Hint #2: Books, books, books

We always give each other books at Christmas. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a Christmas in my whole life that I didn't receive books. My parents were both avid readers and showered me with books when I was a child. I grew up to be an English teacher and later a librarian, so I still love to give and receive them. Since my daughter and SIL are bibliophiles too, the tradition will go on.

Here are the top two on my list this year. My SIL is now an authorized seller of Taschen books, so I don't think it will be hard to get what I want.

taschen.com

taschen.com

Someday, I want the three-volume set. It retails for $300, so even at wholesale, it's a pricey gift. I may have to save my pennies and treat myself to this one.

taschen.com

Richard Neutra's Singleton House

I recently ran across an extremely interesting Architectural Digest article which chronicles the restoration of Richard Neutra's 1950s Singleton House in Bel Air by the late hair stylist Vidal Sassoon and his wife Ronnie.

When the couple found the 4700 square foot house, which had sat unoccupied for two years, it was in such poor condition that a section of the roof collapsed two weeks after closing. A couple of months later, part of the property slid into a neighbor's yard. However, Ronnie was determined to restore the house. She began familiarizing herself with Neutra's work and studying pictures of the Singleton House taken by Julius Shulman when the home was new.

After considerable reconstruction, here are the results of the renovation.

From architecturaldigest.com
All photos from Architectural Digest

Vidal Sassoon died in May of this year. To get the whole story about the 2004 renovation, read the entire article, entitled "Vidal Sassoon's Modernist Retreat."

Neutra's Rice House

The home designed for Walter and Inger Rice by Richard Neutra sits on the James River in Richmond, Virginia. Rice, a Reynolds Metal Company executive and former ambassador to Australia, and his wife Inger commissioned Neutra to build the house in the mid-60s. It was donated to the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation in 1966, though the Rices retained rights to live there for the rest of their lives. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Walter Rice died in 1998, and Inger Rice remained in the house until 2007, when she moved into a retirement home. After she moved,  the home was vacant for three years and fell into some disrepair. For several years the Foundation worked with architects on plans for renovation, which started in the fall of 2011 and were recently completed.

One spectacular example of Neutra's treatment of spatial elements is a marble wall that is inside and outside the house and can be seen through a perpendicular glass wall. Other interesting features of the original construction were a deck with a 4-foot water guard on its outer edge and a Japanese sunken seating area.

The home was given a new roof, cork floors, new interior paint an a new second-story deck with railing, which was required by today's building codes. 

From timesdispatch.com, nbc12.com and moderncapitaldc.com

Pre-renovation: Exterior
moderncapitaldc.com (photo by Michael Shapiro)

Post-renovation: Exterior
nbc12.com

Post-renovation: Exterior
times-dispatch.com

Pre-renovation: Deck with water barrier
moderncapitaldc.com (photo by Michael Shapiro)

Post-renovation: New deck with railing
times-dispatch.com

Pre-renovation: Japanese seating area
moderncapitaldc.com (photo by Michael Shapiro)

Post-renovation: Japanese seating area
times-dispatch.com

Pre-renovation: Second floor
moderncapitaldc.com (photo by Michael Shapiro)

Post-renovation: Second floor
times-dispatch.com

Post-renovation: Fireplace
nbc12.com

Post-renovation: Staircase
nbc12.com

Case Study House Program

In January of 1945, Arts & Architecture magazine announced the Case Study House Program. Several of the country’s most talented and innovative architects proposed to study, plan, design and construct eight houses in Southern California. Their mission was to gather a mass of material that would eventually define the post-war house.

The studies began with analysis of land in relation to work, schools, neighborhood conditions and individual family need. Each house was to be designed within a specified budget, and the architects were answerable only to the magazine, which posed as “the client” during the design phase.

The plan was to feature all eight of the houses in Arts & Architecture, with the architect(s) explaining the design and choice of materials. Upon completion, each house was to be open to the public for six to eight weeks. The houses would be completely furnished under a working agreement among the architect, the designer and the furniture manufacturer.

However, several of the designs remained unbuilt, because the architects had to find actual clients who could afford construction, since banks at that time were not yet loaning on flat-roofed modern houses. In all, 28 Case Study houses and two apartment buildings were built between 1945 and 1964.

Original 8 Case Study Houses

Number	Architect(s)	Year	Status	Location	Issue
1	J. R. Davidson	1948	Intact	North Hollywood, CA	Feb 1945
2	Sumner Spaulding, John Rex	1947	Intact	Arcadia, CA	May 1948
3	Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons	1949	Intact	Mandeville Canyon, CA	Aug 1947
4	Ralph Rapson		Unbuilt		Mar 1949
5	Whitney R. Smith		Unbuilt		Sept 1945
6	Richard Neutra		Unbuilt		Apr 1946
7	Thornton M. Abell	1948	Intact	San Gabriel, CA	Oct 1945
8	Charles Eames	1949	Intact	Pacific Palisades, CA	Jul 1948

From artsandarchitecture.com

Charles Eames House #8

you-are-here.com

Entenza House #9 by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen

la.curbed.com

 #16 by Rodney Walker

artnet.com

Bailey House #20 by Richard Neutra

artnet.com

Stahl House #22 by Pierre Koenig

jennyhaniver.com