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"Perisphere and ramp at 1939 New York Word's Fair." Corpulent counterpoint to the trimmer Trylon. Uncredited acetate transparency, possibly by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
My parents' first apartment in Chicago in the mid 1950s. My father was just out of architectural school and his midcentury modern tastes are evident. Full size.
Six of seven WPA posters by Louis B. Siegriest (1899-1989) promoting American Indian art at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939. Available as Vintagraph fine-art prints, made from ultra high-resolution scans of the original serigraphs -- very detailed and quite beautiful. View full size | Shop the art.
"May 9, 1960. Case Study House #22. Stahl residence at 1635 Woods Drive, Los Angeles. Architect: Pierre Koenig." Color transparency by Julius Shulman, who died Wednesday in California at age 98. View full size | "A Shot in the Dark"
December 1961. Maybe people who lived in the Hollywood Hills or in the pages of Sunset Magazine dwelt in high-concept Case Study homes, but regular young marrieds of this period were more likely to have furnished their abodes from the Early American section of the Montgomery Ward catalog. Here is a classic example of its kind, down to the ubiquitous braided rugs.
My nephew Jimmy, on the right, is visiting his cousin Bobby, and apparently I came along to record the event on this 127 Ektachrome. Jimmy is pulling the talk string on his Casper the Friendly Ghost, one of about a billion times he did it that year. "I'm co-o-o-o-ld." After 47 years that sound still echoes in my brain. Bobby's got himself a Mr. Machine, who didn't talk, but the TV commercial jingle still resonates. "Here he comes, here he comes, greatest toy you've ever seen, and his name is Mr. Machine!" I know that because at the age of 15 I was still watching cartoons on TV every day. In addition to the incredibly cool army truck, somebody has gotten a "Super Sonic Jetliner," whose wings were cleverly designed to deliberately detach. Someone else, presumably, has gotten the gift box of Kools up there on the end table. View full size.
I thought I'd get on the Frank Lloyd Wright bandwagon with this Kodachrome I took in December 1962 of the only federal government building Wright designed. It's the Post Office at the Marin County Civic Center, itself one of Wright's last projects. That's my brother adding a human interest angle. The neat half globe fell victim to vandalism long ago and was never replaced. I apologize for the lack of a Pontiac Bonneville parked provocatively in the foreground. View full size.
Aspen, Colorado, winter 1962-63. Boomerang Lodge, designed by owner Charlie Paterson, a Frank Lloyd Wright-trained architect (and ski instructor). This was a setup for a professional photo shoot. I shot it without the lights the pro used. Charlie is the guy with the black hair looking into the pool. View full size.
May 9, 1960. A landmark image in the history of modern architecture: Julius Shulman's nighttime shot of Ann Lightbody and Cynthia Murfee in Case Study House No. 22, the Stahl residence in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Architect: Pierre Koenig. The photo, taken with a Swiss-made Sinar 4x5 view camera, is a double exposure: Seven minutes for the background, then a flash shot for the interior, the house lights having been replaced with flashbulbs. There's a fascinating account of the image at Taschen, where you can order a book on the Case Study houses. View full size | L.A. Mag article.
Los Angeles, 1960. "Case Study House No. 22. Stahl Residence, 1635 Woods Drive. Architect: Pierre Koenig." Color transparency by Julius Shulman. More to come on this house, which has achieved a measure of fame in the annals of modern architecture due a certain black-and-white photograph. View full size.
"9038 Wonderland Park Avenue, Los Angeles, 1958. Case Study House No. 21." Architect: Pierre Koenig. Color transparency by Julius Shulman. View full size. These two look pretty sophisticated and worldly. Wonder what they're saying?
"Recreation Pavilion. Mirman Residence, Arcadia, California, 1959. Architects: Buff, Straub & Hensman." Color transparency by Julius Shulman. View full size. I see the potential here for limitless, free-spirited fun. (Please do not move cushions more than one-quarter inch from designated positions on the Recreation Pavilion Fun Grid. The Herman Miller benches will not be moved more than 21 bricks away from decking. Tennis racquets allowed on pillows only if propped at an appropriately informal angle, 35 degrees to the horizontal. Thank you.)
"Experimental housing. Storage shed & garage." Remember that this garage is experimental, and that the slightest little bump could could send the whole business -- prototype potting bench, bleeding-edge tool storage -- pinwheeling off into the next dimension. Eric Schaal, Life photo archive. View full size.
1950. Cocktail hour at the Spencer residence in Santa Monica. Note the mirror-view television sunken into the table. Architect: Richard Spencer. Color transparency by Julius Shulman. View full size. Is Uncle Miltie on tonight?
Circa 1945-47. "Experimental kitchen model." Our second picture in this series of speculative designs addressing the postwar shortage of housing for mice. This model home has an open floorplan and open ceiling plan as well, with attic storage for giant cigars and oversize tins. Photo: Eric Schaal, Life archive. View full size.
From a series titled "Experimental housing models. Storage shed & garage, dining room & kitchen." Circa 1945-48, of the "Your Future Postwar Home" genre. Kodachrome transparency by Eric Schaal, Life photo archive. View full size.