afsq-issue-9

Understanding Underwood Known for his rustic lodges and grand depots, Gilbert Stanley Underwood changed the architectural landscape of the American West—and his rambling 1928 Hollywood Knolls home is just as modest as he was. by Ann Scheid Gilbert Stanley Underwood was a quiet man who preferred to live a quiet life. Aloof and serious about his work, he was prolific in his Los Angeles practice, yet unsung...

With his see-through Bay Area home, Donald Olsen proved that a glass house can be as private and practical as it is aesthetically pleasing. by Pierluigi Serraino, AIA Mies Van Der Rohe may have coined the architectural aphorism, “Less Is More,” but it didn’t stop him from living in an unremarkable apartment on a historic block in downtown Chicago. Likewise, the equally celebrated Finnish-American...

On the occasion of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday, a new look at his textile-block homes shows they were more than modern wonders—they were hotbeds of cultural exchange in an emerging City of Angels. by John Crosse Much has been written about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mayan-inspired Southern California architecture of the early 1920s. Yet, relatively little is known about his West Coast sojourns and...

After five decades of relative obscurity, Oscar Niemeyer’s forgotten masterpiece, Alto de Pinheiros, has been rediscovered in a lush corner of São Paulo, Brazil. by Manuel Montenegro and Nicholas Olsberg Tucked inside one of the leafy Garden City developments near the Pinheiros River in western São Paulo, sits a fairly inconspicuous semi-urban villa built in 1974 for a prosperous Brazilian family. The...

With the restoration of a neglected mid-century Neutra home in the West Covina hills came a renewed sense of history and a revived quality of life. by Mark Morrison Photo by Cameron Carothers The first time Deborah Chumi Paul set eyes on Richard Neutra’s Roberts House in early 2014, it looked more like a drug den than a mid-century find. “There was garbage everywhere, needles everywhere. Copper had...