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Hollywood, California
Claim to fame, clamour for glamour
Perched high above Hollywood, Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #22 is a bit of a one note project, but admittedly that one note is a damn good one. Small (but not as insanely small as Case Study House #21), the house is famous for its site as well as for being the site of some of the more famous Julius Schulman photographs
Completed in 1960, CSH #22 is still being lived in by at least one of the original owners, a kind enough elderly woman who spoke to us about how much living in the house has meant to her and her family over the years. North of Sunset, up a few hills and past an especially pesky gate, the house sits with a completely unobstructed view from Westwood all the way to downtown, truly one of the great views that the city has to offer.
A side note- as you look through these pictures over the next few days, you'll be somewhat hard pressed to find one that doesn't include a picture of at least one other person taking a picture. The tours I attended (all were sold out and part of the annual AIA Convention) included a minimum of forty other picture taking architects, each not waiting for someone else to take a shot before blocking it themselves. At first I found myself annoyed but quickly decided to just take the pictures regardless, safe in the knowledge that everyone else on the tour probably has at least one picture of me taking a picture of them.
Completed a year before CSH #22, Case Study House #21 is a little more developed despite being a whole lot less of a building- even the relatively small Porsche and the obligatory Prius had a hard time fitting in the otherwise proportional garage.
The house's current owner came out to greet us as well, not that there was anywhere he could have hidden inside anyway. He let us know that despite his feelings, he will soon be moving and putting the house up for auction. So, if you have a few extra million dollars and always wanted a famous, numbered, terribly small house on a terribly small lot with no view off a steep road off Mullholland Drive, then it might just be your lucky day.
Closer to Santa Monica than to Los Angeles, Charles and Ray Eames' legendary home and studio (also known as Case Study House #8) played host to a very special AIA event, one I attended on the last night of this last visit. The Eames Film Festival consisted of a series of twelve (mostly) fascinating and groundbreaking short films completed by Charles and Ray during all that extra time they had when they weren't designing iconic furniture. The films were shown outside at the meadow in front of the house and were introduced by Eames' earnest enough grandson (you can tell he's related because his first name is Eames). The films ran the gamut from meditations about tops and toy trains to a film about the scales of the universe to a film about how to assemble a couch (my personal favorite and so much more than such a simple description allows).
And while the Eames house is normally off limits, there is a way in, especially if you have $100 and are free on any June 20th. One a year on that date (their wedding anniversary) the Eames Foundation invites people who joined the foundation during the previous year to a picnic event at the meadow. After that they are given a tour of the inside (we were not allowed in) and then (and the reason I'm letting anyone know about this) are invited to join an expectedly spirited game of musical chairs using Eames chairs, with the winner getting a free Eames lounge chair.
