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
|
Hmmm those flat roofs are fine here in southern CA (in the non-snow areas). I imagine that might have been part of the issue? So many in my area, I wonder if anyone offers tours.....
ReplyDeleteCould I be more jealous?
ReplyDelete~Tanya
@1950sarh: I envy you, because you're right in the middle of all the good stuff! :) The Eames Foundation hosted a tour of the Eames House #8 and the Stahl House #22 this past July, but I read that you can do self-guided tours of the exterior of the Eames House. I read that the Stahl House will be on tour again this month and next month. http://goo.gl/RIttY
ReplyDelete@Tanya: Me too. I'm turning a deep shade of green.
ReplyDeleteThe Stahl House #22 was featured in the movie Why Do Fools Fall In Love staring (among others) Halle Berry, Little Richard and Vivica A. Fox. I'm pretty sure it's been in quite a few movies. I'd bet that the house (that the Ferrari drove through!) in Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of these homes as well.
ReplyDeleteSo fantastic. I love them all but the Stahl house takes the cake. So many movies have been filmed there - we can see why right? GORGEOUS! Thanks for the awesome post! Mr. Mod I think you're right about Ferris Bueller's Day off!
ReplyDeleteI'm booking my reservation to see the Stahl house later this month. SO excited! I'll post my own pics and comments on my blog after I see it.
ReplyDelete@Rhan Vintage: How exciting! I can't wait to see your pics!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd have a hard choice if I could only have one. Would it be 8,9, or 16? Probably 16
ReplyDeleteThat definitely would be a hard choice. It would be like asking a kid in a candy store to pick just one thing!
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