Browse Items (856 total)

Sketch for great hall ceiling ornament, Henry house “La Paz”, Scarborough, New York, pencil drawing.

A photograph of the surviving portion of the altarpiece for St. Mary of the Angels Church, Pasadena, Calif.

Study for Cahuenga mural, watercolor, ink, and graphite on board.

Study for Brea, Water, And Cahuenga murals shown in situ, watercolor, ink, and graphite on board

Study for Micheltorena, Citrus, and Smith mural, paint, ink, and graphite on board

Study for De Anza, Brea, and Viscaino mural, paint, ink, and graphite on board

Study for Brea mural, watercolor, ink, and graphite on board

Monogram for Manning's Coffee Stores, paint and pencil on board

Study for a theater side wall mural, watercolor and pencil on board

Study for a ceiling decoration, Pacific Colony State Hospital, Pomona, Calif., oil and watercolor on board

Study for chapel murals, First Baptist Church, Pasadena, Calif., oil and graphite on board

Architectural design for a ceiling with poppy design, watercolor and pencil on tracing paper taped to board.

Architectural design for a ceiling, watercolor and pencil on tracing paper taped to board.

Study for a beam and rafter ceiling with floral pattern, oil and pencil on paper mounted to board.

Study of decoration for auditorium ceiling, South Pasadena High School, Pasadena, Calif, oil, ink, and pencil on board.

Photographic portrait of Lucile Lloyd.

This site plan shows the pedestrian circulation patterns within this section of San Joaquin. The mixed height of the buildings, break up the massing of the structures which hold faculty apartments, lounges, and study spaces. The plan emphasizes…

The de Forest archive contains a large amount of personal papers, including many photographs of Lockwood and Elizabeth de Forest. The photos document their extensive camping trips in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the 1930s.

Lockwood de Forest was not just a landscape architect, but also designed and built houses, including his own on Todos Santos Lane in Santa Barbara. The house and landscaping were oriented towards a view of the Santa Ynez Mountains and included many…

San Francisco industrialist Henry Bothin and his wife Ellen Chabot Bothin purchased 350 acres of mountain and foothill land above Montecito in 1916. The property was named Mar Y Cel, but was commonly referred to as the Tea Garden; it was adjacent to…

This extremely colorful and detailed design for a garden was for Elizabeth and Harold Chalifoux, who were well-known orchid growers in the Santa Barbara area. The Chalifoux were from Boston, and Elizabeth Chalifoux was the daughter of Albert Burrage,…

The 84 acre "Riven Rock" estate belonged to the McCormick family, the inventors of the grain reaper and founders of the International Harvester company. The original house was constructed in 1898 (demolished after the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake),…

The plaza at the corner of State Street and Anapamu in downtown Santa Barbara was designed by Lockwood de Forest and architect Lutah Maria Riggs. The seating area with trees and benches allows for a brief respite prior to or just after visiting the…

As with many of Lockwood de Forest's commissions, the houses were designed by some of the top architects in Southern California, and de Forest's landscaping was a harmonious compliment to their work. The formality of the house lent itself to the…

A small house for Mrs. Chas. F. Jarvis, designed by L.E. Gottfried, possibly in Carmel, Calif.

Two years after Killingsworth completed the Student Health Center, his firm began work on a 300 unit apartment complex for married students near the corner of Los Carneros Road and Mesa Road, just north and west of the main campus. The red tile…

This is an early design of the interior floor plan for the Student Health Center. The building appears to have been designed as having facilities for 24/7 care, with individual rooms. Multiple versions of this floor plan exist as the needs of the…

This image shows the east elevation (facing El Colegio Road) and the west elevation (facing the bike path). Both entrances have changed significantly,

Elizabeth Franklin was a teacher at the Art Center School and a friend of Weber's when she asked him to design a house for her in west central Los Angeles. The house was sited on a hilly lot, with the garage placed underneath the main living area.

Weber taught classes at the Art Center School in Los Angeles for many years; each year he had his students work on a group project to design a multi-building complex. For 1938, the students designed a new campus for the Art Center. Weber also…

Weber and his wife Erika found a plot of land in Santa Barbara's Mission Canyon area in 1946 and built the house in 1948. The sloping, heavily wooded site influenced the design-- a stone walkway leads up from the carport to the entry of the house,…

In the late 1940s, Weber shifted his practice to designing and building houses. The George Peters house in Santa Barbara is one of his earlier houses; a ranch style house with a cantilevered roof.

This house for David Gray was Y-shaped, and included large trusses to create a wide living room. The house was sited on a hilly plot, with many trees and exterior levels.

Weber designed this house in Glendale for the jewelry designer and painter Eduard Andrew Gisler. The house was sleek and modern, with horizontal lines and nautically inspired railings.

This house for Stanford University English professor John Wendell Dodds sits in the hills above the university. The two-story house with redwood siding and many exterior angles, spread out along the hillside.

For the Dabney ranch house in the Santa Ynez Valley, just north of Santa Barbara, Weber utilized outdoor living areas around the pool and wood tones on the interior.

This house for Mrs. D. Kimball was a ranch-style design, with two wings spreading out from a central core. It also featured a unique curved loggia to take advantage of the view.

Weber had first worked on the interior of the Zacho's store in Los Angeles in 1937. For the 1945 alterations, he brought in the Scandinavian Modern style-- smooth ceilings and floors, textured walls, and the use of different materials-- to update the…

The interiors for the Sommer & Kaufmann Shoe Store were designed by Weber; he worked with architect Alfred F. Roller on the building design. Additional design elements, under the direction of Weber, were created by sculptor Eugene Maier-Krieg and…

The dining room interiors for the Hotel Savery were one of Weber's last projects before he retired.

The triangle-shaped ''shoe salon" for Roos Brothers in San Francisco featured many different geometric forms.

Weber designed the interiors for the Plains Hotel in 1945. The "Wigwam Lounge" design was influenced by popular depictions of Native Americans.

In the 1930s, Weber designed the interiors for the Maynard Parker house in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is unclear if Maynard Parker was the photographer of these images.

Weber designed the ballroom for the Mayfair Hotel-- a 13-story, 350 room hotel near downtown Los Angeles. Known as the "Rainbow Isle" for its raised dance floor with multi-colored glass tiles (lit from underneath), it was a Modern design success for…

The 2500 seat Palace Theater was part of the Bismark Hotel complex on West Randolph Street in downtown Chicago. Weber worked with the owners to refresh the building into a more modern design. Weber re-imagined not only the theater, but the hotel room…

The Colburn Fur Store on Wilshire Boulevard near downtown Los Angeles, was an up-scale shop specializing in women's fur coats. The large windows brought in lots of natural light, and the full-length mirrors allowed the customers to view themselves…

The Kerr Sport Shop on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, catered to the rich and famous celebrities who were also avid outdoorsmen. For image-conscious Hollywood celebrities, the store catered to their desire for high-end sporting equipment and…

The Walter E. Bixby house in Kansas City, Kansas was designed by local architect Edward W. Tanner, and the interiors of the large house were designed by Weber. With sleek Modern, even Moderne, lines on the outside, and a large budget, Weber designed…

Kem Weber continuously designed and re-designed his furniture pieces to fit changing consumer needs and updating with new materials. One of his most innovative designs was the Airline Chair. With sleek, modern lines, a streamlined and cantilevered…

Kem Weber worked with architect Roy Cheesman to design the Art Deco-inspired Christian Science Reading room on State Street in Santa Barbara. It occupies a prominent corner near the Arlington Theater.

This hotel on South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs featured Weber-designed furniture and interiors. Lloyd Wright was the architect.

The head of the art department at Pasadena Junior College, Archibald Wedemeyer, asked Weber to design a house in Altadena. The small two-story house featured ribbon windows and a trellised back patio for outdoor living.

The Kem Weber archive contains quite a few photographs of Weber in meetings and posed for portraits.

Both the house and interiors were designed by Weber for the physician Dr. Joseph C. Friedman in the dry high desert of Banning, Calif. Friedman specialized in lung diseases, and the dry air of Banning was thought to help alleviate symptoms of…

During World War Two, Weber worked with Otto Eitel and the Douglas Fir Plywood Association in Tacoma, Washington to build a model home using Weber's system. The model home took two carpenters only two days to build the home, after the foundation…

The Education and Social Sciences buildings house the Gevirtz School of Graduate Education, offices for the College of Letters and Sciences, the Center for Film, Television, and New Media, and the Pollock Theater. This image is a design sketch of the…

The personal office and studio of John Elgin Woolf on Melrose Place in Los Angeles, was a multi-building compound with an imposing entrance door, secluded courtyards, and light-filled rooms. The office allowed Woolf to bring his specific design…

Lyricist Ira Gershwin commissioned Woolf to remodel the house on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills in the Hollywood Regency style. The house was torn down in 2013.

The L. Wayne Beal house in Scottsdale, Arizona highlights the stark contrast between the white house and the darker desert hills. The house is perched on the side of a hill, with a view of the valley.

Winemakers Louis and Flori Petri commissioned Woolf to design a house in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Woolf also designed an apartment in San Francisco, a house in Napa, and a condominium in Palm Springs for the couple.

The design work on the Jack and Effie Potts home on Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills consisted of detail work in the living room, and exterior work to the house and front gate.

The house for James Vance on Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills is considered another residence with significant Hollywood Regency style and attributes. With a tall brick privacy wall, leading to an oversize entry door, topped with an octagonal standing…

With a front entrance relatively close to the public street, the Hornburg house allowed Woolf to create a walled entrance area, with a large imposing front wall, private courtyard, and then a classic Hollywood Regency front door, with a symmetrical…

The Menefee house, near Santa Monica Boulevard, is another example of Woolf's signature front facade. With a tall entry door, large covered windows flanking either side, and a circular driveway, the alterations to the house are classic Hollywood…

The house for Pendleton in Beverly Hills was one of the first and most complete realizations of Woolf's Hollywood Regency style. With the large front entrance door, mansard roof, and symmetrical oval windows flanking the front door, the residence…

Case Study House #17 was built in 1956 by Craig Ellwood on a lot along Hidden Valley Road in Beverly Hills. It was a modern design, of plywood, steel, brick, and glass, like many of the other Case Study houses. But in 1962, John Woolf purchased the…

The community of Palm Desert was the desert retreat for many Hollywood celebrities, and the Marrakesh Country Club was one of many golf resorts that catered to that clientele. John Woolf was commissioned by John Dawson, an amateur golfer and real…

The Guasti residence, perched high in the hills of Montecito, was designed and built by Woolf. With sweeping views of the Santa Ynez mountains to the rear of the property, and views from downtown Santa Barbara out to the Channel Islands from the…

The Woolf archive contains quite a few portraits of John Elgin Woolf, including these color photos.

In the John Byers collection, many items are unidentified. Some of the drawings have dates or locations, however the vast majority do not. This pair of images shows the front of an adobe-style house in the first image, and the back of the house in…

These images are for the first and second floor plans for an early house for Mrs. John Byers. The plans are not dated, and there is no address listed anywhere on the sheets. The thick-lined walls for the living room and first floor bedroom indicate…

The rendering for the Frederick Laue restaurant is an example of Byers' commercial work. While known specifically for residences, he did design a few commercial and civic buildings. A Laue Restaurant was located near the corner of Santa Monica…

The two very different renderings of the Unitarian Church of Santa Monica highlight the range of styles that John Byers was capable of designing. The first image, a more Spanish Colonial style, was the ultimate choice of the building, which is shown…

The McLaughlin house, though its location is unknown, is very similar to many of the adobe and Monterey Revival houses Byers designed in the Santa Monica area. With an exterior staircase leading to a second floor balcony, red tile roof, and colorful…

This presentation drawing is similar to other Byers drawings-- with a Spanish Colonial Revival house set amongst lush landscaping. The house features a loggia running the length of the front of the house, with a second story balcony, and all under a…

After working with an architect in Germany, Peters emigrated to the United States in 1922 and settled in Los Angeles. By 1924 he was working with Famous Players- Lasky Corporation, one of the largest silent film production companies in the city.…

Jock Peters worked with Eleanor LeMaire on the interiors of the women's clothing store. The architectural firm who designed the building was Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, and it is located on East 57th Street in Manhattan. The store was laid out 'boutique…

The Bullocks Wilshire department store was one of the first to cater to customers in automobiles. The large Art Deco edifice was easily recognizable, and customers were able to drive up, have a valet securely park their car at the rear of the…

After working for the movie industry for a few years, in 1927 Peters began working with his brother George as Peters by Jock, Brothers Modern American Design Office. They designed furniture and other interior pieces.

These undated portraits of Peters highlight his personal style and attitude in line with his interior designs.

This two-story modern house for the cinematographer Alfred Gilks is in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, just a short distance from Griffith Park. The house features multiple decks, an outdoor fireplace on the patio, and a mural in one of…

This house for L.E. Shepard in the Los Angeles suburb of San Marino is one of the few houses designed by Peters. The style is a Streamline Moderne, with some hints of International Style and Art Deco. The images highlight the indoor-outdoor living,…

The renderings for a proposed Jock Peters residence along College View Avenue in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles show a very modern house, sited on a hill, with a studio and garage at street level. As with his other residential works, this…

Exterior of house with loggia and lawn

Exterior view of house with patio and landscaping

Interior view of library with fireplace and desk

Exterior view of "Casa Santa Cruz" designed by architect James Osborne Craig for client Bernard Hoffman.

Davidson designed a whole line of outdoor furniture crafted from rattan and bamboo materials, which are flexible and durable enough to withstand the elements. He was inspired by Asian modes of craft-making, classic wooden furniture, and the designs…

This house was designed not unlike the Crosby residence and Davidson's own home, although in the Taylor house the kitchen plan is more open and a glass vitrine provides views into the living room.

The plan of the Floyd D. Crosby Residence is actually the same floor plan Davidson used for the design of his own home, though the interior design choices of the homes differed widely.

Originally designed in Berlin, Davidson brought this drawing with him to America. The slightly curved armrests are reminiscent of Bruno Paul's own armchair designs.

Davidson's furniture and restaurant supply designs expressed both Art Deco and modernist sensibilities. His "cellarette" concept for a pullout bar on wheels echoes the same simple, functional design of his patent for an easy open cigarette container.

Davidson was asked to design a family home for Richard Bransten, son of a wealthy coffee manufacturer from San Francisco. The window design reflects De-Stijl sensibilities, focusing on large geometric shapes. The three story residence was built on a…

Concept for the Tierney and Co. Restaurant. Note the bold Art Deco inspired interior.

Photographs of the former servants' quarters that Davidson retrofitted into his five-bedroom apartment in Berlin.

Watercolor sketch from one of Davidson's sketchbooks.

Watercolor sketch of a church steeple when Davidson probably still lived in Posen, Poland.

An early sketchbook of Davidson's studies of furniture and other objects from a decorative arts and design museum in Paris. Note the attention to detail and pattern.

Watercolor sketch of Davidson's hometown of Berlin.

Sketches of the vacation house designed for Blake g Smith. The house was situated on the top of the cliffs, with a staircase leading down to a "natural sea pool".