Mid2Mod: Julius Schulman

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Thursday, June 23, 2011

The architecture and activism of Josef Van der Kar

The latest issue of Modernism magazine has a fascinating article about architect Josef Van der Kar, about whom I knew very little before. According to the article, Van der Kar, or "Van," as he was known to his friends, was a very private person who nevertheless fell under the scrutiny of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the days of segregation for refusing to comply with the Federal Housing Administration's requirement to ban the sale of houses to minorities in the "Community Homes" project on which he was working with fellow architect and friend Gregory Ain. Van der Kar worked with architects such as Buckminster Fuller, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, as well as Ain, in designing homes for "the common man," which branded them as architectural revolutionaries.

Among those for whom he designed homes were Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter, a very conservative husband and wife team of foreign policy and nuclear arms strategists. Their home was built next to his own, and as unlikely as their friendship was, considering the difference in their politics, they were the closest of neighbors.

He also designed a home for Henry Shire, a union organizer who was expelled from his own union for insisting that black cabinetmakers be paid a wage equal to that of white workers. The Shire home was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2010.

Van der Kar also designed the home of landscape architect and friend Garrett Eckbo, with whom he worked exclusively in all his projects. If Eckbo weren't available when Van der Kar received a commission, he would turn down the job. The Eckbo home was across Laurel Canyon from the Van der Kar home.

Famous architectural photographer Julius Schulman and Gregory Ain were also close friends and neighbors. The Van der Kar home is currently for sale, listed at $1,699,000.

From jetsetmodernist.com