Southern California Architectural History

Architect William Krisel’s 1973 Ocean Towers condominiums can be seen atop the bluff in the background. Film maker Jake Gorst featured the towers in some fascinating time-lapse footage in the recently released “William Krisel, Architect” documentary. http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2010/02/william-krisel-architect-los-angeles.html

The Annenberg Community Beach House project manager for Fisher Partners, John Berley also happens to conduct the “Modern Patrons” series for the Southern California Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians and organized a wonderful event Saturday morning at the Richard and Carol Soucek King Residence in Pasadena designed by Buff & Hensman in 1978. He is also involved in the firm’s other Annenberg Foundation Trust Projects in Palm Springs, i.e., the restoration of the Annenberg’s Sunnylands Estate designed by A. Quincy Jones and the new visitor’s center which is rapidly nearing completion.

Relatedly, on Saturday afternoon at his gallery on Wilshire across the street from LACMA, Edward Cella hosted a salon titled “Restore, Refresh, Renew: New Desert Projects” where Janice Lyle, Director of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands (http://www.sunnylands.org/) discussed the Annenberg Estate restoration and new visitor center and how the new 200-acre compound and surrounding grounds are envisioned to be used. Sidney Williams, Curator of Architecture and Design for the Palm Springs Art Museum (http://www.psmuseum.org/councils/architecture_and_design.php) lectured on the legacy of modernism in the greater Palm Springs region and current efforts to preserve, restore, and interpret this legacy within the dynamic community context. She broke the exciting news to the group that plans are under way to acquire E. Stewart Williams’s 1960 Santa Fe Federal Savings Building on Palm Canyon Drive for use as exhibition space and storage for their growing architectural archives.

To learn more about A. Quincy Jones and Sunnylands I recommend picking up a copy of “Sunnylands: Art and Architecture of the Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, California” edited by David G. De Long. (See below). To learn more about the Annenberg Foundation and growing portfolio of cultural centers and activities go to http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/

Image from Amazon.com.

The historical connections of Frederick Fisher Partners and A. Quincy Jones now run quite deep. The firm works out of the historic Jones & Emmons office building (see rendering above) at 12348 Santa Monica Blvd. which they sensitively restored to period pristineness. How ironic (and appropriate I might add) that they be the firm to restore the A. Quincy Jones-designed Annenberg Estate’s Sunnylands compound and design the new visitor’s center. On top of the Community Beach House and Sunnylands projects, Fisher Partners is also restoring A. Quincy Jones’s iconic “The Barn” on Pico Blvd. in Century City for the Metabolic Studio, an arts program affiliated with the Annenberg Foundation. See the Sam Lubell article, “Century City Pastoral” in the 03-12-2010 issue of The Architect’s Neswpaper at the following link for more details. (The Barn)

The Barn, A. Quincy Jones Residence, Century City, 1966. Los Angeles Times Home Magazine, 05-22-1966. Julius Shulman Job No. 3988, 02-11-1966.

    
Thus it appears that Fisher’s decision to move his firm into the restored Jones & Emmons offices has paid off in a big way with the resultant Annenberg Foundation commissions. It is also quite coincidental indeed that the Annenberg Community Beach House is in such close proximity to Jones & Emmon’s Shorecliff Tower Condominiums. 

All this seems to cry out  to me for an exhibition on Jones whose last show was a tribute curated by Esther McCoy at Cal-State Dominguez Hills shortly after his passing in early 1980. What better place for a Jones exhibition than an inaugural show in the soon to be acquired Santa Fe Federal Savings Building in Palm Springs where Jones is revered for his desert work. February, 2012 Modernism Week seems like a great target to shoot for unless other plans are already under way for that date. For my related post which references A. Quincy Jones’s Plam Springs work see http://socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/paul-r-williams-and-quincy-jones.html.

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Poster art for “William Krisel, Architect”

The long-awaited documentary on the life of architect William Krisel (see above trailer) will be premiering in Los Angeles on April 13th at the Getty Museum’s Harold Williams Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

I was privileged to be part of the film by providing: research assistance, interview candidates and questions, building location scouting, hi-res scans of stills used in the film including material from my private collection, and interview of myself by film maker Jake Gorst. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3735029/.

Jake Gorst and I had the distinct honor of being the last people to interview Julius Shulman on film before his passing last July (see below).

Go to the Design Onscreen link to learn more about their other films and philosophy. http://www.designonscreen.org/in-production/

It’s hard to believe, but even though Krisel is responsible for thousands of dwellings in Palm Springs, he was so prolific a designer that his desert work constitutes only 5 % of his total production. For more on Krisel’s Palm Springs work see http://www.psmodcom.com/Architects%20Pages/PalmerKrisel/PalmerKrisel8.html.

Krisel was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the AIA-LA Design Awards Party at the Egyptian Theater on Oct. 21st.  The above photo announcing same was published in January/February 2010 issue of “Form: Pioneering Design.” Krisel also had an exhibition of his work at the MODAA Gallery in the Studio Pali Fekete, Architects Building in Culver City last November. (see below).

Krisel’s archives were recently acquired by the Getty Research Institute where they will reside in the pantheon of Southern California Mid-Century Modernism alongside those of Julius Shulman, John Lautner, Pierre Koenig, Ray Kappe and others. The archives couldn’t have found a better home. The Getty Research Institute is fast becoming a most important one-stop location for the in-depth study of the region’s unique brand of  modern architecture studied and emulated by architect’s and researchers around the world.

Krisel commissioned me to organize his papers and drawings in anticipation of the Getty’s acquisition. The above photo is of Wim de Wit, Head of the Getty Research Institute’s Department of Architecture and Contemporary Art and assistant Christopher Alexander previewing Bill’s archives at his Rancho Santa Fe Compound last spring. My summary of the archive’s contents can be found at the link below. See also the Getty Research Institute link under my Links of Interest to the right.
William Krisel Archive (2)

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I was out last weekend checking out an open house for Schindler’s Westby House in Silverlake. While in the neighborhood I decided to do some “archeological work” at Schindler’s Falk Apartments at 3631 Carnation Ave. down the street.

Lane Publishing, 1953. Jerry Anson photo. Details by William Krisel. Scanned from my collection.

Krisel’s first professional job was to design the pergola and deck improvements seen in the Sunset publication above and my photo below in the spring of 1949 during his last semester at USC. The project was published in 1951 in Sunset magazine and in 1953 was anthologized in “Sunset Ideas for Hillside Homes.” Palmer’s aunt Pauline allowed the pergola to be built and even paid for the construction. It is amazing that the pergola is still in such good shape 60 years later.

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The long-awaited documentary on the life of architect William Krisel (see above trailer) will be premiering on February 14th at the Camelot Theater during Modernism Week in, most appropriately, the community that bears his stamp more than any other architect, Palm Springs. (see http://www.modernismweek.com/ for schedule of events).

I was privileged to be part of the film by providing: research assistance, interview candidates and questions, building location scouting, hi-res scans of stills used in the film including material from my private collection, and interview of myself by film maker Jake Gorst. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3735029/.

Jake Gorst and I had the distinct honor of being the last people to interview Julius Shulman on film before his passing last July (see below).

Go to the Design Onscreen link to learn more about their other films and philosophy. http://www.designonscreen.org/in-production/

It’s hard to believe, but even though Krisel is responsible for thousands of dwellings in Palm Springs, he was so prolific a designer that his desert work constitutes only 5 % of his total production. For more on Krisel’s Palm Springs work see http://www.psmodcom.com/Architects%20Pages/PalmerKrisel/PalmerKrisel8.html.

Krisel was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the AIA-LA Design Awards Party at the Egyptian Theater on Oct. 21st.  The above photo announcing same was published in January/February 2010 issue of “Form: Pioneering Design.” Krisel also had an exhibition of his work at the MODAA Gallery in the Studio Pali Fekete, Architects Building in Culver City last November. (see below).

Krisel’s archives were recently acquired by the Getty Research Institute where they will reside in the pantheon of Southern California Mid-Century Modernism alongside those of Julius Shulman, John Lautner, Pierre Koenig, Ray Kappe and others. The archives couldn’t have found a better home. The Getty Research Institute is fast becoming a most important one-stop location for the in-depth study of the region’s unique brand of  modern architecture studied and emulated by architect’s and researchers around the world.

Krisel commissioned me to organize his papers and drawings in anticipation of the Getty’s acquisition. My summary of the archive’s contents can be found at the link below. See also the Getty Research Institute link under my Links of Interest to the right.
http://so-cal-arch-history.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/William-Krisel-Archive-42.pdf

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