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John Kewell's Schipper Residence By Pierluigi Serraino Architecture comes with a history of its use. This is especially so for a dwelling, where the events, personalities, and choices of its occupants are encrypted in its walls, cumulative scrolls of life unfolding within them. The Schipper Residence is nowhere to be found in history books, but its postwar setting bears the hallmarks of a bold legacy...

'Oak Ridge' - The Barnes House   By Ann Scheid Photographs by Grand Mudford Built for Clifford Webster Barnes, a wealthy Chicago community activist, religious leader and philanthropist, Oak Ridge, as it is colloquially known, exemplifies the core tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement. Although Barnes commissioned Elmer Grey, the house was built as a residence for his parents, Joseph and Anna...

Schindler's Translucent Tischler House By Judith Sheine Photographs by Grand Mudford The Tischler house (1949-50) is a late development of R.M. Schindler’s “space architecture” and the project in which the architect most fully explored his vision of a “translucent house.” While other architects were designing flat-roofed glass-walled houses, Schindler, having done that in his own house and...

Spokane Modernism: Ferris House Architect: Bruce Walker by Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe Architect Bruce Walker’s design for Joel and Mary Jean Ferris is among the most elegant modernist homes constructed in North America. The modestly scaled but deftly defined house in Spokane appears jewel-like amidst a verdant treed garden – dazzling yet precious. The house stands as a notable feature on the larger...

Crosby Doe: "Like art, architecture inspires me. The uplifting experience of great architecture compels me to want to share the gifts it imparts to our daily lives. Each significant house holds the power to enhance and even change the lives of those who live in it, or even just happen to walk by. When we look around carefully at our built environment, it would be easy to become depressed - so much is...

Laboratories for Living by Nicholas Olsberg Nothing seems to get the juices of architects flowing more freely, nor tempt them to break as many rules, as the idea of the house. For more than a hundred years, from the first experiments in open plan living to the latest adventures in lightweight dwellings and tiny houses, the modern home has been the testing ground for new ideas in architecture. For...

On the Work of Ladd & Kelsey, Architects by Pierluigi Serraino (Editor's Note: see our current Ladd & Kelsey listing - The Von Hagen Residence.) Midcentury modern in California came to age due to the phenomenal plethora of talented architects. Of that in- spired group, the Pasadena-based partnership of Thornton Ladd (1924-2010) and John Kelsey (1925-2012) occupies a particular place.The...

Bethlehem Baptist Church A Sacred Island in the City of the Automobile R.M. Schindler, Architect by Pierluigi Serraino Much is known about the work of Austrian master Rudolph Mark Schindler (1887-1953). It is certainly one of the first names architects and lovers of modern architecture quickly learn in their initial exposure to modernity and Los Angeles. His signature is distinctive, his design...

'The House in the Garden' and the Lauck House, 1950 The Post World War II American suburb and the Museum of Modern Art, New York The decade following World War II witnessed an explosion of new housing in the United States. The American suburb was being reimagined and extensively built for the commuter family. Mass-produced and prefabricated model homes, such as those by Levitt & Sons and the...

Fifty Years for a Refrain A New Vision for Pierre Koenig's West Coastal Design The Henbest-Birkett Residence, 1966-2011 by Andrea Dietz The roads that wind through the higher elevations of Rancho There, through a door-slip that upholds the illusion of an Palos Verdes are made for Sunday driving. It’s possible, even, that Sunday driving was made for them. Wide and lazy, they meander up slopes and...