Smith and Williams: Dunn house (Pasadena, Calif.)

This house may be the strongest example of Smith’s and Williams’s belief in the architect as a solver of problems. Smith convinced the Dunns not to tear down their Greene and Greene-designed James Culbertson house. The Dunns wanted a smaller, less formal house with more light and fewer stairs. Smith and Williams took off the second floor and opened up the first level to the site. As a native son of Pasadena, Smith knew Greene and Greene’s buildings well. His 1941-1942 letters to Charles S. Greene convey his admiration for and the influence of their work.

Whitney Smith, architect
Smith and Williams, architects
Julius Shulman, photographer
William Rudolph, associate architect

Smith & Williams records, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

1953

© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

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