Cliff May’s childhood spent on an early Golden State ranch developed his gift for building classic Spanish-style houses throughout Los Angeles and San Diego. by Jocelyn Gibbs Cliff May’s prolific career as a designer and builder of modern California ranch houses and haciendas began in San Diego in 1931, but his legacy continued to grow long after his 1989 death. Although an untrained designer, May...
ArchitectureforSale, Quarterly presents an archival interview by a noted novelist with self-educated architect Herman Koller, who built a fantastical Southwest home in Pasadena that remains a marvel. by Kay Haugaard Herman Koller is a slight man who looks at you like an old prospector squinting into the sun. But don’t let his unassuming style fool you. He has accomplished an enormous feat. It required...
Michael Rotondi’s collaboration with Clark Stevens and two adventurous clients inspires an iconic constructivist dwelling. by Pierluigi Serraino, AIA Buildings are like cats. Sometimes they can have many lives, although rarely, if ever, nine as the proverb goes. The Carlson-Reges house in downtown Los Angeles is the story of one of those lives, an architectural permutation of how a structure can...
by Alan Hess The names of countless modern architects have faded into the mists of time. Once in a while, however, one of these forgotten architects will reemerge, becoming part of a larger conversation, especially if one of his or her buildings is fortunate enough to have survived and has captured our attention with its remarkable character. Webster and Wilson are among such architects; and the Wade...
The case for identifying and preserving houses with true architectural merit. by Nicholas Olsberg “Frank Lloyd Wright designed our house,” announce the parents of the teenage characters in the 1959 Sandra Dee film, A Summer Place. After establishing their home’s pedigree, these same parents walk visitors from the entry of Wright’s Della Walker house in Carmel into an interior set...
In conversation with Mark Morrison, architect Phillip Jon Brown recounts the challenges he faced in 1984: designing an elegant and surprising two-story modernist residence on Errol Flynn’s former ranch, a parcel of land as wild as its former owner’s social life. by Mark Morrison In 1984, Philip Brown was an emerging USC-trained architect and urban planner who had only designed six houses—two of...
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