Esther McCoy

Esther McCoy (1904-1989) was an author, lecturer, screenwriter, architectural preservationist and exhibition curator. She is probably best known as one of the foremost architectural writers of the 20th century.

McCoy was originally a fiction writer, also working as a researcher for Theodore Dreiser, but she turned to architectural writing after working as a draftsman for Rudolf Schindler and learning about Southern California Modern architecture.

Her book Five California Architects, written about Bernard Maybeck, Irving Gill, Charles and Henry Greene, and Rudolf Schindler, was the first work to bring the California Modernism movement to the attention of a large audience.

McCoy contributed to John Entenza's Art & Architecture, as well as Architectural Forum and Architectural Record and also wrote Blueprints for Modern Living, a history of the Case Study homes.

From grahamfoundation.org, latimes.com and kcet.org

Cover of Five California Architects
kcet.org

Esther McCoy's home in Ocean Park, California
kcet.org

Julius Shulman photo of Esther McCoy
eastofborneo.org

Esther McCoy in Mexico, 1952
awaplusd.org