionary structures like the Commonwealth Building, which generated tinted glass-and-aluminum lookalikes across the globe. In August and September, educational and celebratory events spotlighting Belluschi’s impact will take place in Portland to honor the 120th anniversary of his birth.

Rehabilitation of Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #21 will restore its former glory

2019-07-25T14:58:00-04:00

So when neighbors and onlookers noticed drastic work underway on the site in Laurel Canyon, they feared for the future of the iconic home. [...] it appeared Case Study House No. 21 was starting to slip downhill.

Curbed's Bianca Barragan counters the rumors that Pierre Koenig's Case Study House No. 21 was being demolished by its new owners with a detailed report on the preservation efforts that are currently being performed in order to save the historically significant structure and restore it to its original Mid-century modern glory.

A 2006 photo of the interior court yard. Photo: IK's World Trip/Flickr.

Barragan writes that "when contractors lifted up the concrete slab over the living room floor, they found an 18-inch gap between the ground and where the room’s floor had hovered. The soil had subsided, sliding out under the rest of the foundation." An intensive repair of the original foundation from 1959 will put the home on solid footing for decades to come.

Denver Art Museum delves into the "Serious Play" behind Mid-Century Modernism

2019-07-09T11:00:00-04:00

Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America, an exhibition currently on view at the Denver Art Museum (DAM), delves into some of the more joyful aspects of 20th Century design.

Highlighting works by Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Henry P. Glass, Herbert Bayer, Eva Zeisel, and Alexander Girard, among others, the colorful and whimsical exhibition seeks to position play as a primary "catalyst for creativity and innovation," according to a press release.

Armchair for Braniff International by Alexander Girard. Image courtesy of Wright.

The exhibition, co-organized with the Milwaukee Art Museum, is co-curated by Christoph Heinrich, director of DAM, Darrin Alfred, curator of architecture and design at DAM, and Monica Obniski, curator of 20th and 21st Century design at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Presenting over 200 design objects, including drawings, models, textiles, ceramics, playground equipment, and furniture, the exhibition argues that during the Mid-Century era, material innova...

Snøhetta, WCIT, and AECOM to redesign Honolulu cultural center

2019-06-28T16:06:00-04:00

Snøhetta, WCIT, and AECOM have unveiled renderings depicting the team's efforts to re-imagine the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu via the creation of a new master plan for the 22-acre complex.

The designers are working to reposition the 64,000-square-foot cultural and arts center in order to update the venue into a state-of-the-art facility. Built in 1964, the Modernist-era structure is marked by sweeping archways, super-scaled columns, and an undulating concrete roof.

The project will bring new performance and exhibition spaces as well as a sports pavilion, new parking structures, and reconfigured public outdoor spaces to the site. A new lobby and expanded food and beverage areas are included in the plan, as well.

Image © Moare.

A timeline for the project has not been unveiled.

McDonald's new global flagship moves the company in a bold new design direction

2019-06-19T15:14:00-04:00

Though the majority of the over 37,000 McDonald's outlets around the world hardly rise to the definition of "architecture," the company is no stranger to spectacular design: some of its first locations, built throughout the Midwest as early as 1955, were remarkable demonstrations of mid-century design, typified by two large golden arches that appear to hold the structure upright.

McDonald's Global Flagship, by Ross Barney Architects

In response to the company's recent rebirth of its brand, after several attempts to appeal to a younger generation, McDonald's has recently unveiled a shockingly clean and modern design for its new global flagship in Downtown Chicago. Not only is the Ross Barney Architects-designed building an aesthetically pleasing take on the fast food chain, but it also features several innovative features, including cordless phone charging, a mini-arboretum with harvestable apple trees and 27-foot windows to keep them and the whole interior well-lit.

Interior of McD...

John Lautner's Bob Hope House gets a new lease on life

2019-06-06T14:06:00-04:00

Thanks to the deep pockets of venture capitalist Ron Burkle, the [Bob Hope House] is being remade to reflect the architect’s original vision. Lautner protégé Helena Arahuete, who worked with him for 23 years, has stripped the interiors and rebuilt the inside with natural materials. Swan faucets, wallpaper and carpet are out. Quartzite flooring, African mahogany and Brazilian granite are in — as is the shape-shifting light that transforms the house during the course of the day.

Comedian Bob Hope, when presented with a model of his 24,000 square foot Palm Springs home by architect John Lautner in 1969, had but one comment to reflect his admiration of and bewilderment towards the proposal: “Well, at least when they come down from Mars they’ll know where to go.”

Exterior of the Bob Hope House.

The monumental home was built as conceived, albeit with an extraordinary amount of minor material revisions requested by Hope and his wife Dolores. While Lautner and Arthur Elrod, the interior designer originally hired for the job before his untimely death, had envisioned a minimalist interior to direct attention to the home's sweeping vistas, the couple had something different in mind. According to the LA Times, "Dolores Hope wanted an ultra-glamorous interior suitable for Hollywood-style entertaining and golf tournament after-parties."

Interior of Bob Hope House.

After the couple had passed - Bob in 2003 and Dolores in 2011 - the house was put on the market for $50 mil...

Helen Liu Fong is the visionary Googie architect you've never heard of

2019-05-31T19:08:00-04:00

[Helen Liu] Fong’s specialty was Googie architecture, what Wong calls futuristic “Jetson kind of aesthetic” coffee shops and motels that would sweep the highways of America in the middle of the last century. Some of Fong’s most famous projects include the Holiday Bowl on Crenshaw Boulevard, the first Norms Restaurant, Johnie’s Coffee Shop, and the still kicking Pann’s Restaurant at 6710 La Tijera Boulevard.

A whimsical subcategory of mid-century design, known as 'Googie' architecture, was as integral to the Southern California architecture scene as any modernist homes designed by Schindler, Neutra or the Eameses. This is because Googie architecture was the design of choice for coffee shops, delis and other public architecture patronized by local and tourist alike.

Pann's Restaurant, Inglewood, California.

Helen Liu Fong, a Chinese-American taught at UC Berkeley's school of architecture, was an indispensable member of the design movement during the middle of the 20th century. "In 1949," according to Curbed LA, "she fulfilled her childhood dream, earning a degree in city planning from the architecture school at Berkeley."

Norm's Restaurant on La Cienega. Photo by Jack Laxer

A few years later, after a long stint as a secretary, the architects Armet and Davis, known for producing Googie architecture throughout Southern California at the time, hired the young architect to work on The Clo...

Paul Rudolph's Milam Residence is back on the market

2019-05-25T10:20:00-04:00

In 1961, early in the architect's career, Paul Rudolph completed the Milam Residence in Ponte Verda Beach, Florida. Fortunately, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, and, according to the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, "the family of Arthur W. Milam, who originally commissioned the building, have been owner-residents since the building was finished, and have cared for it with pride. Now, they are making the building available - and they are hoping that the next owner will be struck by the building’s many beauties and virtues, as well as understanding its importance as a work of truly great Modern architecture."

Milam Residence. Photo by Robert Champion.

Rudolph himself described the Milam residence as “a composition of considerable spatial variety with vertical and horizontal interpenetration of spaces clearly defin[ing] inside and out. Gone are the earlier notions of organization through regular structure with subdivisions of space freely spaced. Spa...

Preservation groups urge to protect Milwaukee's Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

2019-05-07T13:41:00-04:00

The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts was designed by architect Harry Weese, with the surrounding landscape by Dan Kiley, and was completed in 1969. [...] In December 2018, the Center announced an overhaul of the cultural venue, the culmination of a months-long strategic planning process. However, the proposal drew backlash for its insensitve treatment of the Dan Kiley-designed landscape.

At the center of the historic designation discussion is the planned replacement of the 36 horse chestnut trees in front of the Marcus Center with a lawn bordered by 18 honey locust trees.

"Preservationists said removing the trees would harm the legacy of grove designer Dan Kiley, whose other works include the Cudahy Gardens in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum," writes Tom Daykin for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.