Southern California Architectural History

Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christoper Hawthorne announced in the January 26th issue of the Times an ambitious one-year reading program Reading L.A. which will take a detailed chronological look at major works in the history of the development of Los Angeles and Southern California. One of his goals is to by the end of the year have a better handle on how the city has been explored by the critics and writers who have preceded us here.

This 12 month immersion in our storied past seems like a fun trip for aficionados of Los Angeles history and the evolution of modern architecture to embark upon with him. I plan to closely follow along, especially on the books I have as yet not read. For those of you who choose to join Hawthorne on this trek through our past he states that this effort is not organized as a formal book club as many of the titles are out of print and some are almost impossible to find. This is especially true of the first month’s selections, “The Truth About Los Angeles” by Louis Adamic and “Los Angeles” by Morrow Mayo. I was able to recently find a fairly reasonably priced copy of the Mayo book in a library buckram binding. Many local libraries have copies. The book is extremely scarce in the dust jacket. (See original dust jacket below). The Adamic book is much scarcer and can only be found at select research institutions. Have fun tracking it down.

Los Angeles by Morrow Mayo, Knopf, 1933. Photo courtesy of Peter Harrington Books, London.

The dust jacket flap bio of Mayo states that he served for six years at the Pasadena Star News, Los Angeles Express, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press in Los Angeles writing on California subjects for eastern newspapers and magazines such as The Nation, New Republic, Life, Plain Talk, The American Mercury, Current History, The Commonweal and numerous West Coast periodicals of opinion. His “History with side-shows from the Conquistador to Aimee Semple McPherson” begun in 1931 took 13 months to finish and includes 28 illustrations, 2 maps and importantly, from my perspective, an extensive bibliography. Kevin Starr cited Mayo in The Dream Endures, “Here is an artificial city which has been pumped up under forced draught, inflated like a balloon, stuffed with rural humanity like a goose with corn.” With prose like this I can’t wait to read it.

As an avid collector of Los Angeles architecture books, I have in my library the lion’s share of the 25 classics Hawthorne has included in his list and have read most of them. I have found, however, that rereading important books such as these, or at least sections of them, every few years from the fresh perspective of accumulated knowledge and experience uncovers new treasures and ideas that did not surface on first reading thus I am looking forward to the experience.

As with most lists established by noted critics such as Hawthorne, of whom I am a big fan by the way, they tend to gain a life of their own. I expect this list to possibly become known as “The Hawthorne 25″ along the lines of a poor man’s Zamorano 80 created by the Zamorano Club and its erstwhile leader Phil Townsend Hanna. Hawthorne seems somewhat flexible in the final list as he states it is not set in stone. I have had many comments since posting his list on my Facebook page about someone’s faves being left off. Send your feedback to christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com.

I have added a few additional recommended titles at the end of this article and will continue to add more as we go through the list in the coming months. Once one begins reading a few of these books, their bibliograhies and end notes always provide good clues for further serendipitous research for pursuing personal interests. It would be fun if Hawthorne comes up with an on-line final exam at the end of the year to test who read the most books the most closely. Happy reading,  L.A.

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“The Hawthorne 25″

January: “The Truth About Los Angeles,” by Louis Adamic (1927) and “Los Angeles,” by Morrow Mayo (1933).

February: “Southern California: An Island on the Land,” by Carey McWilliams (1946) and “Five California Architects,” by Esther McCoy (1960).

Southern California Country: An Island in the Land by Carey McWilliams, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. (From my collection).

For more on McWilliams see my Touring Topics/Westways: The Phil Townsend Hanna Years.

Five California Architects, Reinhold, 1960. Julius Shulman cover photo. (From my collection).

For much more on Esther McCoy’s work see my Selected Publications of Esther McCoy: Patron Saint of Architectural Historians. Hawthorne likely selected this since it was McCoy’s first published book but there are three others I like more, The Second Generation, Peregrine, 1984, Modern California Houses, Case Study Houses 1945-1962, Reinhold, 1962 and Vienna to Los Angeles: Two Journeys, Arts + Architecture Press, 1979. (See my critiques at the above link).

March: “Eden in Jeopardy: Man’s Prodigal Meddling With the Environment,” by Richard Lillard (1966) and “The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles 1850-1930,”  by Robert M. Fogelson (1967).

April: “Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies,” by Reyner Banham (1971) and “Guide to the Ugliest Buildings of Los Angeles,” by Richard Meltzer (1980).

Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies by Reyner Banham, Harper & Row, 1971. (From my collection).

May: “L.A Freeway: An Appreciative Essay,” by David Brodsly (1981) and “Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture,” by Thomas Hines (1982).

Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture by Thomas S. Hines, Oxford University Press, 1982. (From my collection).

June: “Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water,” by Marc Reisner (1986) and “City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles,” by Mike Davis (1990).

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Mark Reisner, Viking, 1986. (From my collection).

City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis, Vintage, 1992. (From my collection).

July: “Heteropolis: Los Angeles, the Riots and the Strange Beauty of Hetero-Architecture,” by Charles Jencks (1993); “Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir,” by D.J. Waldie (1996); and “The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory,” by Norman M. Klein (1997).

Heteropolis: Los Angeles, the Riots and Strange Beauty of Hetero-Architecture by Charles Jencks, Academy Editions, 1993. (From my collection).

Holy Land: A Surburban Memoir by D. J. Waldie, Norton, 1996. (From my collection).

D. J. Waldie’s Holy Land was the recipient of the California Book Award for non-fiction in 1996. A fascinating read about postwar suburban life in the tracts sprouting up in Lakewood, SoCal’s answer to Levittown. Waldie gave my web site a nice blurb in his new KCET blog SoCal Focus. See Taking a good Look Around.

Excerpt from Waldie’s SoCal Focus:

John Crosse/Southern California Architectural History
This is real architectural history, largely focused on modernity and its evolution in Southern California. The site is dense and informative, full of illustrations from the author’s collection of architectural monographs.

Maynard Parker Collection
Or you can be a researcher on your own in this expanding collection of mid-century photographs by Maynard Parker. As John Crosse points out, Parker’s career in Southern California closely paralleled that of the better known Julius Shulman. I’m working with a team of writers under the leadership of Jennifer Watts, curator of Photographs at the Huntington, on a survey of Parker’s photographs to be published later this year.

The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory by Norman M. Klein, Verso, 1997. (From my collection).

August: “Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses,” edited by Elizabeth A.T. Smith (1999) and “Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the Twentieth-Century Metropolis,” by Greg Hise (1999).

Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses, MIT Press, 1989. (From my collection).

This book is essential in any modernist’s library but contains some myths and inaccuracies surrounding the circumstances of John Entenza’s takeover of California Arts & Architecture magazine. For the true story on this see my  California Arts & Architecture: A Steppingstone to Fame: Harwell Hamilton Harris and John Entenza: Two Case Studies and Selected Publications of Esther McCoy: Patron Saint of Architectural Historians.

Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the Twentieth Century Metropolis by Greg Hise, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. (From my collection).

September: “Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region,” edited by Hise and William Deverell (2000) and “The Drive-In, the Supermarket, and the Transformation of Commercial Space in Los Angeles, 1914-41,” by Richard Longstreth (2000). [For the record: An earlier version of this post misstated the title of the Longstreth book.]

City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950 by Richard Longstreth, MIT Press, 1997

The Longstreth book should be read as a pair with the above. They are extremely well-researched and complement and intersect each other on every level. In other words you really shouldn’t read one without the other.

October: “Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving: Reflections on Building Production in the Vernacular City,” by John Chase (2000) and “Landscapes of Desire: Anglo Mythologies of Los Angeles,” by William Alexander McClung (2000).

November: “Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles,” by William Fulton (2001) and “Form Follows Libido: Architecture and Richard Neutra in a Psychoanalytic Culture,” by Sylvia Lavin (2005).

Form Follows Libido Architecture and Richard Neutra in a Psychoanalytic Culture, by Sylvia Lavin, MIT Press, 2004. (From my collection).

December: “Making Time: Essays on the Nature of Los Angeles,” by William Fox (2006) and “Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City,” by Robert Gottlieb (2007).

Further Recommended Reading

January: “La Reina: Los Angeles in Three Centuries,” by Laurence A. Hill, Security Trust & Savings Bank, 1929, “Los Angeles: Biography of a City,” by John and LaRee Caughey (1976), “L.A.’s Early Moderns,” by Victoria Dailey, Natalie Shivers and Michael Dawson (2003), “Los Angeles: From Mission to Modern City,” by Remi Nadeau (1960) and “L.A. in the Thirties,” by David Gebhard and Harriette von Breton (1975).

.

La Reina: Los Angeles in Three Centuries, by Laurence A. Hill, Security Trust & Savings Bank, 1929.

This is a richly illustrated gem of a book full of wonderful vignettes of our founding fathers and their developments published at the peak of Los Angeles development at the end of the Roaring Twenties.

LA’S Early Moderns by Victoria Dailey, Natalie Shivers and Michael Dawson, Balcony Press, 2003 (from my collection).

This book is absolutely essential for an in-depth understanding of the exciting transition to modernism taking place in 1920s-1930s Los Angeles and the intertwined modernist circle which developed and supported each other’s work. For much more on this see my Pauline Gibling Schindler: Vagabond Agent for Modernism, 1927-1936 and Foundations of Los Angeles Modernism: Richard Neutra’s Mod Squad.

Los Angeles: Biography of a City, by John and LaRee Caughey, Universsity of California Press, 1976. (From my collection).

A choice anthology of more than 100 essays by the likes of Juan Crespi, Juan Batista de Anza, Philipe de Neve, Hubert Howe Bancroft, Robert Glass Cleland, E. Gould Buffum, Horace Bell, Sarah Bixby-Smith, Mary Austin, Helen Hunt Jackson, Morrow Mayo, Remi Nadeau, Robinson Jeffers, Aimee Semple McPherson, Ralph S. Bunche, Upton Sinclair, Budd Schulberg, Carey McWilliams, Aldous Huxley, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Jim Murray, Reyner Banham, Jack Smith and many others. It also includes a lengthy “Selected Readings” list in the back matter, a great staring point for further study.

L.A. in the Thirties, by David Gebhard and Harriette von Breton, Peregrine, 1975. (From my collection).

Another essential, well-researched piece of work from a much under-appreciated historian, exhibition curator and archivist at UC Santa Barbara and relentless compiler of a series of architectural guide books on Los Angeles, David Gebhard.

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When World War II broke Williams formed a joint venture with Adrian Wilson and engineer Donald R. Warren which operated under the banner of Allied Engineers, Inc. to work on the Roosevelt Naval Base on Terminal Island and the Naval Reserve Air Base at Los Alamitos during 1941-2. It was while working for Allied Engineers during this period that Jones would meet future partner Frederick E. Emmons. Jones’s responsibility for Allied Engineers included the creation of the general layout of both military installations which gave him a strong footing in planning and designing massive development projects. (A. Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner, p. 11).

Jones gained additional valuable experience on large-scale housing projects working on the the 80-acre, 500-unit Victory Park Housing Project for defense workers in Compton, California under Adrian Wilson and Theodore Criley, Jr., Associated Architects in 1942. (“First Families to Occupy $1,565,000 Housing Project,” L.A. Times, November 16, 1942, p. 24). A two-page across-the-fold rendering of the development signed by A. Quincy Jones, Jr. “42″ appears in the May 1942 issue of California Arts & Architecture. Jones served the rest of World War II as a Naval officer aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington surviving a close call when the shipped was bombed during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Phillipines. (“Seal Beach Navy Officer Returns Home Atfer Close Call With Death,” Seal Beach Post & Wave, January 19, 1945, p. 1).

Jones founded his own firm on November 2, 1945, the day after his discharge from the Navy and obtained his first client the next day. (Jones, Elaine Sewell, A. Quincy Jones: The Oneness of Architecture, Process Architecture No, 41, p. 18). Williams and Jones “associated” on close to 20 projects after World War II including the Palm Springs Tennis Club and Town & Country Center, Coconut Island Resort in Hawaii, Laguna Beach & Tennis Club, and the Pueblo Gardens subdivision in Tuscon. (See also my Paul R. Williams and A. Quincy Jones: Coconut Island Club International, 1946). My research in the voluminous A. Quincy Jones Papers at UCLA’s Charles Young Research Library, ironically designed by Jones & Emmons, uncovered correspondence from Jones to Williams near war’s end asking for advice on a residential project he was moonlighting on and provided clear insight as to how their post-war collaborations operated.

The “association” between Williams and Jones worked like this: Williams obtained the clients and Jones designed the projects and supervised construction, a win-win for the duo as Jones built up a nice body of work for high-powered clients while establishing his career and Williams got half the fees, sharing of publication design credit, and the addition of modernist design work to the firm’s portfolio. There is very little correspondence between the two firms on design or construction issues other than how to deal with deadbeat clients in collecting their shared fees. All of Jones’s joint venture job files and correspondence with clients and contractors and numerous published articles clearly indicate that Jones did all of the design and all of the construction site visits and job supervision on all of their “associated” projects. (Note also in my Pueblo Gardens Annotated Bibliography excerpted from my Jones bibliography included at the end of this post that all articles appearing in the Webb Spinner, the Webb Co. organ, that no mention is made of Paul Williams because all the company’s men only dealt with Jones throughout the design and construction of the project.)

Prominent builder and developer Del Webb (see above photos) and Paul Williams, also a longtime member of the City of Los Angeles Municipal Arts Commission and prominent Republican Party fundraiser, hobnobbed among the same monied-elite circles of politicians and movie stars. Together with partners Dan Topping and Larry McPhail, Webb bought the New York Yankees from the estate of Colonel Jacob Ruppert in 1945 with profits from building massive military installations and internment camps during World War II. Webb, also an avid golfer and close friends with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, played in the Crosby Clambake at Rancho Santa Fe in the late 1930s and early 1940s and Pebble Beach after the war beginning in 1947. Williams also had connections to Hope and Crosby which may be how Webb and Williams first crossed paths. The four women in the picture below including Williams’ wife Della are members of the League for Crippled Children in Los Angeles and the Junior League of San Diego. They are preparing for a trip to Rancho Santa Fe to attend the Bing Crosby Clambake.

In any event, Webb’s connections with Williams resulted in the commission for the design of 700-home speculative subdivision and shopping center project in Tuscon. Soon thereafter Williams reciprocated by helping Webb land the plum building contract for the furniture store he designed for W. & J. Sloane at the southeast corner of Camden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Beverly Hills. Williams, having no desire to spend any time in the withering heat of Tuscon and having complete trust in Jones after his design and construction management success on the Palm Springs Tennis Club and Town & Country Center, passed along the Webb Tuscon design commission to his eager former disciple Jones.

Tuscon, like most cities right after the war was experiencing an acute demand for housing. The Phoenix-based Webb purchased the parcel southeast of downtown indicated by the arrow in the above aerial photo. The plan was to build a 700 home subdivision known as Pueblo Gardens (with later expansion to 3,000 homes) and the Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center.

When Webb first approached Jones on this vast project the site planning was already adopted (see above) and the FHA had approved houses that the developers planned to build from stock plans. As Jones explained in an article on speculative housing in Progressive Architecture,

“He was called in simply ”to discuss doing a shopping center” (see much further below) at the entrance to the project. At his request, however, he was permitted to submit alternative designs for the houses, on the theory not only that a total community correlated in design would be more satisfactory but that, by employing contemporary principles, he could simplify house design and construction methods, thus reducing costs, at the same time providing more livability per unit. The effort was a success; the company liked the new schemes; FHA approved the new plans, and within 30 days the architects completed drawings for the first 100 houses. (“The Speculative House: Pueblo Gardens: Tuscon, Arizona, A. Quincy Jones, Jr.; Paul R. Williams, Associate Architects,” Progressive Architecture, July 1950, pp. 73-81).

Pueblo Gardens grading work, July 1948. From Builders’ Homes for Better Living by A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, Reinhold, 1957, p. 4.

Jones designed every home with an entry hall screened from the living area. (See above and below floor plans).

With the the above framing yard and other on-site production facilities (see below) Webb created a “factory-in-the-field” enabling his crews to complete an average of seven homes per day at the peak of construction activity.

Pueblo Gardens about a month later than the previous photo. From Builders’ Homes for Better Living by A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, Reinhold, 1957, p. 26.

Jones planned each dwelling to be an integral part of the whole, with fences and gardens enabling the builders to “tie together” the community units. In getting away from hedgerow housing, Jones adopted a variable design so that different placements on the lots enabled making use of orientation to the path of the sun and to climatic conditions. (See above).

Many of the homes’ exterior walls are of California redwood. A few are brightly-painted, combed plywood. Others are stuccoed and finished in soft to deep brown tones. Roofs are of washed gravel and mostly in bright white, in direct contrast to deep hues on the exterior walls. Jones also designed the homes with very wide roof overhang to protect both the glass and solid walls from the Arizona sun. (See below).

For added architectural interest Jones used several different types of fences to “tie in” the garden and the home, the “fences” continuing from the garden through glass walls into the interior. (See above and below). This gives privacy to the landscaped patios, bringing the outdoors inside, and yet forming a screening partition in the interior. Besides insuring privacy for each home owner, detached patio fences in turn make it possible to vary the appearance of each dwelling. (McLain, p. 33).

One wall of each home is essentially glass from floor to ceiling, fronting on a patio which, in effect, becomes an outdoor living room. Jones’s architectural design also permits the ceiling in one room to run through uninterrupted, thus increasing the visual size of the room. Structurally the houses have been designed to eliminate the normal costly truss type roof as well as the tricky and costly hip and valley framing. Jones’s framing system enabled sloping ceilings which architecturally visually enlarge the rooms. The sloping ceiling carries from entry area, and living area, into dining and kitchen area uninterrupted. Room separation is provided by door-height closets or screening partitions.(See above).

Jones felt that he had extraordinary co-operation from Webb on the landscaping. In regard to the planting plan, for instance, Jones stated:

“The scheme was based on a showing some five years away; most developers would have said ‘to hell with five years from now; give us a quick showing (at the front entrance) and let the owners worry about five years from now’ .. . I felt it was pretty wonderful. This long-range viewpoint was considered throughout.” (P/A. p. 81).

Jones began by eliminating the usual concept of lining each side of a street with a row of trees. The Pueblo Gardens landscaping pattern is based on an interweaving pattern of three heights of planting. (See above). Tall trees, such as Eucalyptus, were planted not only for pattern, but as wind breaks and light control. Olive trees were used to create shady areas in the patios. (See below). Low shrub planting such as oleander were used to augment the overall pattern and control wind and dust.

The homes’ kitchens may also be used as a living area, in almost every Pueblo Gardens home the kitchen can be opened into an activity area separated by a buffet counter. (See above).

In conjunction with the development of Pueblo Gardens, Jones designed for the Webb Company the one-stop Pueblo Plaza shopping center with approximately 100,000 square feet of shopping space and off-street parking facilities for 1,500 automobiles in a 14-acre area. Jones, building upon his experience from the Town & Country Center in Palm Springs, worked out a functional plan in which all shops and services a consumer reaches on foot are being placed on an island with no hazardous traffic-bearing roads to cross. Because customers will approach from both front and rear, there will be attractive entrances and show windows at both. Wide sidewalks and carefully-planned landscaping are other features. (McLain, p. 35).

Jones’s ability and design aesthetic immediately impressed and appealed to Webb’s right-hand man, his executive vice-president and general manager, L. C. “Jake” Jacobson. (See below). The 35-year-old Jacobson came to the Webb organization originally as a $25-per-week carpenter and timekeeper. His rapid rise in Webb’s company provided him with the wherewithal to be able to hire Jones to design his personal residence in Phoenix immediately upon his completion of his Pueblo Gardens commission.

L. C. “Jake” Jacobson Residence, Phoenix, AZ, 1949. A. Quincy Jones, architect. (Buckner, p. 39).

L. C. “Jake” Jacobson Residence living room and patio, Phoenix, AZ, 1949. A. Quincy Jones, architect. Julius Shulman Job No. 479, May 10, 1949. (Buckner, p. 39).

L. C. “Jake” Jacobson Residence dining room, Phoenix, AZ, 1949. A. Quincy Jones, architect. Julius Shulman Job No. 479, May 10, 1949. (Buckner, p. 39).

Jones’s papers indicate that he also designed a house for another Webb executive Joe Ashton (see earlier above to Jacobson’s left) in Burbank which was also known as the General Electric Model House but I have not been able to verify if it was ever built. Jones also performed a remodel for Del Webb’s personal residence in Phoenix in 1949. His last commission involving Webb was his referral to design the interiors of the administrative offices of the Paraffine Companies’ Pabco Plant in Raritan Township, New Jersey built by the Del Webb Co. in 1950.

The Del E. Webb Company continued to grow and prosper with much work in booming Las Vegas including the Sahara Hotel and his wildly successful Sun City Development in Arizona which landed him on the front cover of Time Magazine. (See below).

Del Webb, Time Magazine, August 3, 1962.

By 1950, Jones had developed his practice to the point where he was no longer dependent on Williams for clients and commissions. His 1949 model tract home designed for builder H. C. Hvistendahl in San Diego won the AIA’s 1950 Honor Award, Architectural Forum’s “Builder’s House of the Year” and House Beautiful’s recognition as the “First House of the Year.” The resulting flood of publicity brought in numerous clients resulting in his teaming up with erstwhile Allied Engineers friend Frederick E. Emmons in December 1950 to keep up with the increase in commissions. The notoriety also captured the attention of Bay Area tract builder Joseph Eichler for whom the duo would perform their best residential subdivision design work.

Jones raised the tract house in California from the simple stucco box to a logically designed structure integrated into the landscape and surrounded by greenbelts. He introduced new materials as well as a new way of living within the built environment and popularized an informal, outdoor-oriented open plan. More than just abstractions of the suburban ranch house, most Jones and Emmons designs incorporated a usable atrium, high ceilings, post-and-beam construction and walls of glass. For the postwar moderate-income family, his work bridged the gap between custom-built and developer-built homes. (Wikipedia).

 

IBM Aerospace Headquarters (currently Kathleen Ahmanson Hall, Otis College of Art and Design). A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons and Eliot Noyes, 1964.

By the 1960s Jones was designing a number of university campus buildings and larger office buildings, including the 1963 IBM Aerospace Headquarters in Westchester, California, now the Otis College of Art and Design. (See above). Several University of California campuses feature significant examples of Jones’ work. In 1966 Jones designed “Sunnylands,” the 650 acre (2.6 km²) estate and 32,000 square foot (3,000 m²) home of Walter Annenberg in Rancho Mirage, California. Jones was also a professor and later dean of architecture at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture from 1951 through 1967. (For much on Jones’s relationship with Annenberg see my Annenberg Communtiy Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach, Frederick Fisher Partners).

 

Pueblo Gardens Annotated Bibliography

 

A. Quincy Jones, Architect

(In association with Paul R. Williams)

1.  Webb Co. Housing Wins National Acclaim. Webb Spinner, 1948. 2(9, Aug): p. 1-3.

Article on Pueblo Gardens in Tuscon mentions 700 out of a futur total of 3000 homes will be finished by next March 1st along with Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center. Includes 7 photos of the model homes. Mentions A. Quincy Jones as project architect. No mention of Paul Williams.

2.  Pueblo Gardens Model Homes to Open to the Public Tuesday. Arizona Daily Star, 1948(Aug 24): p. B1-7.

Special seven-page supplement on Pueblo Gardens. Includes a Jones rendering of Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center and over 10 photos of the models and much on the developer, the Del Webb Co. Includes a section on Jones which references the association with Paul Williams and their design of oilman Ed Pauley’s retreat on Coconut Island, “The Center” in Palm Springs, the Palm Springs Tennis Club, the Laguna Beach and Tenniis Club and the Roseland Ball Room iin New York. Mentions Jones work for the Mutual Housing Association.

3.  Nation’s Newspapers and Magazines Tell Story of Pueblo Gardens Project to Thousands. Webb Spinner, 1948. 2(10, Sep): p. 1.

Article on the Pueblo Gardens development designed by A. Quincy Jones references articles also appearing in  the New York Times, Kansas City Star, Detroit Free Pess, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and references requests for info from Progressive Architecture, FHA Magazine Portfolio, House & Garden, Better Homes & Gardens, Look, Good Housekeeping, Sunset, Engineering News-Record, Domestic Engineering and American Builder.

4.  Low-Cost Housing Project in Tucson. The Constructor, 1948(Oct): p. Cover, 52-54.

Cover story on Pueblo Gardens. Includes a photo of A. Quincy Jones with L. C. Jacobson, J. R. Ashton, and Del Webb.

5.  Pueblo Gardens Widely Publicized. Webb Spinner, 1948. 2(12, Nov): p. 1.

Describes recent publicity including the cover story in the Oct. issue of The Constructor, Nov. issue Arizona Highways, Nov. 4th issue of Engineering News-Record, and a future article comiing up in Practical Builder.

6.  McLain, J., Pueblo Gardens. Arizona Highways, 1948. XXIV(11, Nov): p. 30-35.

Describes the development designed by A. Quincy Jones for the Webb Company. Includes 16 photos, floor plans and a Jones rendering of the Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center. No mention of Paul Williams.

7.  Noted Land Developers Laud Tuscon Housing. Webb Spinner, 1949. 3(1, Dec): p. 1, 4.

Describes Pueblo Gardens being praised by the Urban Land Institute at the National Real Estate Conventiion in New York last montth.

8.  Low-Cost Housing in Tuscon. National Architect, 1949. 5(1, Jan): p. 6.

Describes Pueblo Gardens in Tuscon designed by A. Quincy Jones and Paul R. Williams. Includes a photo of Jones and Williams looking at a model and 2 photos and a floor plan of the project,

9.  Economy Housing by 1949? One Answer. The Charette, Pittsburgh’s Journal of Architecture, 1949(Mar): p. 8-9.

Describes a low-cost Pueblo Gardens model home designed by A. Quincy Jones and Paul Williams for the Del Webb Co. in Tuscon. Includes a photo and floor plan.

10.  3,000 Unit Development. Architectural Forum, 1949(Apr): p. 140-142.

Describes the Pueblo Gardens development in Tuscon designed by A. Quincy Jones and Paul Williams for the Del Webb Co. Includes 6 photos and 3 floor plans.

11.  City Can Use 5000 Houses Under $10,000. Columbus Citizen (Ohio), 1949(Apr 10).

Describes the low-cost houses in the Pueblo Gardens development in Tuscon designed by Paul Williams and A. Quincy Jones for the Del Webb Co.

12.  Webb Co. Housing to be Pictured in Architects’ Exhibit. Webb Spinner, 1950. 4(3, Feb): p. 1, 6.

Discusses the Pueblo Gardens development designed by A. Quincy Jones which will be featured in the Seventh Congress of Pan-American Architects exhibition in Cuba from where it will travel to the national A.I.A. convention and then travel to many other foreign countries. Includes a photo of seveeral of the 12 Webb Co. display panels to be included in the exhibition. Photographed by in-house photographer.

13.  Architect Exhibit. Webb Spinner, 1950. 4(6, May): p. 14.

Includes a photo of the display panels of the Pueblo Gardens housing project designed by A. Quincy Jones which appeared in tthe Seventh Congress of Pan-Ameican Architects in Havanna, Cuba

14.  Pueblo Gardens: Tuscon, Arizona, A. Quincy Jones, Jr.; Paul R. Williams, Associate Architects. Progressive Architecture, 1950(Jul): p. 80-81.

Includes 5 photos, floor plans, plot plan and tract plan.

Further recommended reading

A. Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner, Phaidon, 2002

Builder’s Homes for Better Living by A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, Reinhold, 1957

A. Quincy Jones: A Tribute by Esther McCoy, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1980 (See also in my Selected Publications of Esther McCoy)

A. Quincy Jones: The Oneness of Architecture, Process Architecture No. 41, 1983

Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream by Paul Adamson, Gibbs-Smith, 2002

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Early in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii from its previous base in San Diego and ordered a military buildup in the Philippines in the hope of discouraging Japanese aggression in the Far East. (Wikepedia). To beef up homeland defenses Congress in March 1941 authorized $15 million to build military bases along the California coast to protect against possible Japanese attack and provide for support services for the Pacific Fleet. (“Seven Coast Defense Bases for California to Be Built,” Los Angeles Times, March 13, 1941, p. 8). A series of additional military appropriations bills enabled a rapid buildup of activity, mainly centered in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. A consortium of architectural firms were presciently tapped to fast-track design and construction of these facilities as the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor would quickly jump-start these bases into active use.

The firms of Paul R. Williams, Adrian Wilson and engineer Donald R. Warren formed a joint venture which operated under the banner of Allied Engineers, Inc. to work on the Roosevelt Naval Base on Terminal Island and the Naval Reserve Air Base at Los Alamitos during 1941-2. (See my A. Quincy Jones and Pueblo Gardens: The First Modern Tract for more on Allied Engineers). Wilson had earned quite a reputation as a modernist by the time he joined Allied Engineers evidenced by one of his frequent covers for California Arts & Architecture seen below while a partner with Erle Webster. (See also in my California Arts & Architecture: A Steppingstone to Fame). The now iconic Ship of the Desert in Palm Springs is now the home of designer Trina Turk and is the site of numerous events related to Palm Springs Modernism.

Notable architects working for Williams and Wilson at the time were A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons who met while working for Allied Engineers and would in 1950 join forces for their own highly productive modernist partnership. Emmons earned his modernist spurs in the offices of future Case Study House architect William W. Wurster during 1938-39, the same period Jones was apprenticing with Paul R. Williams. Jones himself had already designed and constructed his modernist personal residence and studio in 1938. (See below).

Jones House I, A. Quincy Jones, 1938. Julius Shulman Job No. 015. ( A. Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner, Phaidon, 2002, p. 29).

Among Jones’s responsibilities for Allied Engineers was the creation of the general layout of both military installations which gave him a strong footing in planning and designing massive development projects. (A. Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner, p. 11). The modernist design idiom of Wilson, Jones and Emmons is evident throughout the below Maynard Parker photos of the Roosevelt Base.

The newly created military complex embraced seven major activities in the Long Beach-Los Angeles harbor area on which more than $30,000,000 was spent. They comprise the $23,000,000 Roosevelt Base with its 1,000·foot graving dock, wharves, sheds, gymnasium, auditorium, swimming pool, dispensary, administration buildings and shops. Other facilities include the $4,000,000 Naval Air Station, the Naval Reserve Aviation Base built in Los Alamitos at a cost of $3,000,000 and a new $2,500,000 hospital in East Long Beach. (“Expansion of Naval Facilities Gives Capt. Coffman New Title,” L.A. Times, October 25, 1941, p. I-8). The Roosevelt Base was part of the long range plan to serve the Pacific Fleet in materiel and personnel and construction was well under way when war was declared. The base was officially dedicated on September 1, 1942 and command was assigned to Captain Schuyler F. Heim. (“World’s Largest Operating Base for Fleet Dedicated,” L.A. Times, September 2, 1942, front page).

Roosevelt Naval Base Administration Building, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, pp. 18-21).

The Roosevelt Base was documented by Pictorial California and the Pacific in the summer of 1943. (See above cover). The Pacific Press Syndicate, Inc. began publication of Pictorial California in December of 1925. The title was soon changed to Pictorial California and the Pacific by Eugene Swarzwald, president of the Pacific Press Syndicate and Keystone Photo Service which supplied many of the magazine’s images. Swarzwald’s magazine promoted the virtues of California and the western United States, and was distributed by chambers of commerce, railroad and steamship companies, and hotel management. The magazine was mostly graphic, consisting of photographs with captions with limited narrative accompaniment. The Swarzwald family produced the magazine until 1968 when it was taken over by a new publisher. (“Pictorial California Off Press,” L.A. Times, November 29, 1925, p. III-3).

Pictorial California specialized in articles related to leisure and social and recreational activities, with particular emphasis on hotels, golf courses and country clubs, amusement parks, zoos, and beaches. During World War II the magazine included much military-related content such as this article. Many of the photographs were provided by Swarzwald’s Keystone Photo Service. Other photographers whose work was often featured included Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Gabriel Moulin Studios, Pacific Air Industries Aerial Photography, Padilla Studios, Maynard L. Parker, Julius Shulman, Spence Air Photos, Harry Vroman, Whithurse Aerial Photos, and numerous others.

Post Office, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 18).

First contact with shore when fighting ships dropped anchor at Roosevelt Base was the postal launch loaded with “mail from home.” The above post office on Roosevelt Base was equipped with facilities for immediate handling of large quantities of Fleet mail. The modern entry design elements would later grace public buildings in the Los Angeles civic center complex under the similar joint ventures between Williams, Wilson and Austin, Field and Fry.

Stark Center, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 19).

Note the similarly modern entrance above and below to the base gymnasium, the Stark Center, which also housed leisure time facilities such as a bowling alley, billiards room, library and soda fountain.

Swimming Pool, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 19).

The pool was the site of life-saving courses and general water-based training activities one might expect on a Navy base.

Allen Center, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 20).

The Allen Center was the headquarters for recreation and relaxation. The interiors were created under the direction of H. H. Heimbeck of Barker Brothers. The above Officer’s Wardroom was paneled with brown Phillipine mahogany and included draperies of mocha, blue and citron-green. The chairs were in green, blue and rust tones.

Allen Center, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 21).

Another view of the Wardroom shows a huge round settee upholstered in rust leather facing a brown marble fireplace while the chairs on either side were in citron-green. Barker Brothers, longtime advertisers with and content providers to Pictorial California proudly advertised in this same issue their commissions to “Supply Home Furnishings for Uncle Sam.” (See below). The modernist furniture seen in the above and below photos stem from the groundwork laid by Kem Weber beginning in 1921. As Barker Brothers Art Director and lead furniture designer, Weber created the store’s Modes and Manners Shop in 1926 (see further below) bringing the latest in modern home furnishings to well-healed Los Angeles home owners. (See my Foundations of Los Angeles Modernism: Richard Neutra’s Mod Squad for much more on this).

Barker Brothers ad,  (Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 25).

Kem Weber, Modes and Manners Shop, Barker Brothers circa 1926. From Kem Weber: The Moderne in Southern California, 1920-1941, bt David Gebhard and Harriett Von Breton. (From my collection).

For years Barker Brothers provided Pictorial California a monthly across-the-fold spread featuring their furniture in elegant, architect-designed homes with interiors designed by the firm’s quite capable interior decorators. The articles included multiple photos by their architectural photographer of choice, Maynard L. Parker who completed close to 200 assignments for the firm, 124 of which appeared in Pictorial California.

The Grill, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 21).

The Grill with chartreuse sole-leather chairs also included Stars and Stripes draperies of chartreuse and cherry.

Stark Center Lounge, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker photo. (“Naval Operating Base,” Pictorial California, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, Summer Number, 1943, p. 21).

The Stark Center lounge seen above was home away from home for enlisted men whether based on ship or shore

Stark Center Library, Roosevelt Naval Base, Terminal Island, Allied Engineers, Inc., 1942. Maynard Parker Job No. 4003-038. Huntington Library Maynard Parker Archive.

The world was turned upside down in the early 1940s with the disruption of World War II. The U.S. Government quickly provided the money and land for bases around the country to build up for the war effort. Judging from the above Roosevelt Base designed and constructed by the architects of Allied Engineers, Inc., sailors based on Terminal Island likely had much better surroundings than where they came from. Efforts to preserve parts of the base have met with little success as most of the historic modernist buildings have been destroyed.

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It is well-documented in books by and about Julius Shulman that he met architect Richard Neutra on March 5, 1936. On that fateful day they discussed Shulman’s Kun House photos taken a week or so earlier on a site visit with his sister’s tenant who happened to be a Neutra draftsman. Neutra was impressed enough by Shulman’s photos to offer him work on some initial assignments and introduce him to other architects in his circle including R. M. Schindler and Raphael Soriano. What is not well-known is the actual date of the first publication of a Shulman architectural photograph after what Shulman describes as the official beginning of his career in architectural photography. My exhaustive research on both Shulman and Neutra’s careers leads me to believe that the July, 1936 issue of Architectural Forum (see above and below) is the publication having the honor with the article “Plywood House, Richard J. Neutra, Architect.” Shulman understandably could not recall so inscribed my copy “Early Publication.” (click on image below right to highlight).

Neutra designed his now famous Plywood Demonstration House for the above 1936 California House and Garden Exhibition at 5900 Wilshire Blvd. in the Miracle Mile district where now sits the Mutual Benefit Plaza complex designed by William L. Pereira & Associates. It was located directly across the street from where now resides the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Described as the Moderne House in the voluminous ads and literature surrounding the exhibition (see typical ad below), it was on display with two houses by Paul Williams (French House and Steel House), and one each by John Byers and Edla Muir (New Orleans House) and Winchton Risley (California Cottage). Neutra, the consummate self-promoter and realizing the importance of this project to his career, hedged his bets and commissioned both Arthur Luckhaus and Shulman to photograph the house. Architectural Digest also hired Mott Studios to photograph for an 11-page spread in Architectural Digest. (See below).

View of the California House & Garden Exhibition from the deck of Neutra’s Plywood Demonstration House, Architectural Digest, ,Vol. IX, No. 3, 1936, p. 19).

One of many 1936 ads marketing the exhibition with the Luckhaus exterior photo.

The house was designed to be easily moved because all of the exhibition houses were raffled off at the end of the show. It’s storied history began when John Entenza’s father’s law partner, Stella Gramer, was the lucky winner of the Neutra house. At the time she had just commissioned Harwell Hamilton Harris to design her a house, likely on Entenza’s recommendation. She scuttled those plans and instead hired Harris to design the foundation and oversee movement and placement of the house on her lot located at 427 Beloit Avenue in Brentwood Glen where it still exists. (For much more on this see my California Arts & Architecture: A Steppingstone to Fame: Harwell Hamilton Harris and John Entenza: Two Case Studies).

Plywood Demonstration House model by Stanton B. Coffin, 1939 for Museum of Modern Art exhibition “Art in Our Time.” Richard Neutra Architect, 1936. (“Modern-Style Home,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1939, p. V-4).

The house made a splash in the Big Apple in 1939 due to to the Museum of Modern Art’s inclusion of a model (see above) in it’s important “Art in Our Time” exhibition (see below) celebrating the Museum’s 10-year anniversary and the move into it’s new building at 11 W. 53rd Street. (Art in Our Time, Museum of Modern Art, 1939, p. 303). The house was later purchased in 1943 by noted modernist architect Maynard Lyndon where he lived until he moved into a house he designed for himself in Malibu in 1949. The house was next purchased by noted abstract artist William Brice, son of actress Fanny Brice and gangster Nicky Arnstein who brought Neutra back to design him a separate studio. (Seidenbaum, A., “How can you call a smooth slab ‘Love in Italian’?” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1967, p. I30).

Marquee for Museum of Modern Art Exhibition, 1939. (Art in Our Time by Glenn Lowry, Museum of Modern Art, 2004).

Neutra marketed the Plywood House with zeal globally. My 8,000 item Julius Shulman Bibliography lists the house no less than 26 times (see below) and my 5,000 item Richard Neutra Bibliography has 52 listings mainly because of the joint use of Shulman and Luckhaus to document the project. Like many of Neutra’s projects, this single house has become a subject of study due to the amount of publicity generated by his  promotional efforts. Another worthy field of study is Neutra’s progression of principal photographers from Willard D. Morgan to Arthur Luckhaus to Julius Shulman and why he used both Luckhaus and Shulman on numerous projects from the late 1930s to the early 1940s.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback if anyone can provide an earlier Shulman publication or any other comments on this post.

Publications of Richard Neutra’s Plywood Demonstration House With Julius Shulman Photos

(1936). “Exhibition House Group, Los Angeles, California, Plywood House, Richard J. Neutra, Architect.” Architectural Forum 65(1, Jul): 38-39.

(1936). “Plywood Model House, Los Angeles, California, Richard J. Neutra, Architect.” American Architect and Architecture 149(Sep): 24-5.

(1936). “Super-Plywood Model House, Los Angeles, Cal., Arch. Richard J. Neutra.” Kokusai Kenchiku XII(10, Oct): 270-4.

(1937). 42. “Plywood House, Richard J. Neutra, Architect. The 1938 Book of Small Houses. E. o. T. A. Forum. New York, Simon & Schuster: 60-1.

(1937). “Details: Windows.” House & Garden(Mar): 123.

(1937). “A House of Plywood Designed by Richard Neutra.” Building(Apr): 166-168.

(1937). “Modernistic Type of Dwelling on Display.” Los Angeles Times(Mar 7): E-1.

(1937). “A plywood house.” Architect & Building News 9(Jul).

(1938). “Comparative Details 41: Modern Fireplaces.” Pencil Points XIX(10, Oct): 665.

(1939). Art in Our Time. New York, Museum of Modern Art.

(1939). Art in Our Time: An Exhibition To Celebrate The Tenth Anniversary Of The Museum Of Modern Art And The Opening Of Its New Building Held During The New York World’s Fair [exhibition catalog]. New York, Museum of Modern Art.

(1939). “Show Architect’s Work: Designs by Richard Neutra Are on Exhibition at Pedac [Exhibition].” New York Times(Jul 2): RE4.

(1939). “Modern-Style House.” Los Angeles Times(May 21): V-4.

(1940). “Styled Doors in the Richard Neutra House [American Plywood Corp. ad].” California Arts & Architecture(Dec): 5.

(1945). “Numero dedicado a la obra de Richard J. Neutra.” Revista de Arquitectura 30(299): 420-454.

(1946). “Richard J. Neutra [Special Neutra Issue].” L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui 16(6, Jun).

Forum, E. o. T. A. (1937). The 1938 Book of Small Houses. New York, Simon & Schuster.

Harrison, H. R. (1937). “Richard J. Neutra: A Center of Architectural Stimulation.” Pencil Points XVIII(7, Jul): 407-438.

Hines, T. S. (1984). “Neutra’s all-plywood house: a design for an affordable home by one of the international style’s most influential architects.” Fine homebuilding(19, Feb-Mar): 28-33.

Hines, T. S. (1989). Case Study Trouve: Sources and Precedents: Southern California, 1920-1942. Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses. E. A. T. Smith. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press: 82-105.

Leatherbarrow, D. (2004). Topographical Stories: Studies in Landscape and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Lyndon, D. (2007). The Maynard Lyndon House Malibu. West Coast Residential: The Modern and the Contemporary. Vancouver, BlueImprint.

McCoy, E. (1968). “Neutra.” Los Angeles Times Home Magazine(Feb 11): Cover, A8, A14 (18 pages).

Neutra, R. (1940). “Research on design of dwelling units with regard to regional differentiation.” South African Architectural Record 25(2, Feb): Cover, 33-56.

Neutra, R. (1959). “A Vista Beyond the Present Stage of Asbestos-Cement Application.” International Asbestos-Cement Review(15): 4-7.

Neutra, R. J. (1938). “How America builds 1937-38: influences on the trend of building design.” Architectural Record 83(1, Jan): 60-63.

Neutra, R. J. (1946). “Circunstancias que impiden el nuevo diseno constructivo.” Revista de Arquitectura 31(Feb): 52-57.

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Mrs. Harold C. Price commissioned the tower in 1963. The Prices are, of course, Bartlesville’s most well-known patrons of architecture. They sought out the best architects of the time. Bruce Goff was hired by Joe Price to design his home, Shin’enKan, and subsequent additions. Harold Price Sr., his father, had hired Cliff May to design the family home at Starview Farms, and at Goff’s insistence hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design his only office building, thePrice Tower. Harold Jr. hired Wright to design his home, “Hillside”, essentially creating an architectural theme park. The May designed house was in bad condition and razed by developers. After the loss of Shin’enKan by arson in 1996, he only remaining Price family house is the Wright-designed “Hillside.”

Originally the above five-story metal-framed, mesh-enclosed spiral stair observation tower with a circular seat at the top, was placed in a circular sand play-pit that also had a Mobius continuous steel construction within it. The tower’s condition deteriorated to the point that it was closed to the public in the early 1990s. Recent efforts to restore the tower are summarized in the following two articles from the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise.

City officials seeking donations to restore tower By Jessica Miller E-E City Editor
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Donations being accepted for tower By Jessica Miller E-E City Editor
Thursday, June 18, 2009

Prototype enclosed suspended stadium. Richard Bradshaw, Structural Engineer for Welton Becket & Associates, unbuilt. (Total Design: Architecture of Welton Becket and Associates by William Dudley Hint, Jr., McGraw-Hill, 1972, p. 222.

Bradshaw said of the stadium he designed as a research study for Becket,

“This was a Stadium for the New Orleans Saints. Becket asked me to come up with an idea so this was it. The geometry of the stadium is a Hyperboloid and the shape is formed by straight cables. This was quite new at the time. Becket did not get the design contract so the idea was never built.

Incidentally, this is just a larger version of the radar tower I designed and which was built. This is a good example of how an engineer should capitalize on opportunities to experiment with small structures when he has a chance. If I had not already built a successful example of the cable architecture on the small tower I would never have had the confidence to commit myself to the solution for the big stadium.”

Upon reviewing the above photo of the Goff tower I sent him this morning, Bradshaw, always the consummate structural engineer and firm believer in what he has coined as “Structural Elegance”, offered this critique,  

“[Goff] was always kind of an “Architects’ Architect” meaning he never got the public recognition he deserved. I am sorry to say that I regard his tower as a lost opportunity. It has no use of geometry at all. For that matter it shows no understanding of structure either. It would have looked so much more logical if it had the tower made of a Hyperboloid (like mine) with the sphere at top firmly embraced by the Hyperboloid. Even without using the Hyperboloid but just the straight cylindrical tower. it would have made more sense to just make the cylinder take the forces on the tower and not put the horrible guy wires on it. … The sphere is quite good but the everything else is just plain amateurish. Goff never was noted for his understanding of geometry or structure. He did good work but of small structures.”

It will be quite interesting to see how the Oklahoma work of Wright, Goff, Becket, Herb Greene and others documented by Shulman will inspire Deborah Asscheim’s future creations. Deborah informed me that she will be speaking at the below event at the Cella Gallery on March 26th upon her return from the frigid Great Plains.

Convergence:  Art, Memory and Science in the work of Deborah Aschheim, Laurie Frick, and George LegradySaturday, March 26, 2011 / 4-6PM

Join artists Deborah Aschheim, George Legrady and Laurie Frick for an overview of selected recent projects which set the stage for an engaging dialog about the function of artistic inquiry within the cognitive sciences including the roles of personal experience, data collection, and research.
Seating is limited.To reserve please call 323.525.0053

Shulman’s Oklahoma

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