Browse Items (856 total)

Photograph of the sliding door leading out into the patio garden. It highlights the soffit and exposed beams of the roof, and the wide opening created by the sliding glass and wood door. The concept of indoor/outdoor living is showcased with chairs…

Floor plan of the house showing the unusual arrangement of rooms. Instead of the usual living room, dining room, and bedrooms, this plan shows the four live/work spaces for Schindler, his wife Pauline, Clyde Chace, and his wife Marian Chace. Each…

Exterior photograph of house at 835 Kings Road, Los Angeles, Calif. taken shortly after construction. At the time it was built, the area was unincorporated, now it is in the heart of West Hollywood, surrounded by large apartment buildings. The…

Working drawing of exterior of house, showing the slab walls, garden, horizontal window areas, and 'sleeping basket' on the roof. Drawing also contains original sketching and notes.

Graphite and colored pencil drawings of exterior elevations and sections. This drawing shows the front, rear, and side elevations, as well as the section views. It also has an exterior rendering of the house in the lower right-hand corner of the…

Full size detail construction plan showing typical joints for constructing walls. This drawing shows the exact dimensions of how each piece of wood or other material is connected to form the walls, windows, doors, and frames of the house.

Blueprint showing floor plan and plot plan. This image outlines all of the rooms of the house, the sunken gardens, patios, flower beds, and tree placement in the garden.

The Case Study House Triad (#23) was designed by Edward Killingsworth, of Killingsworth, Brady, and Smith, as part of a larger never-built planned community in La Jolla, Calif. House A was sited across the street and downhill from Houses B and C,…

This un-built Case Study House #26 is also known as the Nugent Pavillion, for the original client who had chosen a site overlooking the ocean near San Diego, Calif. The house was to be built using prefabricated construction system, designed by the…

Case Study House #25, also known as the Edward Frank house, was built in the Naples area of Long Beach, Calif., and sited on a narrow lot, facing a canal. The main entrance to the house is on the canal side and enters into an enclosed, two story…

This is the second Case Study Apartment project, and it was never built. Killingsworth designed the 10 unit apartment complex to be a mix of four standard two bedroom apartments and six 'studio' two bedroom apartments which were two stories tall, and…

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 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.

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,…

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 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 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.

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.

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…

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

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…

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.

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…

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.

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…

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.

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.

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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

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…

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.

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 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…

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…

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 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…

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 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…

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.

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

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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.…

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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

Exterior photograph of the Vigeveno #1 House, a ranch-style vacation home for art dealer James Vigeveno and his family. Another design was made for Vigeveno alongside the first, although this second house featured a completely different architectural…

Watercolor sketch of Davidson's hometown of Berlin.

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

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.

Photographs of the exterior of the Stothart House; one of the driveway entrance and one of the side patio. The design emphasis on horizontal and flat forms, along with uniform windows and parapets echoed the International Style.

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 from one of Davidson's sketchbooks.

Photograph of the interior and front entrance of the Schilling's Flower Store. It was later replaced by Bachelor's Haberdashery Shop.

Davidson was commissioned to refurbish Sardi's Restaurant, which originally had interior design work done by Rudolph Schindler. Davidson reorganized the inside and added new features, opening up the space by cleverly incorporating partitions and…

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…

A portrait of J.R. Davidson in his later years.

Photos and plan of the entrance to Davidson's office in Los Angeles. The facade echoes the stylistic influences of Rudolph Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Davidson retrofitted this Georgian home to better house the owner's modern art collection. He replaced wall space with larger windows and a glass enclosed porch to allow more light in and open up the space.

Schematics of lamp designs. Davidson was inspired by Bauhaus furniture, which were streamlined, stainless steel constructions.

After supposedly being turned down by Richard Neutra to design their home, clients Joseph and Lore Kingsley commissioned Davidson to design a unique home to fit their needs. This design was then mirrored next door in the house built for Joseph…

Photographs of the remodeled bar and tavern of the Hotel Knickerbocker. The resulting shape of the space results from the combination of "several existing odd rooms".

Photographs of the interior of the Hi-Hat restaurant. The owner originally requested an English style tavern, to which Davidson created a design that reflected his wishes but through a modernist's sensibilities.

Photographs of the exterior of the apartments. The plans reflected the Bauhaus concept of utilizing limited space. Each of the four apartments has an exterior space such as a patio or sundeck to provide private outside access- a luxury usually only…

Built in the single-story"ranch style", the Walter Foster House project was one of Davidson's new designs bearing a departure from the International Style in favor of Soft Modernism. The house's plan incorporated local building styles and materials,…

These photographs document the narrow medical building that housed the practices of Dr. B.F. Feingold and and Dr. J.M. Harris. The spaces were designed to be modern and expansive, with scattered lighting and noise insulation.

Renderings and floor plan of the Drive-in Curb Market. Designs like this clearly anticipated the increasing importance of automobiles in the modern age.

Floor plan and photographs of the residence Davidson designed for himself and his wife on South Barrington Avenue in Los Angeles.

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.

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

Photographs of the interior of the coconut grove courtyard and lamp details. Davidson emphasized unique lighting designs, with the lamps here incorporating vegetal or "oriental" star elements.

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

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's design for the cover of California Sport Magazine.

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…

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".

Photographs of the exterior and interior of the Bilicke-Satyr Bookstore, featuring special strip lights. Many of Davidson's early commercial projects incorporate Art Deco elements, calculating geometric shapes, sleek forms, and straight lines.

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.

Photographs of the entrance and interior of the Haberdashery (a men's clothing store). This business replaced the earlier Schilling's Flowers.

Photographs of the interior and a floor plan of the Rabinowitz House. The design featured a panoramic view of Bel Air from its secluded position on a hill.

Photographs of the exterior entrance, bar, and lunch counter of the Golden Lion Inn. The facade echoed tavern aesthetics, yet the inside was incredibly spacious and well lit.